Jarek had saved her life. Again.
“No, there’s a second one.” She pointed to a spot that was a few inches to the left and down a notch.
Officer Kent crossed over to where they stood. A guy in his mid-thirties poked his head out of the café. “Is the shooter gone?”
“Yes.” Di held his gaze. “Did you get a good look at him?”
“Me? No. I only heard the shots and took cover.” The man scowled. “This is going to have a negative impact on my business.”
Di felt bad about that and made a mental note that she and Jarek would have to get their meals to go moving forward. Clearly, they couldn’t enjoy a sandwich while sitting outside. Doing that would only bring danger to yet another restaurant. And more innocent people.
“Do you have other employees inside?” Jarek asked. “We’ll need to talk to them too.”
“Just one employee, Abby Crane.” The guy stepped back. “Abby? The police want to talk to you.”
Di wasn’t surprised to learn Abby hadn’t seen much either. She had joined her boss, Devin Hart, hiding under the counter when the gunfire rang out. Kent jotted notes in his notebook as she moved around the patio space. When she ventured farther, she caught a glimpse of something shiny.
A brass casing. “Jarek?” When he turned toward her, she gestured for him to come closer. “The gunman was standing here when he fired at us.”
“He didn’t get a chance to pick up his brass,” Jarek said with satisfaction. “This could prove to be a break in the case if the techs can lift fingerprints.”
“The crime scene techs will be here soon.” Just as Kent said the words, the white panel van pulled in alongside a dark-green car. Detective Andrews stood, hiked his pants, and scowled at her. “You again?”
“Yep.” The way he insinuated that being targeted by a gang was her fault had her swallowing a flash of anger. It was tempting to punch him in the gut. But, of course, that would be assaulting a police officer, so she managed to keep her hands at her sides.
“This is hardly Di’s fault.” Jarek instantly came to her defense. “Maybe if you did your job, this guy would already be behind bars.”
“Me?” Andrews took a threatening step toward Jarek. Kent stepped between them.
“Let’s focus on the evidence,” Kent said, playing the role of peacekeeper. “We have two slugs and one shell casing so far. And a general description of the suspect and the escape vehicle.”
After one long glare at her, Andrews took the diversion for what it was. “Okay, we’ll need to put a rush on the evidence. So far, the other crime scenes we’ve checked have not revealed anything usable.”
“No DNA?” Jarek asked with a frown. “I thought for sure the warm weather would result in something helpful.”
“Yeah, there was some sweat DNA taken from the third-floor empty apartment,” Kent confirmed. “But it’s going to take time to be processed through the system for a match.”
Di grimaced. If that DNA belonged to Stewey, they were out of luck. “This shell casing should take priority because we already know Brian Stewert was involved prior to his breaking into Jarek’s house and being shot and killed. The man who left this shell casing behind is still alive and on the loose. Finding him is the most important thing right now.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Kent turned to one of the crime scene techs. “Check the casing for prints. Then there are two slugs in the side of the café that need to be extracted.”
“Understood.” The crime scene tech took a photo of the shell casing on the ground next to an evidence marker, then carefully placed it in an evidence bag.
Di stood back alongside Jarek, watching as the scene was processed by the crime scene techs. The second shell casing was found near a storm drain on the other side of the street where it must have hit the ground and rolled away. That was photographed and bagged as well.
Di and Jarek each provided their statements, which were not very detailed as the incident happened so fast. She was a little irked that she’d seen even less than Jarek had.
And the café employees couldn’t add anything useful either.
“Time to head to the warehouse,” Di said in a low voice as Kent, the other officers, and Andrews finally moved away from the patio. “Unless you want to tell Andrews about the man we saw earlier.”
Jarek grimaced and shook his head. “No. That guy we saw leaving the boat and heading into the warehouse for sure wasn’t the shooter. They were dressed differently. To be fair, there’s nothing to link that guy in the cargo shorts to this shooting.”
“Unless he was the one driving the black Honda getaway car,” Di said. “But I’m good with us just going to check the place out ourselves.”
“I don’t know that we should do that in daylight,” Jarek protested. “Better to go under the cover of darkness. Besides, we were going to dig into the owner of the warehouse, remember?”
“We can do that later. There’s no reason to wait on checking out the warehouse. Besides, if the cargo shorts guy was driving the black Honda, then he’s not at the warehouse now, right? Maybe it’s empty, which provides the perfect time for us to check the place out.”
