“No problem.” Seth looked at his partner. “We have a call. Car versus tree out on Cowden Road. Minor injuries.” To Zoe, he added, “No need for your services, I’m afraid.”
“Good,” she replied, although the lure of jumping into the ambulance tugged at her soul. Her past career of racing to a scene with the very good chance of saving a life rather than dealing with death maintained its allure.
On her feet, Abby met Zoe’s gaze. “It was good talking to you.” Then she strode out the door on Seth’s heels.
Zoe rose from the chair and followed, finding Nancy coming in through the front door as Seth and Abby rushed out. The secretary looked after the officers before facing Zoe. “What’d I miss?”
“Car versus tree,” Zoe said.
“That explains them. What about you?”
She told Nancy about Pete’s basketball meeting. “He should be back in time for his shift.”
Nancy crossed her arms. “He sent you here to talk to Abby, didn’t he?” Under her breath she muttered, “Coward.”
Zoe laughed. “I volunteered for the job.”
“Men are clueless.”
“That’s what I said.”
“I meant Seth, but Pete qualifies too.”
“Do you know what caused the rift between those two?”
“What did Abby tell you?”
“She mentioned Seth might be feeling like they’re spending too much time together.”
Nancy huffed. “She left out a few details.”
Zoe waited.
Nancy plopped her purse down on the counter and removed her coat before saying more. “I didn’t go into it with Pete because I didn’t want him to clobber Seth. Abby caught him with another girl.”
“What? Seth?” He’d saved Zoe’s life once, so she admitted a special fondness for the young cop.
“She didn’t exactly walk in on them in bed or anything,” Nancy said, “but they were definitely acting cozy. When Abby called him out on it, he got steamed. Abby didn’t tell me exactly what he said, but I can guess.”
“I can too.” Zoe had heard her share of lies and excuses in her younger days. She’d thought Seth was better than that.
Pete doubled over, bracing his hands on his knees while sucking air. He was too old for this shit. If not too old, definitely too out of shape. Around him, the squeak of shoes on polished wood and the thud of a basketball being dribbled up the court echoed against the block walls.
Ethan jogged up to him and slapped him on the back. “Man up, Adams. You’re making me regret picking you for my team.”
“I regret…agreeing…to show up…at all.”
The player Pete was supposed to be blocking had the ball and was loping toward him and the net. Despite being oxygen deprived, Pete straightened and charged toward the guy. He darted to Pete’s right. Pete feigned going left but spun and swiped the ball from his opponent’s hands. Pounding down the court, Pete heard the other men giving chase. He drove to the net, leaped, and sent the ball one-handed toward the backboard. He knew he’d sunk it. He also knew he shouldn’t have made that jump. Coming down at an angle, his ankle twisted. The hardwood rushed up, the impact jarring the breath from him.
“Ow,” he heard himself moan.
He lay there, convinced he was going to die of asphyxiation.
Ethan’s face floated over him along with the other players. “Quit laying down on the job, Adams.”
A small amount of oxygen reached Pete’s lungs. He struggled for another inhalation, finally inflating them enough to wheeze, “Son of a—”
Snickering, Ethan extended a hand to him. Pete grasped it and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet. At least his ankle held.
Minutes later, he sat on the second row of a set of bleachers, chugging ice water from a bottle.
Ethan approached with a towel draped over his shoulders. “I’ve tortured you enough for one day. Let’s talk shop.”
Pete held up one finger as he gulped more water. Swallowing, he said, “Don’t forget. I scored the winning shot for your team.”
“Granted.” Ethan ran the towel over his damp hair. “You said on the phone you might have a murder weapon belonging to our serial killer.”
Pete told him about the Landis homicide, the lone witness to a tall male in a black hoodie running from the scene, the murder weapon found days later wrapped in black sweats behind Landis’ place of business, and the subsequent conviction. “The conviction’s been overturned, and our DA has assigned me to investigate the case all over again.” Pete dug through his gym bag and pulled out the now crumpled newspaper stories. “Landis’ attorney gave me these.”
Ethan skimmed the pages, clearly having seen them before. He handed them back. “Odd that a defense attorney is turning over his case to the prosecution.”
“I thought the same thing. Landis insists he’s innocent.” Pete tapped the wrinkled pages. “Help me out. Did we put an innocent man in prison and let a serial killer get away?”
Ethan’s mouth arched in a thoughtful frown. “Your case has a few variations from the others I’ve investigated.”
“Such as?”
“The murder weapon’s a big one. Why frame the husband? As far as we’ve been able to determine, our guy has no connection to his victims. He seems to be more drawn to lonely parking lots and a certain type of woman. We’ve never found any evidence of him stalking his victim or any link to the families. If it was him who killed the Landis woman, he had to know who her husband was. It’s too big a coincidence to think he randomly ditched the gun in that dumpster. Second, the witness. Our guy has been too shy to let anyone see him.”
“You have no idea what he looks like?”
“One time—” Ethan held up a loan finger. “—he got caught on a security camera. A business owner across the street had just had it installed that morning, so we figure our killer cased the parking lot earlier when it wasn’t there. Even so, the image sucked.” Ethan met Pete’s gaze with a hint of a grin.
“But?”
“The man in the footage was wearing black. I couldn’t tell
