“Yes.” His voice shook. “I think you would.”
Ellie pulled away. “You’re right,” she said with a sigh. “You need a more experienced woman, someone who knows what she’s doing.” God, he was arrogant, but oh was he sexy. It took all she had not to throw herself into his arms again, but instead, she opened the door. “Have a nice flight home.”
NINE
Ben surprised Ellie early Sunday afternoon when he knocked on her door and told her he would drive her to the police station to look at some photos. If he had arrived fifteen minutes later, he would have missed her. Dressed casually in jeans, a white T-shirt, and tennis shoes, Ellie was throwing her phone into her purse with her lipstick, brush, wallet, latex gloves-she had learned never to be without them-a pack of tissues, and a small plastic bottle of disinfectant. She never left home without that item either.
She didn’t ask Ben where Max was, but he volunteered the information anyway. “Rob-that would be Agent Hughes,” he explained, “wanted Max’s help interviewing another possible witness. A young man was cutting through the park and says he saw the Landrys.”
“He can identify them?”
“We’ll see,” Ben said, unwilling to say more.
“So he won’t be at the station?” she asked as she slid into the passenger seat of Ben’s car.
“Who? Max? No.”
“I meant Agent Hughes,” she explained. “I thought he wanted to be there when I looked at the photos.”
Ben shook his head. “He’s so anxious for you to identify the Landrys, it’s been suggested that he might inadvertently steer you toward those photos, so he’s going to stay away.”
She nodded. “That’s fine.”
“Agent Wahlberg will be there to observe,” he said. “He’s local.”
Ellie’s cell phone rang. She looked at the screen and said, “Excuse me. It’s the hospital.” After a brief conversation, she put the phone back in her purse. “I just dismissed Kyle. His aunt is there to pick him up. He’ll be staying with her,” she announced.
“That’s good,” Ben said. “I’d hate to think he’d have to deal with another Gorman.”
“He’s not a typical social worker. Most are very competent and understanding,” she said. “Hopefully, Gorman’s replacement will be more compassionate.”
A few blocks later Ellie said, “Tell me about the Landrys.”
“They’re a piece of…” He didn’t finish the sentence, although he thought of several choice words he could have used to describe the pair. “They started out in Omaha,” he began. “That’s where they lived until about five years ago.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he added, “They sell weapons to anyone who can pay. Untraceable weapons. They started small-handguns, every make and model, then moved up to semiautomatic, then moved up again…”
He pulled onto the highway and cut over to the center lane. “There are guns on the street now with bullets that can cut through steel. Bulletproof vests don’t stand a chance.”
“I know. I’ve seen the damage they can do. We call them spinners.”
“We?”
“The other surgeons and I,” she said. “The bullets spin around inside the body, shredding arteries and organs. Last winter I tried to repair the damage one did to a ten-year-old boy. His mother told me he was walking across the street when the shooting started.”
“Did he make it?”
“No, he was gone before we could get it out. I promised his mother I would never forget him, and I won’t. He was such a beautiful little boy. His name was Joel Watkins.” She turned to look out the side window as she said, “I know the Landrys didn’t sell that specific gun to the man who killed Joel, but to me they’re just as responsible. Anyone who puts guns on the street should be held accountable for every death.”
He didn’t disagree. “There are hundreds of other dealers, but the Landrys… well, they’re going to get a special place in hell.”
“No doubt,” she said.
“They moved to Honolulu a couple of years ago when they got into bigger and better weapons.”
“They must have had something very big going on to bring them all the way here.”
“Yes,” he said. “Unfortunately, the men they were meeting were killed in the park. It would have been nice if we could have turned one of them.”
They reached the station, and Ben found a parking spot in the lot around the corner.
Ellie followed him through a set of double doors and asked, “How long do you think it will take before you catch them?”
“Hard to say, but I’m sure they’ll eventually show up. If not here, then in Honolulu. They’re used to getting pulled in.”
“And they’ll see what evidence you have?”
“And witnesses.”
She felt a shiver. She had been warned how they worked. Witnesses disappeared, and if there was no clear evidence to indict them, the Landrys went back to business as usual.
Agent Wahlberg was waiting for them at the front desk and escorted them up to the second floor to a long, spacious room. The walls were industrial beige, and the desks were all but on top of one another. Every desk had a computer monitor on it and a chair sitting adjacent to it. Most of them were empty, but it was Sunday and still early in the day. Tonight, she guessed, would be another story if the station was anything like the ER.
Ellie passed a large, slouch-shouldered Hispanic man wearing a tank top and jeans. He was handcuffed to his chair and sat next to a detective who was typing a report into his computer. She noticed a woman and a little boy anxiously watching the proceedings from a bench across the room and assumed they were related. The man’s head was bent as he grumbled answers to the detective’s questions.
Ellie walked by the man and paused momentarily. She also noticed something else, backtracked to get a better look, then continued on to the back of the room where Wahlberg and Ben waited. Wahlberg courteously pulled a chair out while Ben placed two binders on the desk in front of her. He opened one to a page of mug shots. After getting instructions from Wahlberg, Ellie proceeded to study the faces on each page.
Every few minutes she looked up to see what was happening with the man sitting with the detective. There wasn’t any question what she had to do. When she saw the detective unlock the handcuffs, she pushed her chair back, stood, and said, “Excuse me a minute.”
Ben started to follow her, but she raised her hand. “I’ll be right back.”
“What’s she doing?” Wahlberg asked.
“I don’t know,” Ben replied.
Ellie didn’t have any idea how the man would react, but it was her responsibility to talk to him.
“This is your lucky day, Carlos Garcia,” the detective was saying as she approached. “I’m gonna let you go, but I won’t be so lenient next time.”
As soon as Carlos stood, so did his wife and child. Ellie walked around the desk to face the man.
“I’d like to have a word with you in private.”
Carlos looked wary at first, then angry at the request. The detective stood and asked, “What do you need with him? Maybe I could help you?”
“No,” she answered. She thrust her hand out to Carlos, all but grabbing his to shake it.
“Who are you?” he asked, glancing at his wife and then back to her. “Did I do something to you?”
“No,” she assured him. “Would you mind following me? It will only take a minute.”
She didn’t wait for his response but walked toward the corner of the room. Carlos followed.
“Look, lady, I don’t know what you think-”
She interrupted. “My name is Dr. Sullivan,” she began.
And that was all the detective who had been working with Carlos heard. The rest of the conversation was spoken in such a low voice he couldn’t catch a word. A few moments later Carlos called his wife over, and she was included in the conversation. She nodded as she listened to what Ellie was saying, looking more and more worried.