She held his gaze. “I was willing to sit in the back seat until now and let everyone else investigate. Someone just shot at me. I take that personally. I’m not going to sit back and watch anymore.”
“I get it. I’ll do what I can to help keep you involved.”
The medics returned and walked Ben to their rig.
“I hope it’s not too many stitches,” Lainie said to him as he walked off.
The exertion made Ben realize that it was the right move. He probably shouldn’t be driving right at this moment. As he walked to the medic truck, he heard police radio traffic explain that one of the responding units had found a motorcycle and a broken helmet abandoned near the airport. It had been reported stolen the night before.
Ben settled into the ambulance and tried to relax. Being brought in by medics got him into an exam room immediately. He was still waiting to be seen by a doctor when Mark showed up.
“I can’t figure out why anyone would be shooting at me or Jensen,” Ben said, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his forehead. “We don’t have enough evidence to arrest anyone right now.”
“Not exactly true. I’ve been thinking about this ever since you called. You were able to expose the shark attack as a hoax. Moffit and Benton have good reason to want you dead.”
Ben considered this for a moment. “Still, it makes no sense for me to be targeted. Killing me won’t put the genie back in the bottle. Other cops will take up the cause. LBPD has the investigation. Killing us won’t stop that.”
“Maybe you weren’t the target.”
“You think Jensen was the target?”
Mark hiked up a shoulder. “It’s her brother-in-law who is on the run. Family ties are often the most volatile. All the evidence now points to him killing his own wife. What’s to stop him from killing Jensen?”
Just then the doctor stepped into the room. As the doctor examined him and cleaned out the wound, Ben considered Mark’s words. The boss was right; Moffit and Benton could have a strong motive to kill Elaine Jensen, even if it was simply revenge. He was very much cornered right now.
He winced when the doctor began to stitch him up. He hoped the man would hurry. Detective Jensen was in danger and suddenly Ben felt protective.
CHAPTER 29
In addition to finding a stolen motorcycle two miles from where the shooting occurred, Sara and assisting units found a rifle dumped in the alley just outside the tow yard fence. The gun was a beat-up Remington, and the rounds were .223. Basically, a hunting rifle. It was probably stolen like the bike.
Lainie was still inside the yard while Sara collected the evidence in the alley. A homicide team had also arrived; they handled officer-involved shootings. Technically, Lainie was not on duty, and as far as they knew, her bullets had not injured anyone, so she was interviewed but her gun was not confiscated. After they spoke to her, they left to see how Ben was doing at the hospital.
She stood on a stepladder to see over the fence and could see pockmarks in the brick wall of the building abutting the alley from where Ben’s and her bullets had hit. There were also scattered bits of hard plastic from the helmet.
“Good shooting, Lainie,” Sara said. “It always amazes me how good you are under pressure.”
“I skimmed the top of the helmet. I hope camera footage has a clear image of this guy. He must have had his visor up to shoot.”
Sara pointed up at the camera. “There’s no good angle on this specific spot. He figured that out. And that is likely why he wore thehelmet.” She nodded to everything she had collected. “He left the rifle, the brass. Obviously he’s not concerned about leaving prints.” Sara looked up. “Did Stan own a rifle?”
“Not that I know of. I don’t even recall him knowing anything about guns. But at this point, I think there is a lot I don’t know about Stan.” Lainie climbed down from the ladder and walked to the office. She waited there until Sara and the others finished gathering evidence.
She wondered how Ben was doing and planned to drive to the hospital if he was still there.
“You sure brought a lot of excitement to the yard, there, Detective,” Mel commented.
“You guys always need a wake-up call,” Lainie told him.
“Not this kind.” He shook his head.
Her phone rang and she answered. “Are you calling with good news, Bobby?”
“I think so. Got a call from a hospital in San Bernardino. They have Crystal Benton.”
“What?”
“They’ve had her for three days. She’s in a coma—car accident, tire blew out, rollover on Route 330.”
