Page 56 of Deception

The air buzzed between Clayton and Madison a millisecond before wood splintered from the picnic table.

“Get down!” Clayton pulled his gun and hovered over Madison and Bri and at the same time scanned the parking lot. Another buzz, and a bullet kicked up concrete three feet from them. Helistened for the rifle crack that never came. The shooter must be using a suppressor, and he was probably a good distance away. “Are you hit?”

“No, but we’re sitting ducks.” Madison nodded toward a nearby tree. “Run for the oak!”

She ran for the live oak tree in a median strip while Clayton covered her and searched for the shooter. Everything looked normal. No one screeching off. No one running. Except him when he made a dash for the tree. He flattened his back against the trunk and dialed 911.

“We have an active shooter in the parking area at Merit Health,” he said when the operator answered, then quickly identified himself. Once he hung up, he asked, “Where’s Bri?”

“She took off toward the entrance.” Madison eased around the tree. “I think he’s gone.”

“He? Did you see the shooter?”

“No, but a shot like that—had to be a rifle.”

“Cavalry is here,” he said as sirens came at them from all directions. Clayton holstered his gun and Madison did the same. It wasn’t long before the parking lot was filled with flashing blue lights led by the chief himself.

Once they were satisfied the gunman was gone, Madison left to track down Bri, and Clayton laid out what happened to the chief.

“Any idea why someone would shoot at you?”

“Not a clue.” Clayton helped search for spent bullets while Nelson’s men triangulated the spot the shots came from.

Madison approached them, and he looked past her for Bri. “Couldn’t you find her?” he asked as Chief Nelson joined them.

“I found her, all right—in Dani’s room—but she wouldn’t come with me. She believes the shooter was after her and still is. I left her my card with Grandfather’s address on the back and told her she was welcome to stay there.”

Her cell phone rang, and Madison looked at the caller ID. “I have to take this.”

When Madison stepped away, Chief Nelson turned to Clayton. “Who’s the girl?”

“Briana Reed. Dani Parker, the shooting victim on the Trace, had picked her up in New Orleans yesterday morning.” He gave Nelson the background on the case.

“So it’s possible the shooter was after the girl and tried again today?”

“Anything’s possible. Think your officers will be able to get a trajectory on the bullet that plowed into the picnic table?”

“They’re working on it.”

Clayton turned as Madison pocketed her phone and hurried toward them. “I have to go to my grandfather’s house. Something about the investigation.”

31

Madison started for her car. Nothing Hugh had said made sense.

“Wait up,” Clayton called to her, and she stopped until he caught up. “What’s going on?”

“Hugh’s team just finished processing the crime scene, and there’s no trace of a second bullet or even a fragment.”

“That means—”

“Nothing.” She hadn’t meant to snap at Clayton. “I’m sorry. It’s just, I know he didn’t shoot himself. Hugh’s team missed the spent bullet. It’s the only answer.”

She wouldn’t let herself think any differently, not until she could talk face-to-face with the FBI agent, and she tried not to think of how she would view this new evidence if the victim hadn’t been her grandfather.

Clayton bit his lip, then took her hand. “Once your grandfather regains consciousness, he can tell you what happened.”

She latched on to that thought.But what if he doesn’t wake up?No. She would not even consider that possibility.

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