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This time, they could not let him get away.
Joe shot to his feet and sprinted toward the pale-green house, sweeping his gaze from side to side as he held his weapon ready. He slowed his pace upon reaching the building and took a moment to peek around the corner.
Nothing.
Gritting his teeth, he continued along the side of the green house, keeping a wary eye out for any sign of movement. Things had happened fast, yet he also knew the guy could have left the area immediately after taking the shot at Elly.
They had to find him. They just had to!
But as he came around the back side of the green house, he met up with Raelyn. She shook her head, indicating she hadn’t seen the shooter either.
“Keep searching,” he ordered, even though he felt certain they’d missed him. “I need to check back with Elly.”
“Will do.” Raelyn was joined by Brock, and the two team members fanned out to continue scouring the area. Joe noticed even more team members had arrived, Jina and Flynn were there too.
The entire tactical team had responded to his call for help. It was humbling, yet they still didn’t have the shooter in custody.
And he feared they never would.
As he jogged back to the SUV, he saw Steele had dragged Eloise outside in handcuffs. It took all his willpower not to punch the woman who’d baited them into coming.
Setting Elly up to be shot and killed.
“Who is he?” He stormed toward Kyle’s widow. “You know him, don’t you? You’re about to go down for aiding and abetting a murderer. Who is he?”
“Stop, please,” Eloise begged. Her eyes filled with tears, but Joe couldn’t come up with any sympathy for her. Not after this.
“Tell us who he is!” Joe was hanging onto his temper by a thread. “Right now!”
“Ashton James.” The name was a choked sob. “He threatened to kill me. I had to call you to get you to come out to the house. I didn’t have a choice!”
She had plenty of choices but hadn’t made the right one. He nodded at Steele who pulled out his phone to get the name of Ashton James run through the system. “Where is he? Why is trying to kill Elly Finnegan?”
“I don’t know,” Eloise whimpered. “He’s crazy. I told you he threatened to kill me if I didn’t call you.”
“Why would he do that?” Joe strove for patience. “How do you know him?”
Eloise squeezed her eyes together, tears leaking down her cheeks. He was about to grab her and shake the truth out of her, when she finally said, “Ash is a former boyfriend of mine. He’s a cop from Detroit. But he used to work here, in Milwaukee as a police officer.”
Detroit? “Then why is he here?”
“I—uh, started seeing him again recently, but then broke things off. I could tell he wasn’t right in the head. To be honest, he seemed okay with it. He left me alone, and I figured that was the end of it.” She gazed imploringly at him. “I never expected him to lash out like this, killing a bunch of innocent people at the parade. I swear to you, I had no idea that was his plan!”
Maybe she hadn’t known that Ashton James was capable of something like that. But her excuse wasn’t good enough. Not by a long shot.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this after the Christmas parade shooting?” he demanded. “We could have had him in custody by now.”
“He— I wasn’t sure at first. I was supposed to be at the parade, too, but didn’t go.” Eloise was looking at each of the other teammates surrounding her as if seeking support. She didn’t get any. “The sketch looked like him, but I was afraid that if I said anything, he’d come after me. Then I began to wonder if he’d planned to kill me that night too. Along with everyone else he’d taken out.”
Joe remembered how angry Eloise had been that they hadn’t gotten the shooter in custody. Had she really cowered inside of her house, waiting for them to find the guy? Without any help from her? Anger swirled in his chest, and it was all he could do not to unleash his fury on her.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He couldn’t change the past. But he wasn’t going to let her get away with it either.
“Eloise Malaki, you’re under arrest for aiding and abetting a murderer,” he said flatly. “You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right...”
“I know my rights,” she interrupted. “I was married to a cop. But this isn’t my fault. I didn’t know Ash would do this!”
Joe recited the rest of the Miranda warning, then added, “You knew this guy’s name all this time and didn’t tell us. We could have had him in jail within hours if we’d had more information. If he’s hurt anyone else, that’s on you, Eloise. I hope you can live with yourself for the role you’ve played in this shooting.” Full of disgust, he turned away, catching Elly’s gaze. She looked upset at the interchange between them.
