Buried (Detective Ellie MacIntosh) Read Free Page A

was someone on the stairs.
    It must have because she heard the movement above as the bedsprings groaned, and then the sound of feet on the floorboards.
    The electricity was out, but that happened often enough this time of year and she had a kerosene lamp. There was dark, and then there was the utter black of the north woods on a night with no moon. Later she would light it, but for now she was content with the darkness. It served her purpose well.
    Utterly still and pressed against the wall, she strained to hear.
    Her fingers gripped the knife so tightly her hand began to ache.
    *   *   *
    The room was dead silent. Not even the rustle of a piece of paper.
    Chief of police Joe Metzger said slowly, “These are the events as we know them. Officer Chad Brown stepped out of the vehicle with the intent to approach on what he called in as a speeding stop. The driver didn’t move but the passenger engaged, getting out even after being asked to stay seated, and he hit Brown with three rounds to the chest before the officer could even draw his weapon. At this point, our perpetrator apparently got back into the vehicle and they drove away.”
    Lieutenant Carl Grasso asked neutrally, “Witnesses?”
    “We have a description of the vehicle from a person who was passing in the other direction, but that’s about it. A lot of people heard the shots and ran to look, but when I say fleeting, I mean fleeting. It was a flash in the night. Brown had called in the stop, but the car didn’t have plates, and obviously there was no chance to get the registration. Beige doesn’t really give us a lot to go on.”
    Ellie frowned. The shooting was all over the news, but this was the first chance she’d had to hear details from an accurate source. “What about ballistics?”
    “We rushed it through. It’s inconclusive that it is exactly the same gun, but it is the same caliber as the last one anyway. A .45 Glock. I don’t like the pattern similarities.”
    “Second cop hit in two weeks.” Grasso didn’t precisely smile but his mouth curved in an ironic arch. He was in his early forties, a touch of gray at the temples, his history with the Milwaukee PD not exactly pristine. Once upon a time he’d been the division’s most successful homicide detective until he’d been transferred to vice for a suspicious incident. He’d recently been temporarily reassigned as Ellie’s new partner and she wasn’t positive she was thrilled about it. He asked in a cynical tone, “Coincidence?”
    Metzger shook his head, but then he sighed and rubbed his cheek, slumping in the chair behind his desk. The chief was thickly built, a former marine who rarely cut anyone slack, and a decent politician. Ellie liked him with certain limitations. He didn’t handle media attention too well. It annoyed him, and it showed. He was no-nonsense, and abrupt if pushed, which was fine with her. She preferred the real deal to the smooth-over.
    He said shortly, “A fluke, not a hit, if I had to call it, but I don’t know. That’s why we are having this meeting, just the three of us. I want to think I’m just fishing around. Maybe it is just two incidents that happened and are not at all related.”
    Now that is interesting .
    “I’d like to believe you’re right, but I have an ugly feeling this is a vendetta.” Grasso wore a thousand-dollar suit and a skeptical smile. He had his own money and didn’t do the job for the salary, so the clothes didn’t make the man necessarily. As of yet, Ellie hadn’t decided how she felt about him.
    As distrustful as she was of Grasso, she had the same feeling about a possible revenge scenario. “We’ve had a department-wide very high mortality rate for the past two years, sir. I mean one of the highest in the nation. Might even get us first prize in a contest we never wanted to enter, much less win. We need to look at it.”
    “Could be inside.” Grasso’s voice was even and pragmatic.
    She didn’t agree. “Give me