Iâm glad sheâs okayâ¦And get them to take a look at that gash. Damn, LT, you know how lucky you are?â
A sobering exhale accompanied Hauckâs nod. âThe sonovabitch shot right at me, Freddyâ¦I just stood there, the window rolling down. Stared right at him. Froze.â
âDonât beat yourself up, Lieutenant. Anyone would freeze.â
Hauck nodded, eyes fixed on the body, unconvinced. âThat could be Jessie.â
âYeah, it could be, Lieutenant, but itâs not. You said you caught a glimpse of the shooter?â
Hauck nodded. âTwenties. Hispanic. Wearing a red bandana across his head. I put an APB out on a red Ford pickup,CT plates. ADJ9 or somethingâ¦Couldnât get more of a read. Listen, Freddy, I want you to get an ID on the guy inside. Have Stevie and Ed start in with the witnesses.â
âWill do.â
âAnd, listen, Freddyâ¦â
âYeah, Lieutenant?â
âIâm okay, got that? Itâs business as usual here.â
âYou bet your ass youâre okay, sir.â Munoz tapped Hauck on the shoulder, grinning. âLike my mother would say, LT, you had an angel riding on your shoulder today.â
âYeah.â Hauck looked at the caved-in storefront, the man in the green vestâs legs visible through the shattered door. âBeen meaning to talk to you about your momâs take on angels, Freddy.â
CHAPTER FIVE
H auck got the gash on his neck looked after, while Ed Sweeney and Steve Chrisafoulis started to interview the bystanders and Munoz went to check out the body.
Maybe he and Jessie did have an angel watching over them. There were at least eighty to a hundred bullet holes where rounds had slammed into the station, and only three people had been hit, including a woman outside, struck in the arm from a ricochet.
Eighty to a hundred shotsâand only that one poor bastard killed.
Vern Fitzpatrick, Greenwichâs police chief and Hauckâs boss, was on his way down from Darien, where he had been at a golf outing. News vans were starting to line up across the street, camera crews pushing for witnesses. Patrolmen were keeping the pressing reporters at bay.
Hauck could only imagine the headlines. âPosh NY Suburb Ripped by Deadly Gunfire.â âBystander Killed in Drive-By Attack.â
Greenwich had Saks and Ralph Lauren and Laura Ashley. This kind of thing just didnât happen here.
While they bandaged his neck, Hauck flipped out his phoneand called Jessieâs mom. âBeth, something happenedâ¦,â he said at the sound of her voice, then stopped, the freeze-frame of his daughter there and all that blood rushing back to him. He moistened his lips. âListen, Beth,â he said, âJess is alright. Sheâs fine, butâ¦â He took her through what had happened, his ex-wife gasping, âJesus, Ty, oh, my Godâ¦â
âBeth, listen, pleaseâ¦â They had spent ten years together. He had been a New York City cop then. A young detective in the 122nd in Queens, fast-tracked to the departmentâs Office of Information, who acted as a liaison officer during 9/11 with the FBI. That was before the accident with Norah. Before the blame and their marriage fell apart. âSheâs alright,â he said, âjust a bit scared. Theyâre going to take her to Greenwich Hospitalâjust to look over her a bit. You should come. Now. There are people dead here. Iâm gonna have to goâ¦â
âOh, Jesus, Ty, tell Jess Iâm on my way.â
âIâll see you there.â He hung up. The med tech finished taping his neck. Hauck went over and sat beside Jessie in the van. They were running an IV. Hauck put his arm around her and pressed her head to his shoulder, trying to smile away the scared, confused tears welling in her young eyes.
âYou okay?â
She nodded, donning the brave veneer. âI think so,