Jackson Read online

  She walked back to Jackson and repeated the woman’s words.

  “I’ll have to think on that,” Jackson said slowly. “I know a lot of big guys. Take Swede, for one. But he’s not three hundred pounds by any means.”

  “But she did say muscled, not fat. So when she says three hundred, that could have been just a figure she tossed off. Swede has got to be at least two-fifty.”

  Jackson chuckled. “I see you know him too. And he is, at least. But he sure as hell would take exception to anybody saying that every inch wasn’t necessary.”

  “There are a couple other guys like him,” Deli said. “I see a lot of them coming through with their vehicles. And speaking of vehicles, we have to remember that most SUV designs are similar, so it’s easy to confuse one model from the others.”

  “True enough.” He looked over and saw the Ford label on the neighbor’s SUV and said, “She’s also right about how most big guys like that would be driving something else. For all we know, this guy’s married and has four kids of his own.”

  “Exactly,” she said.

  Just then two military vehicles pulled up, and Coronado PD showed up as well. Deli saw one officer and smiled. “That’s Alex.” She lifted a hand and waved.

  Jackson frowned at Deli. “You know Alex too? I know her through Macklin, another SEAL.”

  “Sure. This city is not very big, and the base acts as its own little town as well,” she said with a big smile. “After that last set of murders, lots of us knew who she is.”

  “Interesting. I guess in a small town you get to know people.”

  “Absolutely.”

  Alex walked over, planted her hands on her hips, her face sober. “Tell me you two weren’t involved please.”

  Jackson gave her a lopsided grin. “Sorry. It’s not so much that we’re involved, but we seem to be tripping over bodies these days.”

  She stormed up the steps and headed inside. The other policemen joined her. Both Jackson and Deli sat on the steps together as the crowd moved upward.

  Quickly enough Alex came back out, barking orders. She stepped down and stopped in front of them, pulled out her notepad and said, “From the top.”

  Deli winced. “Can we go somewhere? It’ll take a while.”

  Alex stared at her in surprise.

  Jackson shook his head. “This is only one of three murders so far.”

  Alex’s shoulders slumped. “Coffee shop it is.” She pulled out her phone and made a call. When she was done, she said, “We’ll meet at the Starbucks around the corner.”

  Jackson nodded. He helped Deli back into the Jeep, and they rerouted to the coffee shop. It was a cooler day, and the patio section was open in the back with nobody else around. They all grabbed coffees and headed out there.

  This time Alex had a larger notepad and her laptop. As they sat down, they glanced around to make sure nobody could overhear them. She opened up a document and said, “Let’s go.”

  Jackson started, with Deli interrupting whenever she felt something was necessary. By the time they had updated Alex, she was muttering to herself.

  “Are you guys always like this?”

  “Macklin is like this too, isn’t he?” Deli asked, chuckling.

  Alex groaned. “Macklin is way too much like this. He won’t be impressed that another one of his buddies is involved in a police matter.”

  “I didn’t do it on purpose,” Jackson said. “I was asked to drive a rig back to base. Not my fault somebody shot the radiator, then peppered the two of us with gunfire.”

  “Either of you hurt?”

  “Not enough to be bothered about,” Deli said.

  Alex sighed. “Okay, so now I have to work with the MPs again …” She rolled her eyes at them. “I’m sure you can understand how I’m not thrilled with that concept. But this one is on my turf.”

  “Understood,” Deli said with a smirk. “This way they get to work with you.”

  “They’re not the best at sharing,” Alex said. She closed her laptop, propped her elbows on the table and sipped her coffee. “Are you holding up okay?” she asked Deli.

  Deli’s smile wobbled. “I am. This whole thing just seems to be going down a deeper rabbit hole right now.”

  “What are you thinking happened to Magnus?”

  “I think he either failed to do what he was supposed to do as security guard, or he got his nose into something illegal that he shouldn’t have,” Jackson said succinctly. “I’m thinking he was supposed to retrieve whatever was in the back of that vehicle, and he got there too late. So, when whoever it was expecting a delivery didn’t get his merchandise, they took out the weak link.”

  “But then what about James?” Deli asked. “Did Magnus go after him?”

  “No way to know,” Jackson admitted. “Not yet at least.”

  “Then the real question is, what were they after?” Alex asked. “And who do you think is involved?”

  “That’s what we have no clue about. Max is in the hospital. Barney is still unconscious,” Deli supplied. “James is dead, and now Magnus is dead. And Chester, who was the one originally to drive the rig instead of Jackson, he’s also dead.”

  “So three murders and two men injured.” Alex whistled softly. “That’s a pretty hefty body count.”

  “What worries me most is that these victims were all navy men, all stationed at the Coronado base,” Jackson noted.

  “Yeah,” Alex murmured, “that is unfortunate because the shooter may well be one of yours as well.” She tilted her head, first at Jackson and then at Deli. “So watch your backs.”

  They shared a glance with each other before nodding back at Alex.

  Alex continued, “What could possibly be worth stealing—and a possible treason charge—in that truck from a training mission?”

