Todd nodded and gave a jerk of his head for them to follow as he walked around the side of the store toward the back. At the rear of the store were four parking spots. The yellow lines separating the spots were nearly worn away, and Ava didn’t see a sign stating they were for employees only.
The clerk pointed at the spot closest to the side street. “Right there. Since I kept bitching at him to move, he finally turned around and came back.” Todd raised his eyebrows. “Dude was pissed. He didn’t say a single word, but the look he gave me had me backing up a few steps. He wore sunglasses, but I could tell how angry he was. Was in the way he held himself, you know?” He ran a hand through his hair. “After I heard about the shooting, I thought of this guy. He definitely had enough bottled-up anger to shoot someone.”
Ava silently sighed. An angry man wasn’t a great lead. Were they wasting their time?
“Cameras?” Zander was scanning the back of the building.
“Used to be one right there way above the door,” Todd said. “Got stolen last week. Probably to sell it for a quick buck. They must have had a ladder to get all the way up there and unscrew the bolts. Took the whole thing.”
Last week? Removed in planning for yesterday?
“No video of it being stolen?”
“Nah. We checked it out. You can’t see anyone. They stuck close to the building out of view. The camera shakes and jerks for a few minutes; then it goes black.” He dropped his cigarette and ground it out with his shoe. “Can’t really be worth much.”
“What happened with the angry guy?” Zander asked. “You must have got a good look at him.”
“He backed out of the spot, spun his tires, and left. Of course I got a good look at him. I said I talked to him.” He gave Zander a suspicious side-eye, as if worried the agent was missing a few marbles.
“What did he look like?” Ava asked, amused at the clerk’s misunderstanding. “Was he carrying anything? What was he wearing?”
“Oh . . . black baseball cap, sunglasses. Dark pants. Long-sleeved black T-shirt. Pretty good-sized dude—”
“Taller than you?” asked Zander.
“Nah.”
“How old?”
Todd thought for a moment. “Hard to say. Moved like a young guy and had the attitude of a young guy, but his face was weathered—that might be from working outside. Anywhere between thirty and fifty, I’d guess. If I’d seen his eyes, I’d have a better idea.”
“Shoes?”
“Ah . . . tennis shoes?” Todd looked uncertain. “Wasn’t looking at his feet.”
“Hair?”
“Sort of a dirty blond. Had it pulled back in a ponytail that stuck out under the cap.” Todd wrinkled his nose. “Had a backpack on one shoulder.”
Ava perked up. Black shirt and pants on one of the hottest days of the year and a backpack that could carry a weapon.
A possibility.
“What was the vehicle?”
“Dunno.” Todd shrugged. “White. Four-door little boring sedan that looks like every other car. I guess not very old because the paint was shiny. I only remember that much because I thought it was funny that he burned rubber on a lame car like that.”
“Which way did he go?”
“Turned left.”
The opposite direction of the shooter’s location.
They asked a few more questions, trying to prod Todd’s memory, but he had no other useful details. Ava gave him her card. She and Zander silently walked around the store to the front parking lot. “What do you think?” she finally asked as they reached his vehicle.
“We’ve got a description. We’ll see if it matches up with any other possible leads. Maybe he’s on camera somewhere else. We can check in the direction he went.”
He didn’t sound very confident.
“Why park behind a 7-Eleven? That’s a good way to get towed.”
“I don’t know how a tow truck could get into that tight space,” Zander said quietly. “It’d be nearly impossible, so not too bad of a choice if he knew there was no working camera.” He lifted both hands. “It could happen. The guy shot into a crowd of cops. He’s a risk taker.”
Ava couldn’t argue with that.
Just as she was about to get into Zander’s vehicle, she checked her phone. It’d vibrated three times while they talked with the 7-Eleven clerk, but she’d ignored it.
The three texts from Mason made her gasp.
Call me
Call me
Ray’s in surgery. Took a bad turn. Headed there.
“What happened?” Zander asked sharply.
She’d frozen with her hand on the door handle, staring at her phone. “It’s Ray. Something happened and they took him to surgery.” Her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
“Do we need to head that way?”
Indecision flittered around her head. What do I do?
“I don’t know.” She fired off a text to Mason asking what happened.
For the second time that day she was pulled in two different directions. Stricken, she looked at Zander, unable to make a decision. Work or family?
He read her face. “Get in. I’ll run you back to the office, and you can drive from there. I’ll handle our assignment for now.”
Relief flooded her. “Are you sure?”
“I can tell you wouldn’t be an effective investigator at the moment.”
“That’s true. My focus is completely shattered.”
They both climbed in the vehicle, and Ava gripped her phone, willing Mason to text her back.
Her phone was agonizingly silent.
Hold on, Ray.
This will destroy Mason.
“This isn’t happening today,” she whispered. “I can’t have two people taken away in one day.” With a sharp pang in her heart, she suddenly felt David’s death very keenly; she’d lost the what-could-be. While he lived, there had always been a chance that she’d lower her walls and they’d get to know each other in a deeper way. Now she could lower them all she wanted and it no longer mattered.
“I’ll never know,” she mumbled, staring straight ahead.
“You’re right,” Zander said. “You’ll never know what might have happened with David in your life.”
Zander is too perceptive.
“But do you know what?”
“What?” she asked flatly.
“You’ve got two half siblings with nice families waiting to get to know you. The potential for something great between all of you still exists.” He turned and caught her gaze. “Don’t turn your back on it.”
She hated it when he was right.
What do I have to lose?
14
Mason called back as Ava was getting into her car at the FBI office to drive to the hospital. Her heart jumped at his name on her screen.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Ray’s all right. There were some really bad moments for a while, but he’s breathing normally now.”
Ava exhaled and leaned back in her seat, drained. “How’s Jill?”
“A wreck. Just like the rest of us. But relieved.”
“Do you need me up there?” she asked.