Marie Force - Fatal Chaos

“Is there someone we can call for you?” Freddie asked.

Joe released a deep breath and wiped tears off his face. “My sister lives in Georgetown. I...I just talked to her an hour ago and told her she’s going to be an aunt.” He broke down again. “I can’t believe this has happened.”

“If you give me your sister’s number, I’ll call her for you,” Freddie said.

Sam was never more thankful to have him as her partner than in situations such as this, which required the gentle touch that came so naturally to him.

“Her name is Sarah.” Joe retrieved his phone, found his sister’s number and handed it to Freddie, who placed the call. He walked a short distance away so Joe wouldn’t have to hear him deliver the dreadful news to his sister.

“What do I do now?” Joe asked, looking up at Sam. “I don’t know what to do.”

“You could help by telling me where she was coming from.”

“She went out for happy hour with some of her colleagues. She joked this morning about how happy hour wouldn’t be quite so happy because she couldn’t drink for nine months. But it was her friend’s birthday, so she wanted to go for a little while. I told her I’d make dinner.” He shook his head in disbelief. “If she hadn’t gone out after work, this wouldn’t have happened.” Tears filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. “She would’ve been home two hours ago. She would’ve been safe.”

Sam suspected that twist of fate would haunt him for the rest of his life. She placed a hand on his shoulder, wishing there was more she could do to comfort him.

Freddie walked over to them, his expression bleak, indicating the phone call had been as dreadful as expected. “Your sister is on her way. She’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“She must be freaking out. They’re very close. They were... Very close.”

“She’s extremely upset. Her husband is coming with her.”

Joe nodded in acknowledgment and stared off into space.

Sam waved one of the EMTs over. “Have a look at him, will you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Stay with him until the sister gets here,” Sam said to Freddie.

“Will do.”

She walked over to meet Lindsey and Byron.

“Here we go again,” Lindsey said grimly. “What’ve we got?”

“A thirty-one-year-old named Melody Kramer who found out three days ago she was pregnant with her first child.”

“Damn it,” Lindsey said. “What the hell is going on tonight?”

“I don’t know, but we might be looking at the same perp for both shootings.” To Beckett, Sam said, “Any witnesses?”

“A young couple was also on the street when the shooting happened,” Beckett said. “We’ve asked them to wait to speak to you over there.” He pointed to a house across the street where the couple waited with another Patrol officer.

She crossed the street and nodded to the patrolman. To the couple, she extended her hand. “I’m Lieutenant Holland, MPD.”

“Yes, we know.” The woman blushed as she shook Sam’s hand. “I admire you so much.”

“Thank you. What’s your name?”

“Kelsey. This is my boyfriend, Charlie.” Petite with brown hair tinted pink on the ends, she had big brown eyes and mascara streaked from tears. Charlie had to be a foot taller than her, with longish dark hair and a complexion gone pale with shock. They were in their early twenties, or so Sam guessed.

Sam shook Charlie’s proffered hand. “Can you tell me what you saw?”

Kelsey took a deep breath. “We were about a block behind the lady who was shot when this car came flying down the street. It scared the hell out of us. Charlie grabbed me and pulled me in from the edge. There was a really loud boom, and the lady in front of us just went down. By the time we realized what’d happened, the car was long gone.”

“Did either of you get a look at the car?”

“It happened so fast,” Charlie said.

“Which end of the street did it come from?” Sam asked.

Kelsey pointed to the right side. “There.”

“And you were walking toward that intersection?”

They both nodded.

“If there’s anything at all you can tell me about the car, that would be incredibly helpful. Do either of you recall whether it was a sedan or a pickup or an SUV?”

“It was a car,” Kelsey said, seeming quite certain.

“Any idea what color it was?” Sam asked.

“It’s hard to say because the street was dark when it happened,” Charlie said, “but I think it was a dark color, like black or dark blue, maybe.”

“That helps. Thank you.” She gave them each a copy of her business card. “If you think of anything else, even the smallest detail, call me. We never know what’ll blow open a case like this.”

“We will.” A tremble went through Kelsey’s body, making her wobbly.

Charlie put his arm around her. “If that lady hadn’t been there, they might’ve shot at us.”

Kelsey broke down into tears. “It’s so awful.”

“Yes, it is.” They would probably suffer from the trauma for a long time. “Do either of you require medical attention?”

“No,” she said haltingly, looking up at Charlie. “I don’t think so.”

“We’re okay,” he said.

“You may want to consider some sort of counseling to deal with what you saw,” Sam said.

“We’ll think about that,” Kelsey said. “Thank you.”

“You gave the patrolmen your contact info?”

Kelsey nodded. “They said we should go to MPD Headquarters in the morning to make an official statement.”

“Yes, please. We need that on file.”

“We’ll do it first thing,” Charlie said. “Anything we can do to catch whoever did this.”

“Appreciate it,” Sam said. “The Patrol officer can give you a ride home.”

“We live close by,” Kelsey said. “We’re okay to walk.”

“I’d feel better if you’d let him take you. I also have to caution you that you’re material witnesses to a homicide. You’ll need to be very careful until we catch the son of a bitch who’s picking people off in our city.”

Charlie’s complexion became even paler. “This isn’t the only one?”

“Second one tonight,” Sam said.

Charlie glanced at Kelsey. “We... We’ll take the ride.”

Sam signaled to Beckett’s partner and asked him to drive them home. “Make sure you see them inside.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Sam crossed the street to return to the scene of Joe Kramer’s nightmare in time to see his distraught sister emerge from a cab and run to him. He stood to meet her and caught her in a hug, both crying hysterically. The woman’s husband followed, putting his arms around them.

“Goddamn, this blows,” Sam said to Freddie, who nodded in agreement. That he didn’t chastise her for using the Lord’s name in vain said a lot about how deeply the family’s grief had affected him.

“Malone called me when he couldn’t get through to you,” Freddie said. “HQ is looking for an update. I told him we might have two instances of the same shooter randomly picking people off on side streets. He wants us to brief the brass as soon as we can.”

“First we need to update the APB to let everyone know we have a second shooting. Let’s get every Patrol officer in the city looking for these assholes.”

“On it.”

While he took care of that, Sam went to see if there was anything else they could do for Joe Kramer and his family.

“C-could we see her?” he asked when she offered the department’s assistance.

“I think it might be better if you wait until we get her back to HQ.”

She watched him process what she wasn’t saying and could almost see him deciding whether to argue the point. But then he sagged with resignation.