Trail of Secrets(40)
Tears pooled in her eyes, and she glanced from Anthony to Seth. “I know, and I’m really sorry. I won’t interfere again. I promise.”
Anthony swallowed and shook his head. “See that you don’t. Now, I think you need to go home. Seth, can you take her? I’ll stay here until Lieutenant Weaver and his men get through and the crime scene guys get things cleaned up.”
Seth nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll do that. And thank you, sir, for talking with me. I’ll apologize to Lieutenant Weaver tomorrow.” He turned to stare at Callie. “And about that police officer you led here...”
She stared down at her feet and nodded. “I know. I owe him an apology, too. I’ll go talk with him now.”
Ten minutes later, after making her apology, Callie took a deep breath and walked back to where Seth waited. Without speaking, he took her by the arm and propelled her around the corner and down the street to where he had parked his car. From time to time she looked up at him and saw him chewing on his bottom lip. She dreaded what he would say once they were in the car.
When they were both seated in the car, she waited for him to speak but he sat there clutching the steering wheel. After a moment Callie could contain herself no longer. “Seth, I’m sorry I made such a mess of things today.”
He turned to her, and a surprised look flashed on his face. “You think you made a mess of things?”
“Yes. If I hadn’t been so concerned to get my own way, I would have stayed home like you asked. Then maybe you could have taken Carlos into custody. As it was, I proved to be a distraction. I’m so sorry.”
He sighed and rubbed his hands across his eyes. “It wasn’t you, Callie. If I hadn’t been so clumsy and run into that waitress, we might have Carlos right now.” His gaze raked over her. “I hope I didn’t hurt you when I tackled you.”
She smiled and reassured him, “I may be sore tomorrow, but I’m glad you did it. I didn’t know you could move so fast.”
He grinned. “I figured it was the least I could do. After all, if you hadn’t tried to stop the bad guy with a ketchup bottle, I might be on my way to the hospital right now or the morgue.”
Callie shuddered at the thought. “Don’t say that. I can’t stand to think about it.”
The teasing look he’d had on his face a few minutes ago disappeared and was replaced by a somber one. “All kidding aside, that was very brave. I’m glad we both made it through okay, but I’m still having a hard time understanding why the men outside fired. We could easily have taken Carlos.”
“Maybe so, but there’s nothing that can be done about it now. I think Anthony is right. We’re just going to have to find another lead. Have you thought what the next step should be?”
He nodded and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I know a guy who may be able to help us.”
“Who is he?”
“His name is Rick Thompson. He’s a computer genius. We use him a lot to find information for us. Maybe he can help us now.” He punched in a number, waited and then frowned. “I got his voice mail.” He listened and then left a message. “Rick, this is Seth Dawtry. I need some information on a man named Carlos Allen. He’s a former gang member, but we haven’t heard much from him over the past few years. See if you can dig up anything on what he might have been doing during that time and give me a call. Thanks.”