Billy stopped to watch Wanda walk away and upstairs. He shook his head. “Always a pleasure.”
When Wanda walked into the room, Rain was resting, Glenda was sitting next to the bed reading and Yarissa was standing by the window looking outside into the night.
“Hey, Wanda,” Yarissa and Glenda said at the same time, making them look at each other just as Rain opened her eyes. Glenda got up from the chair so Wanda could sit down.
“What is going on?” Wanda asked.
“I have no idea,” Rain said. “They hit me last night, shot up Conversations earlier tonight, and then this.”
“Was anybody hurt?”
“Four dead and fourteen more had to go to the hospital.”
“Well you can’t stay here,” Wanda said and turned to Glenda. “Can we move her?”
“Yes, we can.”
“Then get her ready.”
“Where are you taking me?” Rain asked.
“I have a fortified safe house, complete with a panic room and enough stock to last a year.”
Chapter Twelve
It was getting late and with Bautista at the wheel, she and Kirk were heading back to the precinct to call it a night. After she complained about him never letting her drive, Kirk tossed Bautista the keys and said, “You drive.” His intention was to let her drive for a couple of days just to shut her up. But after a couple of days of relaxing in the passenger seat, Kirk found that he liked it and hadn’t driven since.
They were stopped at a red light a few blocks from the precinct when the call came over the radio about the shooting at Conversations. The detectives looked at each other. Bautista tipped her head to one side and smiled at her partner. When Kirk nodded his head, Bautista went lights and sirens and headed for Conversations.
“Tread lightly, detective, this isn’t our case,” Kirk warned as Bautista parked as close to the scene as she could get.
“Don’t worry; I’ll be nice and courteous. The model of cooperation.” She got out of the car. “And besides, something like this, four dead and dozens injured, come on, Major Case is gonna catch this and with any luck, Goodson and Harris will be there and they’ll be glad to see us coming,” Bautista said as they fought their way through the crowd to get to the crime scene.
Once they made it past the police tape, Bautista asked an officer who was in charge of the chaotic scene. They were directed to Lieutenant Torres. He told the detectives what they had been able to put together from the physical evidence and eyewitness accounts.
“They drove down the sidewalk,” Torres pointed, “Killed two people and fifteen more had to be treated for injuries. Then they stopped right here, two of them got out and shot up the place.”
“Anybody hurt?” Kirk asked.
“Two more dead from gunshot wounds, twenty-seven injured. Some of the injured needed to be hospitalized.”
Then the lieutenant informed them that Goodson and Harris had indeed been assigned the case. “However, they haven’t arrived yet,” Torres said.
He respected Kirk and thought Bautista was hot, so he gave them the run of the crime scene just as Bautista had hoped. “One more thing, Kirk. There’s a rumor been going around that there was a shooting at J.R.’s last night.”
“I hadn’t heard that,” Kirk said.
“And there’s more,” Torres hinted.
“What else?” Kirk asked.
“The word is that Rain Robinson was the target.”
“Really,” Bautista said excitedly and glanced at Kirk.
“Definitely hadn’t heard that one,” Kirk said.
He knew Bautista well enough to know from the smile on her face and the look in her eyes that she could barely contain herself. “Come on, detective. Let’s have a look around.”