Page 23 of Jina

Even the guys she’d challenged to spar at Mike’s hadn’t been physically hurt. Their pride may have taken a beating, but so what? In her humble opinion, they’d deserved it. One of the guys, Jimmy, had point-blank asked if she’d joined the gym to find a man. As if she couldn’t possibly be there for a strenuous workout or to hone her fighting skills.

“We should probably talk to Mike again.” She spoke loud enough to be heard over the screech of sirens. The local cops would not be thrilled to know she and Cole had been involved in yet another shooting incident. “I don’t want to believe any of the members are involved, but it might be nice to know if any of those guys I put down are former cops or military.”

“Sounds good.” He turned to head to the back of the gas station. “Let’s search for shell casings. It would be good to match them with the ones found at the gym last night.”

She joined him along the back of the building. Bits of garbage littered the ground not far from the dumpster located back there. The stench was bad, but she’d experienced worse. There was no need to use flashlights, and it only took a moment to find the glint of sun bouncing off the brass.

“It looks like the same caliper.” She didn’t touch the casing, knowing the police would want to see where it was. “Can you get a picture with your phone?”

“Sure.” Cole did as she asked. “There has to be one more. I believe he shot twice.”

They split up to cover more ground. She didn’t see anything in her search area, but Cole waved her over. “Found it. He stood close to the dumpster to fire this round.”

She went over to see for herself, then turned to review the line of sight. It was sobering to realize how close he’d been. In fact, she wasn’t sure how he’d missed from this distance.

“God was watching over you,” Cole said as if reading her thoughts. It was exactly what Rhy, Joe, or the other guys would have said. She wasn’t sure how to respond, mostly because she was starting to wonder if he was right about that.

Then she silently chided herself for being foolish.

Two squads pulled up near Cole’s SUV. Suppressing a sigh, she headed back over to give her statement. She had not been on the victim end of things since college and found it really annoying to be in that position now.

Was that this guy’s intent? Shooting and starting fires just to force her into feeling like a victim?

“I’m Peabody Detective Cole Roberts, and this MPD Officer Jina Wheeler.” Cole flashed his gold shield, so she pulled her badge out too. Better to show their creds since they were both carrying. “An unknown perp fired at us from behind the gas station. Two shots and we can show you where both shell casings are located.”

“Roberts and Wheeler?” The officer with the last name Howard scowled. “Were you involved in a shooting last night too?”

“That’s correct. Likely the same perp.” Jina gestured for Officers Howard and Tyson to follow her to the back of the gas station. “We’re hoping you can match these shell casings to the ones found last night outside Mike’s MMA gym.”

“We’ll do that. Did you get a look at him?” Tyson asked.

“No, I didn’t.” She glanced at Cole who also shook his head. “He came closer to hitting me this time. Missed by a fraction of an inch.”

Cole scowled as the two officers exchanged looks. “Sorry to hear that,” Officer Howard said. “Our Detective Irving tried to reach out to you.”

She flushed. “Yeah, sorry. I left my phone in the apartment and couldn’t get back in to grab it because of the fire.”

“Fire?” Tyson echoed. “What happened?”

“We have reason to believe the fire was set by the same person who was just here firing at Jina,” Cole said. “Arson Investigator Mitch Callahan is working the case.”

“Two shootings and a fire?” Howard frowned. “Perps don’t often change their MO midstream.”

“Yeah, well, this guy seems determined to get my attention.” And he had, she silently added. The escalating attacks were forcing her to play defense.

“What about the vehicle?” Tyson asked.

“We have reason to believe he’s driving a black Honda SUV without license plates,” Cole said. When he didn’t elaborate on the video footage of that same vehicle they’d gotten from the gas station, she kept her mouth shut too.

It was likely Cole was waiting to share that information with Detective Irving. At this point, she figured it was better to let Cole take the lead.

Besides, Irving wasn’t going to be the one to solve this thing. No, it was clear that she and Cole working together had the advantage when it came to finding this guy. For one thing, she was the target.

A plan of setting herself as bait was already forming in the back of her mind. Drastic and risky? Yes. She had every intention of being the fun auntie to her sister’s baby. She’d prefer to get some answers on the few leads they had in the works prior to going that route, but if they didn’t pan out?

They’d have no choice but to implement plan B.

She and Cole answered more questions before they were free to leave. But just then another car pulled up, and she heard Cole groan under his breath.

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