“Didn’t quite go as planned, huh?” Manny said, handing Bo a very much needed drink. Which, in Orbis’s case, was soda water. It was the end of the day. The sun was setting over the Pacific, bathing his office in a glorious golden glow. “ROM’s going to kill you for telling her she did something wrong, you know.”
Bo downed the water and handed the glass back so fast Manny didn’t have time to sit down. “Whatever. I can’t believe he’s not in Missing Persons.”
“Hm.”
Orbis looked at Manny, and the blind man needed not his eyes, nor his telepathy to know the resolve the man felt. “Manny, I am right about this. I am right!”
“Fine. But you hit a dead end. What else do you have?”
The other man, a bundle of nerves, sighed and somehow managed to relax enough to sit down. “We have the ballistics from the bullet that killed Merryman—“
“Which neither we nor the SFPD have been able to trace to the gun that fired it.” Manny sat down next to the man, his hands on the Orbis’s wide shoulders.
“The gun that killed Merryman was the same gun that killed the informant that gave us the photo of Vagabond.”
Scepter froze.
“It was a hunch. I already had the photo,” Orbis said. He sounded very tired. “I’m just a rookie cop. I was never involved enough to know all the details, but I’m a Navy SEAL. I knew it was going on. When the informant was killed, it just so happened that I was one of the officers on the scene. Did a real number on the guy. Pulped his whole head, practically.”
“Ok, ew.”
“It goes to show these people mean business. Completely professional hit.”
“’Professional?’”
“I’m a SEAL. I know a sniper when I see one,” Orbis sighed, sitting back. “It wasn’t until today I found out who he was. When I heard the investigation was being disbanded a few days ago, I stole the photos and by pure chance found Vagabond. When the informant ended up on the slab, I put the pieces together. Headed over to ballistics and pulled the files on Merryman. They confirmed it for me on the spot. Same gun. The informant was killed in the AM. In the PM, my department was told to bury this case. They were half-way through the autopsy. That’s confidential all, by the way.”
“You serious?”
“Yes, I am,” came the reply.
Scepter was quiet for a minute. “Did anybody see you take that photo?”
“Huh?”
“Are you in danger. Of being targeted yourself.”
Orbis looked up at the man. “I…I don’t think anybody saw me.”
“Who else knows you are here?”
“Um. ROM, does. Miss Gwen, probably. ROM probably told her—“
Scepter got to his phone and started dialing.
“Who are you calling?”
“Everybody I can reach. This isn’t about Vagabond anymore. It’s about you…Alastair, hi. It’s Manny…”
Then Bo’s cell went off. ROM. Probably to rail into him. “Hi, ROM, look, I'm sor--”
“I found him.”
No comments:
Post a Comment