  Jackson reminded her, “A lot of people were at the training sessions and packing up. The manifest could have had just the ordinary information, but somebody could have delivered something to the training camp to be passed on. I was delayed in the convoy and was bringing up the rear, but I wasn’t that far behind. Maybe the smuggler thought the bullet to my radiator would strand me on the roadside, which it did, but then I also had Deli there and her rig was parked nearby. They wouldn’t have known how many people were with us.”

  “So they just peppered you two with gunfire and took off.”

  “Yes,” Deli said. “I saw them approach but then ducked and was out of sight until they were gone. By the time we could see them, they were speeding down the road, and the pickup was too far away to identify the drivers or the plates,” Deli pointed out. “Then two military vehicles weren’t far behind them, likely sending the shooters on the run. So, if they had planned to make sure we were dead, they didn’t get that chance. Bad timing on their part but good timing for us. And knowing they were being chased, they raced ahead, turned around and managed to take out the rig following them. And that, of course, is where Max and Barney fit in.”

  “And yet, the shooters, having taken out the men chasing them, didn’t go back after you guys?”

  “I figured they decided to cut and run,” Jackson said. “If there was one vehicle chasing them, chances are more were on the way. Both to come help us and to go after them. It makes sense to escape while they could.”

  “And sure enough we did get a tow. Jackson came back with Kanen, I believe, didn’t you?” Deli turned to look at him.

  “Tanner picked me up. We went looking for the men who shot at us. And found Max and Barney instead. Tanner was only available that day. Then Kanen came over to check for bugs in Deli’s apartment.”

  Alex continued to write notes on her notepad as she pondered her way through the puzzle. “So we’re assuming something valuable to the shooter was in the back of that rig. Send me photos to let me know the size and the shape of the boxes. Can you estimate them right now?”

  “Rifle size,” Jackson said. “And there were six boxes.”

  “But a rifle case,
as in a single gun? Not a large crate?”

  Jackson shook his head. “Not a crate but we were testing out brand-new models of HK-416s with a different heat scope, night scopes, and a new cartridge system. They’re not on the market. They’re not even available for the military yet.”

  “Wow. Somebody would definitely want those—good guys and bad guys.”

  “For the firepower alone, of course they would. It’s also a brand-new design. So if anybody wanted that information for a competing company, then it would have a lot of value.”

  “Were other weapons being tested there?” Deli asked. “I remember hearing something about a brand-new semiautomatic with some new reloading system.”

  Jackson looked at her in surprise. “You know about that? I heard of it, but I never saw it.”

  “What’s the chance a third brand-new gun was being tested?” Alex asked slowly. “Six boxes. I’m thinking six weapons in individual crates, two of each kind?”

  “Individual weapon cases, yes,” Jackson said. “Of course we’re just guessing. An awful lot of hand grenades and a couple other new tech devices were there as well. We were testing them as part of the training exercise.”

  “What kind of tech devices?”

  “Picking up signals off cell phones, triangulating new GPSs faster, better coordinate systems,” he said. “Nothing too advanced. And things like grenades, which you can certainly buy almost everywhere right now, if you have the right contacts. If you don’t have the right contacts, well then, maybe somebody thought they could utilize that source.”

  “Which is a little scary,” Alex said.

  “But you know as well as I do,” Jackson said, “that everything can be bought for a price.”

  “So the best bet is that this was all about some of the new models somebody wanted to get their hands on.”

  Jackson nodded. “But I can’t say that’s the only thing that could have been in there. For all I know, those rifle cases were stashed full of money, only used to convey the money.”

  Deli looked at him in surprise. “Why the devil would anybody do that?”

  He chuckled. “People do all kinds of things for some of the weirdest reasons. Cash is very hard to move these days. Money laundering is not as easy to hide anymore with all our digital advances. Maybe that’s what they were doing.”

  “So, with this gear theory, we need to know where that gear came from and how long ago. And has anyone checked to see if they’ve gone missing?” Alex asked.

  “That’ll be harder to get information on,” Jackson said. “You’ll have to work your liaison with the MPs to get it.”

  She nodded. “Actually I have a better source.” She just grinned. “Mason in town?”

  Jackson burst out laughing. “Now you’re trying to tap him too, huh?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. It’s Tesla I want.”

  Deli watched as the laughter died from Jackson’s face.

  He nodded thoughtfully. “Well, she certainly has some pull on base, if that’s the type of information you need.”

  “It would help. We also need to know how many people knew about it, who brought the prototypes in, how many were brought in and where are they now. Because, if they’ve shown up and have been tagged as returned from this training session, then we’re barking up the wrong tree, and we need to think about a different one,” Alex said. She gathered up her laptop and paperwork. “On that note, I’ll head back to the office and see what I can find.”

  “And our statements?”

  “I’ve pretty well got them down here,” she said. “I’ll email them to you. I want you to sign them, scan them back in and send them to me. If you can’t do that, then come on into the office, and I’ll get them printed off. We’ll get them signed and witnessed.”

  Deli watched as Alex got up and walked away. Deli faced Jackson. “Alex must have an interesting career, … the people she deals with, the cases …”

  “Interesting, yes, but I don’t think her career is easy,” he said. “She helped a friend of mine who was a suspect in a murder investigation. It got pretty ugly there for a while. Not only did the two of them come through unscathed, but they came through together.”

