Page 79 of Crosshairs
I felt again for a pulse on Joe Tavarez’s throat. Nothing. He was definitely dead. I stayed low just in case the sniper was still up there, looking for a new target. When I peeked over the rear panel of the car, I saw no movement on the balcony or the roof. The radio was quiet.
After a minute, I saw Harry scurrying along the street toward me. He stayed low behind parked cars. I heard him on another radio channel, directing arriving cops, setting up a perimeter and generally keeping things running.
Harry slid in next to me and looked over at Tavarez’s body. Harry said, “That’s Joe Tavarez.”
“I know.”
“Then who the hell has been shooting?”
“No idea.”
Harry checked Tavarez again for any signs of life. When he was done, he just shook his head. Then he said, “Where’s Trilling?”
“Covering the back door of the shooter’s building.”
Jeff Mabus came on the radio. “The balcony is clear at the end of the second-floor hallway. No one on the roof either. No sign of the shooter anywhere.”
Terri Hernandez said, “He didn’t come out the front.”
I had to use my cell phone to call Trilling. We had shared the radio in the car. As the phone rang, I realized he could be in danger. Each ring made my heart pound harder. I mumbled, “Answer. Answer.”
Then he did. Thank God. Trilling said, “I haven’t seen anyone in the rear of the building.”
“Keep your eyes open. He’s on the move. Watch for Mabus and his guys.”
“Roger that.”
I looked over at Harry, who summed up the situation. “That did not go well at all.”
“You should’ve been a poet.”
CHAPTER 99
I SAT ON the curb, a few feet from Joe Tavarez’s body. I watched the paramedics slowly pull a tarp over him. Even the wide tarp couldn’t cover the giant pool of blood on the asphalt. Rob Trilling plopped down on the curb next to me. I didn’t feel like talking. Trilling made the perfect companion.
We sat in silence as Harry Grissom spoke with the four-person ESU team.
I was in shock. Seriously. The only thing I could do was think about how Joe Tavarez gave his whole adult life to service, only to be benched and then killed for trying to help. Sometimes this job didn’t make any sense at all to me.
Trilling put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to spend time with my family. But I knew that wouldn’t be in the cards for me today. There was still way too much to do.
A shiny new Dodge Charger rolled to a stop across the street.
Trilling said, “Someone from command staff?”
I watched for a moment, then said, “Worse. It’s Dennis Wu.”
The Internal Affairs sergeant was the only one at the scene dressed in a suit and tie. He looked at all the flashing lights from the emergency vehicles and shook his head. As Wu walked past me, he said, “Looks like you’re oh for two, Bennett. Excellent job, as always.”
I felt Trilling start to rise in anger. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the curb. I said quietly, “Wu’s right. Let it go.”
After a few more minutes, Harry Grissom came over and leaned against the car we’d been driving. “I guess we can write off Joe Tavarez as a suspect.”
I knew it was Harry’s way of easing me back into reality.
He said, “We have to figure out who else, exactly, saw that memo back at headquarters. It might take some time.” Harry let out a sigh, then said, “Why don’t you and Trilling make notification to Cindy Tavarez, Joe’s wife. I know you’ll be sensitive to the moment, but maybe she’ll know something. Anything. Maybe she mentioned the memo to someone.”
I nodded. Harry was doing me a favor by getting me away from the scene and Dennis Wu.