Thin Luck

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Detective Joseph Turner

DETECTIVE TURNER'S CELL phone rang. He lifted his head from his desk and pressed the 'talk' button. "What?"

"It's Swan. We got a hit on one of the people we haven't been able to get ahold of from the grocery store receipts. 'Wilson Hatchet' checked into a motel in San Francisco, just outside Seward Park."

Detective Turner bolted upright, banging his knee on the glove compartment. "Shit."

"What? We are moving in right now, as we speak. We're ahead of the curve this time, Turner."

"No," he said. "I banged... oh never mind."

A radio squelched in the background of Swan's phone. "That's them," he said. "Should be any minute now."

More squelching radio sounds echoed through the phone.

Detective Turner wished he were there to bring her down himself. His foot shook under the glove compartment. He focused his ears in to listen to the radio through the phone, but the sounds were indistinguishable.

The squelching continued. He had nothing to do but wait, and think. He stared into the empty coffee cup in front of him. Bits of the grounds were glued to the bottom.

After loud squelching sounds, there was a heavy a pause. Swan breathed into the phone liked he'd been holding his breath for three minutes. "Okay. That was the team. They found Mr. Hatchet."

"What about Mrs. Hughes?" Detective Turner asked.

Swan called into the radio, "What about Mrs. Hughes?"

The squelching radio echoed back. Swan groaned. "Mr. Hatchet is cooperating and, Detective Turner," he said, "she's not there. He said she took his car. I'll put out an APB."

Detective Turner stared at the dashboard. They were too late. Another chance to stop her annihilation, and they missed her again. "You better make sure Mr. Hughes is all right," he said to the cop in the driver's seat.

The cop opened the door just as Turner heard an unmistakable crack of a gunshot. He yelled into the cellphone, "Shot fired at Mr. Hughes's house! Call an ambulance."