  “You’re talking about Mack, her current partner?” she guessed.

  He nodded. “Big Mack,” he said with a laugh. “Speaking of more guys who are big and bulky and six feet four inches … But he’s definitely not three hundred pounds.”

  She thought about Macklin, remembered having met him at least once at Mason’s. “No, I think he’s probably running two-fifty or two-sixty.”

  “Exactly. Kind of like Swede. But because they’re both so big, it’s hard to make a serious estimate.” He glanced over at her. “Now what do you want to do?”

  She reached up and scrubbed her face. “I’d like to chill out somewhere. Go home, kick my feet up, put on a movie and try to forget about this.”

  “I need to catch Kanen up,” he said. “And it’s likely to be close to dinnertime.”

  They glanced at their cell phones. “It is,” she said. “Not sure I’m hungry after that smell from that house though.”

  He nodded. “So, your place or mine?”

  She groaned. “Are you telling me that we have to do that together thing again?”

  “Three men are dead. Do you really think it’s safe to stay alone?”

  She glared at him. “At least we know who my stalker is.”

  “Was. But you don’t know who your unwelcome visitor was nor who your intruder was—your supposed new boyfriend. Any chance all three were the same guy? We should at least consider that.”

  Deli shook her head. “I’ve worked with James for years. I would have recognized James’s walk if he had been my visitor who I followed to the parking lot. So I don’t think it could be him. However, with all the focus on navy personnel, do you realize how many different people I see in the course of just one week? Many would be lightly familiar just from meeting them at work but not enough to recognize them. And the guy with the wrapped present, I don’t remember seeing him ever. He wasn’t James for sure.”

  Jackson paused for a moment before speaking. “We should test your place for bugs again too,” he said. Pulling out his laptop, he again scanned through the images of James in the mechanics’ garage. While looking through those, he reminded her, “Kanen also installed a video camera at your place. Remember? We should look at that.”

  “I don’t think I even knew about that,” she said slowly. “Although, now that I think about it, I’m not surprised.”

  “It was directed toward the living room,” he assured her. “To catch anybody coming in through the patio’s glass doors or by the front door.”

  “I guess that makes sense. But can Kanen check that without us going in?”

  Jackson pulled out his phone, dialed Kanen, put it on Speakerphone and said, “Hey, there’s been a lot happening on our end. What’s going on at your end?”

  “After you took off, I went to the security room and talked to Carney myself,” Kanen said. “I’ve been waiting for you to check in.”

  “Yeah, about that …” Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose while Deli watched, then he gave a shortened version of everything that had happened during the day.

  “He’s dead too?” Kanen asked, his voice easily coming through the phone Jackson held in front of him. “Also I did check the video camera at her place. But there’s nothing showing. This is getting messy.”

  “Yes. Alex also is now involved.”

  Kanen gave a low whistle. “Macklin won’t like that.”

  “No, but he’ll deal, like he always has to deal. Nothing like having a cop in the family.”

  “True,” Kanen said.

  “Well, she can certainly be a help to us,” Jackson said. “Our current working hypothesis is that the prototypes we were testing on the training session might have been stolen. Any idea how we can track down if they got checked back in again?”

  “
Those weapons? They are state-of-the-art,” Kanen said thoughtfully. “That’s an interesting concept. I hadn’t even considered them. But they’d be worth some serious money to the right people.”

  *

  Jackson snorted and stood from their table at the coffee shop. “That’s Kanen. Put his nose on the scent, and he’s gone.” He grabbed their empty coffee cups, tossed them in the nearby trash can, then held out his hand. “Come on. Kanen’s off on a chase. Let’s go check out your place. Then we’ll head back to mine.”

  He hated to see the fatigue pulling at her face. She was so damn capable, but everybody gets worn down by this never-ending set of events.

  “Do you think somebody’s been there?”

  “I doubt it,” he said. “But I did leave something behind in case the front door was opened.”

  “I don’t even think I want to know,” she said, her voice low. “I’m getting really, really tired.”

  “That’s your blood sugar mostly, topped off by all the emotional drama,” he said. “How about a steak again for dinner?”

  “Does it come with all the trimmings?”

  “If that means a baked potato, sour cream, green onions, stacks of sautéed mushrooms on the side and a Caesar salad,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and tucking her close as they walked through the coffee shop. “Then absolutely. I have everything already at home.”

  “Can we eat in twenty minutes before I crash?” She moaned. “Because that sounds absolutely fantastic.”

  “How about you have some baby carrots now—I’ve got some stashed in the Jeep—to tide you over for about two hours? If I have food on the table ready for you to eat by then, am I forgiven for everything that’s gone wrong today?”

  She squeezed his hand, sliding hers in to lock with his. “You’re not responsible for anything. It’s just a shitty day—or rather a couple of shitty days.”

  As they walked toward his Jeep, she asked suddenly, “Do you think that’s it? Or do you think we’ll come across more dead bodies?”

  “I’m sure hoping that’s it,” he said, “but with three dead men and two injured, there’s no way to be sure.”