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“What happened?” Rhy’s tone was sharp.
“I have reason to believe the parade shooter has come after Elly.” Joe’s blunt assessment made her shiver. “She saw him up close while wearing her uniform with her name tag on. Then she worked with a sketch artist to make a decent likeness of him. I have to assume he found out where the Finnegan family home was located.”
“These types of shooters normally crave media attention. They want to go down in history,” Rhy said. “They don’t keep coming after someone who witnessed them taking random shots at strangers. Why is this guy different?”
“I don’t know.” Joe sounded frustrated. Elly couldn’t blame him. She couldn’t begin to comprehend why this was happening.
She found her voice. “I’m fine, Rhy, but I’m worried about Devon and Colleen. Maybe you should get your family out of there.”
“Or I can get Steele, Raelyn, or one of the other teammates to come sit on your house for the rest of the night,” Joe offered. “I—don’t know if you heard, but we lost Kyle.”
There was a long silence as her brother digested this. Elly knew Rhy considered his team to be like members of the family. Losing one of their own would hit hard.
Joe continued to make several turns, winding through the Brookland neighborhood. Finally, Rhy said, “I’m sorry to hear we lost Kyle. And that only makes me more determined to figure out what’s going on. According to the news, there were ten people killed and at least two dozen injured.”
“That sounds about right.” Joe glanced at her, then added, “Elly was amazing. She ran out into the street to rescue a young boy. She also saved my life.”
“And now Joe has returned the favor.” For some odd reason, she didn’t like the way he seemed fixated on those brief moments when she’d watched the shooter take aim at Joe and shouted a warning. Anyone would have done the same thing. She’d reacted without thinking, hardly heroic. “I’m sorry, Rhy. We never should have come to the homestead.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, this is your home.” Rhy sighed heavily. “Joe, please take Elly someplace safe. I’ll get in touch with the team to see who’s available to sit out here tonight. I don’t like wasting resources, though. Every cop on the street should be out searching for this guy.”
“Alert the Brookland PD,” Joe suggested. “I’m sure the shooter is long gone, but maybe they can find something, evidence that we can use to find him.”
“Did he leave anything behind at the parade?” Rhy asked.
“Not that I’m aware of. I had Raelyn and Steele out looking for signs of shell casings or anything else that might be evidence, but there were too many people and innocent victims. I believe they found some casings, but not likely all of them. I planned on having them search again tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll call Brookland, then touch base with Steele.” There was a slight pause before Rhy added, “Please keep Elly safe.”
She didn’t like hearing the worry in her brother’s tone. “I’ll be fine, Rhy. I will feel better knowing Devon and Colleen are safe too.”
“I’ll head to the American Lodge,” Joe spoke up. “I know it’s only a week before Christmas, but hopefully Gary will have a couple of rooms available.”
“Sounds good. If not, let me know and we can rent something.” The sound of a baby crying came through the speakers. “I have to go. Keep me updated.”
“Will do.” Joe punched the end call button.
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The bullet hole stared at her, but she decided to look on the bright side. God had been watching out for her. She was alive and so was Joe. All she could ask was for her family to be safe.
“The American Lodge, huh?” She tried to smile even though her heart was heavy. “I’ve heard so much about the place but have never been there.”
Joe nodded, glancing at her. “I know Rhy and several of your other siblings have used it before. Gary Campbell, the owner, is a former firefighter and is happy to give special rates to cops and firefighters.”
“Sounds like it’s finally my turn to check it out.” She strove to keep her tone light, despite the threat of danger. The sketch of the shooter flashed in her mind. “Do you think he saw his face on the news already?”
“That’s a good question.” Joe looked thoughtful. “It didn’t take us that long to get from downtown Milwaukee to your place. Even if the sketch went out to the media in record time, the news outlets would have had to fit the breaking news story into their schedule. It seems unlikely that this guy could have seen a news story featuring his face prior to the gunfire at the house. Not if he was stationed outside the homestead, waiting for us to show.”
A shiver rippled over her skin. The very thought of this guy sitting somewhere close to her family home with a gun was terrifying. “I hope your teammates agree to watch over Devon and Colleen.”
“They will.” Joe spoke with confidence. “Especially after the way we lost Kyle Malaki to this guy.”
She nodded. Kyle had been a nice guy. Everyone that she’d interacted with on Rhy’s team was just as honorable. She’d met Kyle on several occasions, and it made her heart hurt to know he’d been killed by an evil man with no conscience.
Yet deep down, she was selfishly relieved Joe hadn’t been hurt.
When she spied the American Lodge, she had to admit she had been expecting something more after hearing so much about the place. The two-story white building was nice enough but not large. From what she could tell, there were twenty-four rooms, twelve on each floor, all facing the parking lot.
“Gary keeps the place clean,” Joe said as if reading her thoughts. He pulled into the parking lot and stationed the SUV directly in front of the main lobby doorway. “Stay where you are, I’ll come around to open your door.”
