Fire Within - By Ally Shields Page 0,4

no weapon, what are you suggesting Eddie used? His bare hands?”

Ryan tightened his lips but gave her a faint smile. “Very funny. It was a gun. Everyone heard it. Just haven’t found it. Yet.”

“So, until you do,” she insisted, “your only real evidence of Eddie’s guilt is the confession.”

Ryan’s grin vanished. “Come on. What more do you want? He was standing over a dead body. How do you explain that?”

At the moment, she couldn’t, but considering the repercussions for Eddie, she couldn’t give up either. “Any objections if an Otherworld tech goes over the scene?”

“None. Suit yourself. But there’s nothing supernatural about this, except the victim.”

She made a quick call, requesting a tech from Otherworld Forensics & Research (OFR) meet her at the scene in thirty minutes. Regardless of how good Ryan thought his case was, Ari would look under every rock for a different answer.

Before she could get started, she had a responsibility to fulfill, one she really didn’t want to do. Loyalty was a big thing with her, and this time she was caught in the middle. “I don’t agree Eddie’s guilty, not yet. But I have to tell you something that’s going to make things look worse for him.”

Ryan straightened. “I thought he didn’t talk to you. How can you hurt his case?”

She repeated the conversation she’d had with Eddie in her office three weeks ago, even including Eddie’s damning final words that Jules’s death couldn’t come too soon. “But I don’t think he meant it as a threat,” she finished. “He was just venting.”

Ryan leaned back, his lips pursed in thought. His chair creaked, tilted precariously to the left as it had done for years and stopped short of dumping him on the floor. “So, Eddie had a motive. A strong motive. I know he’s your friend, Ari. Hell, I like him too. But he sure looks guilty.”

Ari glowered at the coffee mug. She was beyond unhappy about her part in this, felt like a traitor to Eddie. But she and Ryan were partners. That meant something. In the last year or two, the police lieutenant had come a long way in trusting Otherworlders, and she wasn’t about to keep secrets that would destroy that trust.

So, where did that leave Eddie? She had a responsibility and loyalty there, too. He’d helped her out on her first big case. Been there when she’d needed a friend. Maybe she should have looked deeper into his complaint about Jules when he first came to her. Could she have stopped this? Maybe not, but Ari wished she knew. In any case, Eddie needed her now more than ever.

“Something’s not right, Ryan. I don’t know why he confessed, but there’s too much left dangling. The only explanation I can think of is Eddie’s protecting someone. How about his sister, Lorraine? Have you questioned her?”

“No, not in person, but she’s coming here in about an hour. The officers who went to her house last night said she fell apart when they broke the news. Can you stay for the interview?”

Ari slowly shook her head. “Thanks, but I’d rather visit the crime scene first. I’ll catch Lorraine at home. Do you have a sketch of the parking lot?”

He used the machine in the hall to make copies for her, and upon his return he leaned over her chair to point out the different positions on the drawing. “Given the trajectory, this is where the shooter stood. Next to the building.” He shifted his finger to another spot. “And this is where Eddie was standing when patrol arrived.”

He didn’t have to show her where the victim had fallen. A squiggly form, vaguely humanoid in shape, the kind they show on TV shows and book covers, marked the location. If the cops were right, the shots hadn’t come from the street. That’s why Ryan had ruled out a drive-by.

“You said there were witnesses?”

“After the fact. About two dozen customers from the bar and a handful of neighbors. Anyone who didn’t hear the shots at least heard the sirens. They all came out to have a look.”

“But no one claims to have seen the shooting,” she mused. Eddie’s defense lawyer could work with that. Without an eyewitness to identify Eddie as the killer, there was always room for doubt.

“So, what happened between the shots and the time the cops arrived? Surely a guilty man wouldn’t stand there and wait.”

“This time he did. According to a bar patron,” Ryan pulled a notepad from his shirt pocket and