“No. He said he gave it to someone else to enter for him, and that person said he’d taken care of it.”
“Did he say who this person was?”
“No, but he seemed very upset. He said this person was a police officer, and he was going to look into what had happened. Now that I’ve thought about it, it seems strange that Judge Lattimer was injured later on the day he called me.”
Seth felt his pulse quicken. “I think you’re right.”
“So when I got your message about the same DNA, I called right away. I hope this information has been helpful.”
“It has, Mrs. Riley. Thank you for calling.”
“You’re welcome, Detective. Call me if I can do anything else for you.”
“I will.”
Seth ended the call and sat there a few moments, thinking about what Mrs. Riley had told him. Who could have betrayed Dan with the DNA evidence? The first name that came to mind was Marty Weaver. For some time Marty’s name had seemed to pop into his mind every time he tried to link anybody to this case. Tomorrow he’d have to do some more checking into Marty’s background and his recent activities.
His gaze drifted to the clock on the dashboard, and he frowned. What was keeping Callie? Maybe he needed to go check on her. He had just turned the ignition when sharp reports pierced the quiet night air. Gunshots. And they came from the vicinity of the shelter.
He turned on his blue dashboard light and made a swift U-turn to head around the corner to the mission. The car skidded to a stop at the front door, and he was out the door and running for the entrance before the car came to a complete stop.
He burst into the dining room and was met with a roomful of homeless men and women huddled in their chairs. An old woman stood near the front wall, screaming the same words over and over. “They shootin’ people ev’rywhere. They gonna kill us all!”
Peggy had run from the kitchen and was trying to pull the woman toward a chair, but the woman was stronger than she appeared. She struggled from Peggy’s grasp and continued her rant.
Seth ran up to her. “Where’s Callie?”
Peggy wiped her hand across the perspiration on her forehead. “I don’t know,” she said. “She went to the ladies’ room about fifteen minutes ago, but she hasn’t come back yet. And I told her to hurry. I’m short-staffed. We heard shots a few minutes ago, and Sadie thinks somebody’s going to come in here and attack us. She’s getting everybody upset.”
He glanced around the room. “Where is Mrs. Tipton?”
“I don’t know. I went back to her office a few minutes ago to get her to help me give out the beds, and she was pulling money out of her desk and stuffing it in a bag. Then she ran past me and out the back door. I heard her car roar out of the parking lot. She usually deals with Sadie, not me. How am I ever going to settle her down?”
Seth headed toward the hallway, but a man with matted gray hair rose from his chair. “I seen Miss Callie.”
Seth stopped and faced him. “You did? When?”
He pointed down the hall. “She went down there.”
“Did she come back?”
The man shook his head. “Not after that policeman took her in Miss Dorothy’s office.”