The identity of the gunman would be nice to know too.
Screaming sirens indicated the police were on the way. It wasn’t easy to calmly wait for the City of Newburgh police cruiser to pull up in front of the café. Back when she lived on the streets of New York City, she’d have disappeared long before the cops had a chance to arrive. But since there was a dead guy lying in the street, not to mention a handful of witnesses who could no doubt identify her, she felt it prudent to stay long enough to get her side of the incident on file. She forced a smile as a pair of officers emerged from the vehicle.
The smile froze on her face when she recognized the taller of the two men. Jarek, a.k.a. Jarhead, Brooks. He was a cop? The knot of dread in her gut tightened as Jarek, of course, recognized her.
His blue eyes narrowed as he raked his gaze over her. “Di. What happened here?”
“You two know each other?” the shorter cop asked. His name tag read Kent.
“We served together in Afghanistan,” Jarek said. “I only did one tour, but Di was stationed there for two tours.” His frown deepened. “I’m glad you made it home.”
“I was one of the lucky ones.” Seeing Jarek Brooks after all these years was an unwelcome shock. She turned toward Kent. “My name is Dina Milbrath,” she quickly introduced herself. “Someone fired a weapon from the north, striking this man here and killing him.”
“Are you hurt?” Jarek asked, his expression grim.
“No, I’m fine. These people came out of the café at the sound of gunfire; they witnessed the event.” She nodded toward the five people who had remained, including the white-haired guy. “That being said, I believe I was the intended target.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Jarek muttered.
“Wait, what’s going on?” Officer Kent looked confused. “Why does someone want to kill her?”
“I don’t know.” Di gave Jarek a dark look. They had never gotten along, and she didn’t appreciate his acting as if the dead guy lying at her feet was somehow her fault. “Do either of you recognize this guy? Could he be involved in one of the local gangs?”
“He doesn’t look familiar to me,” Kent said. “Does he have an ID on him?”
“No ID, no cash, but there’s a gun tucked in the small of his back.” She shrugged, the disposable cell burning a hole in her pocket. If Jarek knew she’d taken it, he’d toss her in jail for tampering with evidence. Yet it was too late to pull the phone out now. “He was following me, so I confronted him. That’s when the gunshot rang out.”
“Of course you did.” Jarek’s scowl deepened. “You’re not a cop, Di. Why on earth would you take matters into your own hands?”
She swallowed the urge to snap at him. Keeping her voice calm with an effort, she held Jarek’s gaze. “I had no way of knowing he was armed and that he had a partner. Why wouldn’t I try to talk to him?”
Kent glanced from her to Jarek, no doubt sensing the undercurrent between them. “Do you know why someone wants you dead? Maybe a former boyfriend or an ex-husband?”
“No. My former boyfriend and I split amicably, so I don’t think he’d do this. I’ve never been married. I noticed this man following me and had wrenched him around to ask what he was doing, then the gunfire rang out. It was just pure luck that the bullet struck him instead of me. I thought he was from one of the gangs, but since he has no tattoos or scars, I’m not sure that’s accurate.”
At the word scar, both men seemed to shift their gazes to her deeply grooved cheek. Jarek hadn’t been there when she’d been knifed by the Afghan soldier. That had taken place toward the end of her second tour. Jarek had already been stateside by then.
She wasn’t going to explain how she’d sustained the wound now; instead, she simply waited for them to get back to the situation at hand.
“I saw what happened.” The white-haired man stepped forward. “I mean, I didn’t notice him following anyone, until Ms.—uh, Milbrath left the café and rushed toward him. The gunfire rang out just as she swung him around to face her.”
“We’ll need you to come down to the station to give us a formal statement,” Jarek said, his gaze holding hers. “Where do you live?”
The very thought of going inside a police station filled her with a sick sense of dread. Her gut reaction wasn’t at all logical. There was no way Jarek or any of the other Newburgh cops could know about her troubled past. She wasn’t sixteen and living on the streets anymore. With an effort, she lifted her chin. “I live a few blocks from here on Hollow Hill Road.”
The ambulance arrived along with a detective wearing a suit jacket that was too small for his rotund frame. She didn’t see his partner and wondered why he was working alone. He looked cranky. She could kind of relate. “I’m Detective Andrews. What’s going on?”
Jarek filled Andrews in on the series of events. His tone was curt, as if there was no love lost between the two men. When Andrews turned toward her, she quickly reiterated her side of the story as well. Now that the danger was over, she was anxious for this interview to be over and done so she could get out of there.
If the dead guy wasn’t part of the gang, then she needed to think about who else might have put a target on her back. Despite her less than charming personality—as Jarek had often described her—she truly didn’t go around making enemies. Quite the opposite. She lived alone and didn’t have any close friends outside of her sister and her teammates.
But the actions she’d taken as a teenager? That was a whole different story. And if this was somehow related to her past, she needed to tread carefully. If the truth came out, her life would be over. It wouldn’t matter that she’d been fifteen at the time.
There was no statute of limitations on murder.
Jarek Brooks sensed Dina Milbrath was holding back. Oh, she’d acted as if she were cooperating by answering their questions, but he knew her better than most. They hadn’t been close, but they had served together for six years in Afghanistan. Her prickly personality had annoyed him. He’d been the one to give her the “Di” nickname because she was a diamond in the rough. Emphasis on rough. She hadn’t appreciated it, but the name had stuck.
From what he could tell, her attitude had only gotten worse in the years since he’d last seen her.
