Page 68 of Break Away
“Can you stay with someone else tonight? Ifit was Clauson who shot at you, he failed, and he’ll try again.”She saw the brief flash of emotion, but it was gone before shecould identify it. A muscle in his jaw tightened.
She was already shaking her head. “I’m fine.I have Lucy, plus a new alarm system.”
“Which won’t do jack shit to stop a man witha gun from kicking in the door and shooting the dog and then you.Clauson knows every cop in the county will be after him. He’seither on the run or determined to finish his mission before he’sarrested or dead.” Levi’s expression turned even more grim. “I’llsleep on your couch.”
“You will not. I don’t want you in myhouse.”
“Too bad. I’m staying. We’re both going tohave to suck it up until this is over. I’ll make you a deal. I’llstay until we stop whoever is stalking you, then I’ll find anotherplace to live so we won’t have to see each other every time one ofus steps outside.”
Chapter Nineteen
Levi watched Zoey turn the Prius around andhead down the driveway to the road, Lucy a bulky shadow in thebackseat. He didn’t know when he’d ever been in a shittier mood.They’d spent the evening and morning ignoring each other. He didn’tlike being pissed off, but he was angry with Zoey for buying intothe bullshit spewed in the cesspool on the Internet, and for notgetting his side of the story about the shooting first. It didn’tmake him any less angry that he knew good and well she’d asked himwhat had happened. Twice. If he’d been up front with her, she mighthave gotten the facts from him and not gone looking online. Buthe’d wanted her to trust him first before he told her the detailsof what happened, and why he left the Oakland PD.
Of the twenty words they’d said to each otherthis morning, he’d extracted a promise that she wouldn’t go out inthe field today, that she would work from her office, and she’dalert her coworkers to be on the look-out for anyone actingsuspiciously.
Levi went to his cabin, where he put on hismotorcycle gear, grabbed his go bag to strap to the rack, andheaded for his bike. Once at the department, he changed into hisuniform and sat through morning roll call, where Brad gave anupdate on the Hardesty case. While he listened, Levi mulled overwhat had been bugging him since the shooting the day before. Hejoined Brad in the break room after roll call.
“I don’t think it was Clauson shooting atZoey.”
“Why’s that?” Brad asked.
“For starters, Clauson is trained lawenforcement. She and Lucy were out in the open. He’d have hitthem.”
“Could be he only wanted to scare her. Whatelse you got?”
“The shooter had to hike up a steep trailwith a lot of switchbacks to get upslope from Zoey.” Levi shrugged.“Clauson’s at least a hundred pounds overweight, and the trail isat the eight-thousand-foot elevation mark. That’s a tough hike ifyou’re not in shape.”
Brad nodded. “Agreed, but not impossible.Anything else?”
“Yeah. Clauson never mentioned Zoey when wearrested him. He assumed we were there because his neighbor hadcomplained about the music.” Levi rubbed his temple where aheadache had settled. “There was child porn on his laptop, but noevidence that he’d put up that post targeting Zoey.” He shrugged.“The post, writing ‘slut’ in lipstick on her car window, thepoisoned meat—rat poison, by the way, the labs came back—feelsfemale to me.”
“You’re thinking Charissa Winslow.”
“I am. I don’t have anything concrete, but abunch of small things are adding up. And I think she’s harassingZoey because she thinks Zoey and I are together.”
“You’re not?”
“I don’t know what the hell we are right now,except not talking.”
Brad shook his head. “Don’t blow it. You’regood together.”
“What makes you think I’m the one blowingit?”
“Work it out. I’ll send Jack to talk toCharissa, see if she admits to anything.”
“Can we get a warrant to search herhouse?”
“Looking for what?”
“Rat poison, lipstick that matches what wason Zoey’s car. Those would prove the stalking charge.”
Brad nodded. “Okay, I’ll see about gettingthe warrant. While we’re waiting, I want you to focus on findingClauson. I’ve got a bad feeling about him.”
Levi nodded. “We’ve got the child porn on hislaptop, so he knows he’s done. If he’s not on the run, and I don’tthink he is, he knows this will end with him in prison, or dead.Either way, my bet is he’ll go out with a big bang as his way oftelling the world to fuck off.”
***
Levi spent the morning doing the same kind ofpolice work he’d done as a detective in Oakland. Lot of legwork.Since Logan Ross was a deputy with the sheriff’s department, Levitapped him to ask around for anyone who remembered Clauson andmight have heard from him in the last year. It had taken a couplehours, but Logan had reported back that a couple of old-timersremembered Clauson and said he’d been friends with the thensheriff. The consensus was that Clauson had seemed decent enough onthe surface but had raised red flags after a few incidentsinvolving female minors. No surprises there.
