“We could try one of our police safe houses,” he suggested. “We have three located throughout the city.”
“Nah, I think we should let Rex arrange something for us.” When he frowned, she added, “I don’t really think Andrews is involved, but it can’t hurt for us to fly under the radar moving forward.”
“Okay.” He headed back upstairs to his room. His spare weapon was in a lock box on the top shelf of his closet. He grabbed the gun along with extra clips and tossed them into a duffel that was similar to Di’s. After a stop in the bathroom for his toiletry kit, he stepped around Stewey and headed back downstairs.
He wished Stewey had survived. Questioning him would have been helpful. In his experience, guys like Stewey were eager to talk in exchange for a deal. Too bad, the guy wouldn’t be talking any longer.
Stewey was their only lead. Other than the disposable cell phone that couldn’t be used as evidence. He joined Di outside on the front porch. The earlier thunderstorm had moved on, leaving a damp freshness in the air. Di leaned on the porch railing, staring out into the distance. He paused beside her. “What do you think? Should we use my car or get a rental?”
She pushed away from the railing. “I think we should get a rental, but we’ll have to use your car in the meantime since they’re not open yet. We might want to stop and get breakfast. It’s going to take Rex some time to make the arrangements for a new place.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” He led the way to his vehicle in the driveway. After tossing his duffel into the back, he held out a hand for hers. Closing the hatch, he headed around to the driver’s side. “I should have told you that it would be better for us to stay in a house, rather than an apartment. I know there are several apartments available on those home share sites and that they’re generally cheaper.”
“Rex knows we need a house, not an apartment.” A wry smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “He’s on board with lowering the chance of innocent victims being hit if we happen to get found again.”
“Yeah.” He sat for a moment watching as the responding police officers split up to canvass the neighborhood. Those neighbors who knew him would be happy to cooperate, but he doubted the officers would learn much. His neighbors were likely asleep and had only awoken to the sound of gunfire. By then, Stewey was dead. And if there was an accomplice, he had likely taken off at the first sound of trouble.
It went against the grain to drive away, leaving the legwork to others. Not that he’d be allowed to work a case where he’d shot and killed an intruder.
When had this gotten so complicated? Oh yeah, the minute he’d teamed up with Di Milbrath.
“Something wrong?” Di asked, when they hadn’t moved.
He turned to look at her. “For the record, I don’t believe any of my peers are involved in this. But you are right to question how Stewey found us.”
She shrugged. “I think it’s smarter to keep an open mind. But yeah, I’ve already thought about that. If Stewey was in the beige Chevy firing at us as they drove past, the only way he could have followed us was to bail from the car after the shooting, hiding nearby to watch us leave. He wouldn’t be able to follow our car while on foot, but he may have gotten your license plate.”
He frowned. “Or he cut through the yards to catch a glimpse of us driving past. We weren’t that far from my house.”
“Maybe.” He could tell by the layer of doubt in her tone that Di didn’t think that was a credible theory. “Either way, we still need to get a new ride. After breakfast,” she repeated, “I’m starved.”
“I could eat too.” He put the SUV into drive and headed out. He had to admire her ability to keep a healthy appetite despite the shooting. She must have had an amazing metabolism, which probably explained her packing protein bars.
There were only a handful of restaurants that opened early in the morning, and they were located down near the riverfront in the touristy part of town.
Not that Newburgh was much of a tourist attraction. There were a few historic buildings but not many. The mayor had improved the riverfront, the water cleaner now than it had been for decades. Yet this town wasn’t nearly the hub of activity compared to the Broadway Street of New York City or the boardwalk of New Jersey.
Still, he liked it there. Maybe because it wasn’t as crowded as the big city. And he’d been able to climb the ladder here too. Well, if teaming up with Di didn’t ruin his chance of being promoted to detective.
“Hey, do you mind if we go through the park?” Di asked. “It looks like a nice place. I’ve lived here for the past five years but never took the time to visit.”
“Sure.” He glanced at her. “Five years? Since getting out of the army?”
“Yeah.” She grimaced. “I tried Chicago but didn’t like it. Plus, my sister and her kids live in Chelsea, and I wanted to be closer to her.”
“Why not stay in Chelsea?” he asked, genuinely curious.
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know, mostly because it’s a little pricey for me. My sister’s husband is a banker. They live in a really nice house in an upscale neighborhood. That’s just not my kind of thing.” She shrugged. “Newburgh has the big-city feel without being overwhelming with the number of people living around me. I like it.”
“I agree. Despite its reputation for being high in crime, we’ve worked hard over the years to make it a safer place to live.” He was surprised she’d chosen Newburgh as her home. Interesting that they had that in common.
Oddly, he was beginning to realize they had more in common than he’d expected. Something he wouldn’t have believed prior to spending the past eighteen hours with her.
“Hey, is that the beige Chevy? It looks like someone backed it into the parking space over there.” Di’s excited comment had him turning to look out her passenger-side window. Seeing a car sitting in the parking lot near the restrooms had him slamming on the brake, bringing his SUV to an abrupt stop. Then he shifted the car into reverse, backing up so he could make the turn to get closer.
“No front plate,” Di said, as he pulled up alongside it. “It’s odd that they backed it in, almost as if they did that on purpose to hide the plate number. But it looks similar to the one we saw last evening.”
“It does.” He pushed open the car door and stepped out. He swept his gaze over the area but didn’t see anyone lurking nearby. Di had gotten out on her side and was already rounding the vehicle to see the rear plate.
