Page 33 of Deadly Target
9
The next morning, Olivia left Victor sleeping and took Taz for a run. She normally did three miles a day when she could, and the dog seemed up for the exercise.
Trailing Alfie the night before had yielded mixed results. He’d left his vehicle and gone into an alley where she couldn’t shadow him without revealing herself, so she’d waited to see if anyone followed him in. Eventually, she’d been rewarded with a woman in high heels making her way in and not emerging again for several minutes. Olivia had debated whether to sneak in as close as she could and see if she could eavesdrop, but although the daring move appealed to her, it was too risky. Instead, she waited patiently and followed the woman when she came out.
Unfortunately, the woman had slipped into a nightclub a few blocks down and Olivia lost her by the time she parked and entered it. The woman had worn an expensive designer jacket with a hood. The hood had been up the whole time, and the single picture she’d been able to take showed a partial of her face.
Frustration ate at her as she pounded the sidewalk. The woman was tall and thin, but so was half of LA, hundreds of actresses and models starving themselves to death and using dozens of methods to stay skeletal.
She couldn’t rule out either as the woman’s profession. The expensive clothes suggested a certain level of wealth. She only hoped she could put the partial face she had through facial recognition and get a hit. Or maybe when she visited Marquita Lomas, she would recognize the designer shoes.
“How about we take a stroll through the park?” she asked Taz.
Three blocks from her normal route, she found the spot where Cooper had been shot. A piece of crime scene tape was still hooked around a tree, the end flapping in the breeze. Olivia took Taz and they swept the perimeter, her eyes scanning the area and checking for anything that seemed interesting. She went to the spot where Cooper had stood, the blood stains in the sidewalk having turned a rusty brown.
No one was there this early, and she had a clear view of the playground equipment and the trees and bushes lining the area. A car drove by across the way and she watched it, imagining the gang members who had taken the same route that fateful day. The shooter had nearly pinpoint accuracy, and even though he’d missed Cooper’s heart by millimeters, that was still some impressive shooting from a moving vehicle.
She wasn’t buying it.
Her gaze drifted to the buildings across the street. There were multiple businesses stacked side-by-side, none higher than three floors. Trees blocked the majority of those windows, but one had a clear view of where she stood.
Taz sniffed at the grass, marking the spot and panting back to her. She needed to get the reports, see if anyone had checked those buildings. With her phone, she took pictures of the clearing in front, then walked across the park, Taz loping along beside her.
A scan of the rear of the buildings revealed standard fire escapes and a couple metal dumpsters. She took out her phone and shot pictures of the iron stairs at the back of the center building—the one with the view of the park. A visual inspection of the steps showed some rusting metal but nothing to indicate it had recently been used as an escape route. Inspecting the dumpsters, she found the normal bags of office waste—shredded papers, stinky food leftovers, and assorted other trash.
Taz sat and watched the show, ears perked as she went back and forth checking sight lines and looking for any trace evidence. She really needed to get inside to the window with the view, but it was early, and no one was there yet. The name of the business, Kogan & Sons, was nonspecific. It could’ve been anything from an accountant to a realtor to a construction company for all she knew. When she got back, she’d look them up and see if they had ties to any of the other players in this scenario.
When she emerged from the alleyway, she saw a welcome sight. Across the way in the park, Victor stood staring in her direction. He seemed surprised to see her emerge but waved. He was dressed in running gear and must’ve had the same idea as her. Taz barked once in a happy greeting, tail wagging furiously as he and Liv ran to catch up with Victor.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Liv said.
Victor greeted them, giving her a quick kiss and scratching the dog’s ears. “Found your note. A run seemed like a good idea to clear my head, so I thought I’d join you.”
“I don’t think our boys in the car took a shot at Cooper.” She shifted to one side and pulled Victor into the spot where Cooper had stood. Pointing through the trees, she showed him the window of the center building. “My guess is the bullet came from there.”
He nodded. “I was standing here thinking the same thing.”
She pulled out her phone and showed him the pictures of the front and back. “We need to take a look inside, and do a thorough inventory of the dumpsters to make sure our shooter didn’t leave evidence. Do you know anything about this business?”
“No,” Victor said. “I’ll have Thomas get the details for us.” He checked his watch. “Any indication when they open?”
She shook her head. “There are no signs indicating what they do or their hours of operation. We’ll have to come back.”
Her phone buzzed in her hand. Her eyes automatically glanced at the ID and her stomach flip-flopped. The Illinois State Department of Corrections. There were only two reasons they would be calling her. “Um, I need to take this.”
She walked a few steps away, hands shaking as her finger hit the answer button. She cleared her throat. “Fiorelli.”
“Ms. Fiorelli, this is Dan Hoskins. I have some news about your father.”
God, was he dead? Had another inmate killed him?
Her legs turned to concrete. Everything about the environment in front of her dimmed. She could no longer here the birds singing, the cars driving by, Victor speaking softly to the dog. The green of the trees seemed to turn the same shade as the sidewalk she stood on, the colorful playground equipment faded and washed out.
No words could escape her tight throat, as if a boa constrictor had wrapped around her neck. This did not deter Hoskins from delivering the news. “The parole board has granted a meeting with your father on Wednesday. Thought you’d like to know in case you want to be here.”
No way.Well, at least he’s not dead.
But what were they thinking? She forced herself to swallow down her disbelief. “They can’t seriously be considering him for parole.”
