L. Sellers - The Gauntlet Assassin

He took the next day off and drove to Isabel’s apartment in the Silver Spring area and used the key she’d given him to get in. He missed the house he’d grown up in, but Isabel had sold it years earlier to pay for hip surgery when she was fifty-eight. Their little home had been cozy, with warm colors and soft rugs and pillows. Walking into Isabel’s cheerful living room as an abused and abandoned child and seeing her smile had been the first ray of hope in his life. Paul wished he’d visited her more often in the last year. One Sunday dinner a month had not been enough.

After sitting for an hour looking at photos, Paul forced himself to get moving. He spent the afternoon organizing a small memorial service for Isabel, even though few would attend. He informed her neighbors, her church pastor, and a friend from Isabel’s time as a state-sponsored foster parent. He notified her sister’s caregivers too, then wondered if Isabel had any money in savings and what would happen to it. Would the hospital get it all? Paul had never counted on an inheritance, so it didn’t matter that much to him.

He ordered pizza to be delivered, not caring if he blew his diet for one day, then searched for a will. Why had they never talked about what would happen when she died? Because Isabel had only been sixty-nine. He’d always thought they’d have more time.

Tues., May 9, 6:46 p.m.

A deputy clerk handed Lara a plastic bag with her possessions. “Have a nice evening.”

Lara almost laughed out loud. “Will do.” She wanted to sprint for the door, but exhaustion kept her to a jog. The monitor bracelet rubbed lightly on her ankle. She hated the thought of wearing it during the Battle fights, or worse yet, in the Marathon, if she made it that far.

Outside, the evening sun had never seemed so bright and welcoming. Near the entrance, Thaddeus Morton stood under a shade tree, furtively smoking a cigarette and looking overheated and irritated. Traffic buzzed behind him.

“Thanks for posting bail.” Lara had a lot more she wanted to say, but the sidewalk in front of the massive correctional facility was not the place.

“I didn’t really have a choice.” He pivoted and headed toward a nearby triangular parking lot. Lara followed him to a black Mercedes and climbed in. The interior was stifling hot, but Morton cranked the air conditioning.

“Can we stop at the first grocery store we come to? I need to buy something immediately.” Her body was starving and eating its own muscle-the last thing she needed during the competition.

“Sure. Are you okay? The D.C. police are known to be abusive.”

Lara let out a small sarcastic noise. “They’re lazy too.” She turned in the seat to face him. “What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” He wouldn’t look at her.

“Bullshit. The shooter at your house in Eugene was not your jilted boyfriend. The bastard is here in D.C. now, and he came to my room last night to kill me and stunned my roommate instead. Now Kirsten’s dead and I’m charged with her murder. Who the hell is he? And why did he try to kill you?”

Morton was silent as he made a left and headed for the expressway. Lara noticed the city didn’t have a tall skyline like other metropolitan areas, and strips of trees were everywhere. It was also completely flat. “Don’t forget I used to be a detective. If you tell me what’s going on, maybe I can help figure this out.”

After a long silence, the commissioner shook his head. “I honestly don’t know who he is. I’m as puzzled as you are.”

“Why did you lie and say he was your boyfriend?”

“If I had reported it, I would have been scrutinized and questioned in Eugene. I needed to get back to the capital without jeopardizing my job. Government employees are held to a different standard.”

“Why the bullshit about your lover?”

“Because Richard had just been there and left after a fight. The shooter showed up moments later. So it was mostly true and therefore plausible.”

Lara wasn’t buying it. “What are you keeping from me?”

“Nothing. I’d never seen the guy before in my life.”

“You’re saying a complete stranger came to your house and shot you?”

“This is why I didn’t tell you. It sounds crazy.” Morton paused. “He might be the boyfriend of a woman I slept with.”

“But you don’t know his name?”

“No.”

“How did he get in?”

“He walked in. My boyfriend had just left in a huff and the door was unlocked.”

“Could he be Richard’s new lover? Maybe he followed Richard to your house and tried to kill you in a jealous rage.”

“I don’t think so.”

“We have to figure out who he is before he kills us both.”

“How do we do that?”

“I saw him at the orientation. Blond, midsized guy leaning against the back wall. You have to let me search the footage and isolate his image. Then I’ll access CODIS and see if he has a record.”

“How do you have that kind of clearance?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Morton drove like a man with an emergency and Lara started to feel unnerved. “Are you taking me back to the hotel?”

“Yes. Why?”

“I’m not sure it’s safe.”

“We’ll move you to a different room that not even the desk clerks will know about.”

Lara wasn’t reassured and hoped her gun was still retrievable. “I’m still in the contest?”

“Of course. The homicide has been good for ratings and the voters want you back.”

“They do?”

“Minda aired the clip of Kirsten coming after you, and you’ve gained a following.” The commissioner glanced at her and shrugged. “Of course, some of the viewers might want you back so they can punish you.”

The thought made Lara feel weak. “I thought we were stopping at a store.”

“I forgot.”

“I need something in my stomach now.”

“We’ll be at the hotel in fifteen minutes. You can eat at the restaurant.”

“No, I can’t. Just find a grocery store.”

He gave her an odd look and headed for the nearest exit. “Do you have special dietary needs?”

“You could say that.”

The commissioner waited in the car while Lara ran into a Safeway and bought a dozen cans of ProFast. She didn’t particularly care for the drink, which was a little thick and bitter with vegetables, but it was a great source of nutrition, and the stash would come in handy. Morton watched her down a can as soon as she was back in the car.

“Didn’t they feed you in jail?”

“Nothing I could eat.”

“Are you allergic to gluten?”

“Let it go. We have more important things to talk about.”

“You’re right.” He drove past a homeless camping area in the corner of the parking lot and turned toward the expressway. “What else can we do to find this guy?”

“Get his photo to the security people at the arena and the hotel.”

“And if they spot him? What do we do? We can’t just have him arrested without reason.”

The commissioner’s lack of imagination irritated her. “I’ll tell the police I saw him talking to Kirsten. If they bring him in for questioning, they’ll run him through the databases and hopefully take a DNA sample. Maybe that’ll be enough to get him charged with her murder.”

“What if it’s not?”

Lara wanted to suggest they find the shooter and take him out of the picture, but she didn’t know how Morton would react-or if she could follow through. “If we locate him, we could plant something of Kirsten’s on him. If they hold him over for trial, it will at least get him off our backs.”

The commissioner pressed the accelerator, passing a line of cars on the right. Lara noticed the traffic was rather light in D.C. too. People had really cut back on driving…and everything else. She tried to ignore Morton’s weaving through traffic and stay focused on their problem.