Trail of Secrets(77)
Peggy shook her head, “No, but I hardly ever see him when he comes here.”
“So he comes here a lot?”
Peggy nodded. “Yes. He’s Dorothy’s cousin. He usually parks out here and comes in the back door to her office.”
“Did you see Abby Dalton?”
“Yes. She came in right before Callie left the kitchen to go to the ladies’ room.” She looked around the empty parking lot. “Where is Callie?”
The back door opened, and the homeless man who had told Seth he’d seen Callie stuck his head outside. “Miss Peggy, Sadie’s gettin’ real upset. We need you back inside.”
“Go take care of the people inside, Peggy, but don’t leave the shelter or allow anyone in there to go, either. We may need to ask all of you some questions.”
Peggy bit down on her lip, but nodded in understanding before she ran to the door. When she’d disappeared inside, Seth knelt beside Marty again. “Our guys should be here any minute, Marty. Just take it easy until they do.”
Marty licked his lips and struggled to speak. “I t-tried to help h-her.”
“I know. Now lie still.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Carlos Allen...”
Seth’s heart thudded, and he leaned closer. “What about Carlos?”
“N-never understood who sh-shot first. Shot c-came from b-behind me, l-like from the vacant h-house across the street.”
Seth could hardly breathe, his heart was beating so fast. “You didn’t think it was your men? You thought it was somebody who wasn’t supposed to be there?”
Marty’s chin dipped toward his chest in what Seth thought was a weak nod. “Didn’t know why Captain Wilson showed up. Nobody but my guys and you knew about the stakeout.”
The reason for Marty’s defense of his men’s actions that night suddenly dawned on Seth. Marty had suspected someone else who didn’t want Carlos taken alive had fired that first shot.
“So you suspected Anthony shot Carlos?”
“Yes.”
Seth remembered Callie telling him about how Herman had left the shelter when he saw Marty at the front door. “Why was Herman Miller afraid of you?”
“Wasn’t afraid of m-me. W-was one of my informants. When h-he left the shelter last night, he w-was scared. Told me he s-saw Anthony and another man beat up the owner of a d-dry cleaners. He was g-gonna take me to t-talk to the man, but H-Herman was...”
“Was killed, I know,” Seth filled in.
“F-followed Anthony tonight to s-see if I could find out anything.” He coughed and grabbed his side. “But I c-couldn’t save Callie.”
The screech of brakes and the wail of sirens outside the shelter alerted Seth that backup had arrived. “Our guys are here, Marty. They’ll take care of you, and I’ll find Callie.”
Marty grabbed his arm before he could move away. “Hurry, Seth. Anthony is g-going to kill her, too.”
Before Seth could respond, the back door of the shelter opened, and two EMTs followed by two police officers ran into the parking lot. Seth backed away so they could begin their work on Marty. He motioned to the police officers. “Come with me.”