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“I’m across the street at the coffee shop,” Cole said. “He’s in clear view. Martinez is in the alley behind the restaurant and I’ve got plainclothes guys on each end of the street.”
“I’m circling behind the coffee shop,” Jack said. “I don’t want him to see my unit.”
Jack parked by a dumpster, and we got out of the Tahoe quickly, using the back entrance of the coffee shop closest to the bathrooms.
“Good timing,” Cole said as we came up to the bistro table he was occupying in the corner.
Cole had been right. Bobby Pickering was in his direct line of sight, but the angle made it so Pickering couldn’t see us unless he turned his head a little more.
“Any sign of who he’s meeting?” Jack asked.
“Not yet,” Cole said.
“Wait a sec,” Jack said, nodding toward the opposite corner. “That guy look familiar?”
Cole shook his head, but then I remembered Cole had already left for the night when we interviewed the valets.
“Oh,” I said. “That’s the kid from last night. Darnell?”
“Bingo,” Jack said. “What do you want to bet that’s who Pickering is waiting for?”
Cole brought a walkie-talkie to his mouth and said, “Plank, you’ve got a potential suspect coming from behind you. Black jacket and gray beanie. Hands in his pockets.”
There was silence for a bit and then Plank said, “Got him.”
I saw a teenager who’d been propping up a corner of the building looking at his cell phone start following Darnell and my mouth dropped open.
“Is that Plank?” I asked in surprise.
“The one and only,” Cole said, grinning.
Plank was a rookie officer who was slowly getting the shine rubbed off of him, but he still looked like a fresh-faced kid playing dress-up in his father’s uniform. But today he looked even younger wearing a hoodie and baggy jeans and an old baseball cap. His cheeks were flushed red from the cold and his sneakers looked nice but well used. As he walked closer, I could tell he had AirPods in his ears and he was moving to an unheard beat as he made his way down the sidewalk.
Darnell opened the door of the restaurant and stepped inside and Plank kept going, not giving up his cover.
“Wow,” I said. “I’m not sure I would’ve recognized him if he’d come in here.”
“The kid’s good,” Cole said. “Just young. If we can get Wachowski to make a man out of him one day he’s going to be a heck of a cop.”
Jack snorted out a laugh. Plank and Wachowski had recently gone from the dating each other phase to living together. Wachowski was a seasoned cop and a good eight years older than Plank, and Plank’s parents weren’t thrilled with the arrangement, but no one had died yet, so we all considered that a win.
Cole lifted the walkie-talkie again and said, “Let’s move. Nice and slow. I don’t feel like running today.”
Cole got up from the table and we waited until Plank had turned around and entered the restaurant. His hand was in the pocket of his hoodie where I assumed his weapon was. Another officer I recognized as Holmes came in shortly after Plank, and then we followed Cole out of the coffee shop and across the street. Darnell’s back was to us, so he didn’t see us enter. But it was obvious Pickering was familiar with cops, because as soon as he saw Cole and Jack enter the restaurant he moved to get up from the table.
Fortunately, Plank and Holmes were standing right there and Plank put his hand on Pickering’s shoulder, pushing him back down into his seat.
“Fancy seeing you here, Darnell,” Jack said as he came up to the table.
Darnell had a deer in the headlights look and he swallowed several times, looking back and forth between Jack and Pickering.
“Bobby Pickering,” Cole said. “We’ve been looking for you. Need to ask you some questions about what happened at the Purple Pig last night. The best thing you can do is come with us peacefully. We’ll walk right out of here and take a trip to the station.” Then Cole looked at Darnell. “Looks like we need to ask you some questions too.”
Plank still had his hand on Pickering’s shoulder and moved it to his arm to help Pickering out of the booth.
There was a loud explosion and the next thing I knew I was covered in blood and brain matter. I saw Pickering crumple to the ground. His head was all but gone, but then I saw Plank go down with him.
There was no time to duck or take cover. No time to react. One moment we’d been standing there and the next there was carnage. I’d been through a lot in my life. I’d had life-or-death experiences, more than I’d have preferred. I’d felt the life drain from me slowly and I’d had my life flash before my eyes with the violence created by evil. But never had I been so close to the fragility of the human body, and so close to the bullet that caused the destruction.
