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“On it,” Steele said in agreement. It didn’t take long for the guy’s picture to show up on the screen. “Yeah, he’s definitely not our shooter.” His buddy turned the phone so that he could see the man’s image.
The man on the screen had a round face, a small chin, and a stocky frame. “He could have hired someone.”
“Maybe,” Steele agreed. “We’ll bring him in for questioning too.”
Joe got the impression they could be there all day. Which wasn’t a bad thing, as the sooner they could weed some of these suspects out, the better.
The interview with Henry’s parents was even less enlightening. They were just as broken up as Gabby’s parents, yet clinging to hope that he might survive despite being in the ICU and listed as being in critical condition.
Bart Shaw was easy to find as well. He claimed he had nothing to do with Gabrielle’s murder or the shooting at the Christmas parade. Steele hammered him pretty hard, going over and over his alibi for the time frame in question, but the guy stuck to his guns.
Having nothing concrete, they were forced to let him go. Yet as soon as they were alone, Joe said, “We need a subpoena to dig into his financials. No way is he the shooter Elly bumped into and that I glimpsed running from the scene. But he could have hired someone.”
“Possibly,” Steele agreed. “Hard to imagine him doing that, though. Honestly, he seemed rather harmless.”
“We need to make sure.” Joe wasn’t about to take any shortcuts here. Not with a case of this magnitude. “Check with Michaels to make sure he’s on board. Hopefully, the judge won’t balk at a subpoena.”
“He won’t,” Steele said confidently.
They rose and left the interview room. He noticed Elly was sitting exactly where he’d left her, chatting with a rookie cop. He had to squash the flash of jealousy. He turned to Steele. “Do you need my help with the subpoena?”
“I’ll take care of it.” Steele nodded toward Elly. “Looks like she needs to be rescued from Alan. Give me a few minutes to get the ball rolling, then I’ll drive you both back to the hotel.”
“Thanks.” He headed toward Elly, noticing with a surge of satisfaction that he had no business feeling how her eyes lit up when she saw him. Without hesitation, she murmured something to the rookie, then stood and edged past him to meet him halfway.
“You’ve been gone a long time.” She searched his gaze. “I hope you learned something helpful.”
“We did.” He tried not to smile at how crestfallen the rookie looked at how quickly Elly left him. He cupped his hand beneath her elbow. “According to both Gabrielle’s and Henry’s parents, the rivalry thing was more of a PR stunt than anything serious.”
“Really?” She looked disappointed. “I had hoped it would lead to a possible suspect.”
“Oh, we’ll still dig a little deeper into Alicia and Thomas White, just to be certain,” he assured her.
“You didn’t learn anything else?” She looked disappointed.
“We interviewed one possible suspect, but that’s about it.” He nodded to where Steele worked away at a computer. “He’s working on a subpoena. We’re heading back to the hotel as soon as he’s finished.”
“Okay. That would be great.”
He felt guilty for making her sit there for so long. The hour was well past noon. He should have asked her brothers to stay with her rather than dragging her down to the station with them. He wondered why no one had issued a shelter in place order. Although that would be difficult to do for a city this size. Still, Elly should be sheltering in place as much as possible.
Next time, he silently promised himself.
“Kingsley?” Steele glanced over with a grin. “We got it. We should have access to the information in a couple of hours.”
“Great.” He gestured to the closet chair. “Sit tight for a minute while I change.”
“I’ll stand. I’ve been sitting enough.”
“Understood.” He hurried to the locker room to change. He would have preferred to stay here working, but it was Sunday, and he was already racking up overtime. Maybe tomorrow he’d convince Elly’s brothers to take over guard duty for a while.
Ten minutes later, he was ready. Steele glanced at him as he approached. “Are we heading out the front or the back?”
“The back,” he said. “Maybe you can drive your SUV around to meet us?”
“Sure thing.” Steele didn’t argue.
“I don’t suppose we can grab something for lunch on the way,” Elly said as she shrugged into her winter coat. “It sounds crazy, but I’m hungry.”
