Faith ringed the Q-tip underneath Will’s eye. He remembered the redneck cutting him; the first cut of the night.
He said, “My clothes are in a trash bag in my locker. I had to change, take a shower. Tony was in the ER. He cut his hand when he stabbed Haigh. They had to stitch it up.” He felt the need to add, “I don’t know how many stitches.”
Faith said, “His wife found him.”
“Tony has a wife?”
“Eric Haigh. His wife found his body outside the house. There was a lot of confusion at first. She didn’t recognize him.”
Will remembered, “They told us to put him on the front lawn. The order came from Big Whitey.” He saw the question in her eyes. “On the phone. I didn’t meet him. The redneck took the call, then he told Dell where to dump the body, that the order came straight from Big Whitey.”
“We’ll see if we can trace the call to the club.”
“It was a cell, probably a burner.”
“We’ll check it anyway.” Faith tossed the Q-tip into the first aid box. The cotton was soaked red. She told Will, “Haigh’d been missing for two days. His wife didn’t say because he’d been acting weird since the raid. She knew Internal Affairs was involved. She didn’t want to get him into trouble.”
“The raid,” Will repeated. Faith had talked about it earlier, but Will couldn’t recall the conversation. “They tortured him.”
“I know.”
“The redneck told Dell …” He lost his train of thought. “What did I say?”
“The redneck told Dell?” She tried, “We were talking about Eric Haigh.”
The prompt didn’t help. “He said he’d be in touch with me. That he had a job for me.”
“What time were you at the club?”
“Time?” The question didn’t make sense. “What time?”
Will took his phone out of his pocket. The glass was shattered. Still, the screen came on when he pressed the button. He told Faith, “It’s 1:31 a.m.”
Faith tilted his head back up so she could look at him. “Should I take you to the hospital? A different hospital, I mean.”
Will shook his head. He wasn’t going to any hospital.
“I think you have a concussion.”
“Why?”
“Paul Vickery kicked you in the head.”
“When?” Will asked, but that wasn’t the right question. He knew Vickery had kicked him. “I mean, why was Paul at the hospital?”
“Someone took a shot at him.” Faith made herself more clear. “Paul Vickery was at the hospital because someone tried to kill him tonight.”
“I’m sorry I keep forgetting things.”
“It’s all right.” Faith spoke more slowly than necessary. “Vickery was at home. A gunshot was fired through a front window at his house. That’s why he had the bandage on his arm.”
Will couldn’t remember seeing a bandage. “Is he okay?”
“Okay enough to attack you.” She frowned. “He fights like a woman. You’ve got scratches on your neck.” Faith turned his head. “Did he bite you?”
Will looked away. Paul Vickery hadn’t made those marks. Sara had scratched him. She’d kicked him and bitten him and Will hadn’t stopped because everything she did only made him want to fuck her harder.
Faith gave up on the Q-tip. She smeared antibiotic onto her finger and rubbed it on Will’s face. “They went after DeShawn Franklin, too. He was jumped outside a movie theater tonight. His girlfriend started screaming. She called 911.”
“They took him to the hospital?”
“Will, look at me.” She made sure she had his attention. “Someone went after Franklin and Vickery on the same night that Eric Haigh’s body was dumped on his front lawn.”
Will already knew these details, but the way she put them together so succinctly finally made them click. “It was coordinated.”
“Right. Someone was sending a message.” She peeled open a Band-Aid.
“That’s what the redneck said—there’s no use sending a message unless everybody can read it.”
“Well, if you ever see him again, tell him the message was received loud and clear. Turn that way.”
Will turned his head. Faith stuck the Band-Aid on his neck to cover the scratches.
He asked, “Is that why you were at the hospital? Because they were all attacked?”
“I was looking for you.”
“Because of DeShawn Franklin.” Will shook his head. That was wrong. “You went to the hospital because of Eric Haigh. You saw him and you thought they had done the same thing to me.”
“I thought he was you,” Faith said. “His own wife didn’t recognize him. I went to the hospital thinking I was going to have to identify your body.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank God Sara wasn’t answering her phone.” She indicated for him to look up again. The scratches were too wide for just one Band-Aid. “It was a real party after that. Paul Vickery and DeShawn Franklin were wheeled in right as I was coming up from the morgue. I was talking on the phone to Amanda.”
“Did you have to tell them Haigh was dead?”
“Yes,” Faith answered, her voice straining. “But then they saw Tony Dell getting his hand sewn up and decided to take it out on him.” She didn’t make Will ask. “It took six cops to get them off the guy.”
“Why’d they go after him?”
“I guess because Dell’s car was parked outside Lena’s house the night they were attacked. I’m sure whoever Vickery’s witness is who saw you at the club also saw Tony. It’s not a leap to think you both had something to do with Haigh’s murder.”
It wasn’t a leap because it was right. “What’s Tony saying?”
“Who knows?” Faith sounded exasperated. “I told you five seconds ago that it took six cops to peel DeShawn and Vickery off Tony Dell. By the time anybody thought to look, Dell was gone. We turned the hospital upside down, but he managed to get away.”
“He probably had ten escape routes already planned.” Will remembered something. He took out his wallet. Cayla Martin’s handwritten note was still in the photo sleeve. “This is Tony’s stepsister. Check her house.”
Faith took the note with some skepticism. “Dell didn’t have any siblings on his background check.”
“It was only a few years,” Will said. “He’s in love with her.”
Her look said she was considering the hospital again.
“I know it sounds weird, but it’s true. She’s a nurse at the hospital.”
“I’ll send a car.”
Will coughed. He looked at his palm, expecting to find blood. “Vickery called me a cop killer.”
Faith shook her head like she didn’t understand it, either. “Maybe he saw you leaving Eric Haigh’s house?” She answered herself. “No, if he saw you leaving Haigh’s, he would’ve killed you in the street. Do you remember seeing Vickery tonight? Or any of them?”
Will considered the question. He could feel it roll around in his brain like a marble that wouldn’t settle. Faith said, “I’m going to call Sara.”