Page 60 of Code of Courage

Busy right now. Have time for coffee later?

They’d just pulled into the station when he responded.

Sure. Tell me when and where.

“You coming?” Matt asked.

“I’ll be up in a second.”

He left her in the car. Danni wasn’t really mad at Matt. The situation just infuriated her. Dylan would have let her vent without comment. She didn’t dislike Matt; she just really missed Dylan. Especially with hard or frustrating cases. After two years she and Matt just hadn’t meshed.

“Circle of influence,” she muttered under her breath and then got out of the car.

***

“Seriously, you think this is one of the guys who chased you to the flood control?” Matt sat back in his chair after Danni told him what she thought. She tried to gauge his reaction but couldn’t.

“I can’t be 100percent because I didn’t get a good look at his face. But I heard one of the men who chased me say the dog bit him and he was bleeding. He said he thought the dog hit an artery. He was a little hysterical. They called him Hobbs.”

“We should probably head up to the flood control and photograph the area.”

“I think it would be useless now. I could kick myself. I should have thought about preserving evidence before. You know the traffic the bike path gets. There was a good amount of blood on the path when I came out of hiding. They left before me, so he didn’t bleed out there.”

“You had no way of knowing the jamoke would die or thatthey’d kill him. Why they would want him dead is the question.”

“I agree. I heard one of them say they were going to the hospital, but a dog bite is not a gunshot wound. Animal control might have been called for such an injury but not police. If he was already dead like the coroner thought, why shoot him in the head?”

“He’s probably wanted for something. Not only did they dump him, but they took all of his ID as well.”

Danni sat back in her chair, pressed her fingers into her forehead. “If he is wanted, we’ll find out soon enough. This is a puzzle. What does all this have to do with the death of Thomas Johnston? Why did Harper see a connection?”

“The east substation is close to Barton Plaza.”

“True. But I would think it had to be closer to Barton Plaza to be even remotely connected to Jess’s shooting.”

“Ever since we had to close the substation, crime has skyrocketed. Harper tends to see it all as cause and effect. Remove cops, increase crime. For all we know, the dead guy is in some way related to Johnston and therefore connected to the closing of the substation. You said they called him Hobbs?”

“Yeah, one of them said, ‘You’re worse than a girl, Hobbs,’ when he complained about his wrist bleeding.”

“Hobbs is a familiar name.” Matt reached for a file on his desk. He leafed through it and came up with a dispo sheet.

“We had a Jasper Hobbs arrested for arson. There’s a booking photo. He looks a lot healthier there, but it’s our guy.” He handed Danni the sheet. “He set the dumpster on fire the day you were hit with that piece of concrete. He was released with no charges filed.”

Danni looked over the sheet, fury building anew. This guy should have still been in jail. She noted his address. “He’s a local boy, unlike Jareb Moore.”

Matt nodded. “Gang member from LA. Affiliated with some bad actors up there. Makes you wonder who is leading who.”

“There was still a third guy with Moore and Hobbs. I wish I had an ID on him.”

Just then Marrs walked in. “Harper was able to set up interviews with Hoffman and Ellis. Both on Monday.”

“They coming here?” Matt asked.

“No. Ellis wants to do it at the Tribune offices and Hoffman at his residence. So it’s 9a.m. for the first and noon for the second. That was the only way they’d talk.”

“I wish they were sooner, but I’ll take what I can get,” Danni said. Matt nodded as well.

“What did you have behind the substation?”

Matt filled him in while Danni put a thumb drive into the computer to comb through footage from the riots. She wanted to view as much as she could before talking to Ellis and Hoffman. It was distressing to see not only out-of-towners creating problems but locals as well. What was the endgame?

---