Disco Bomb

Chapter 6

May 13th, 2017. 1:05 PM

Ross was scheduled to come "home" today after his burns had healed to the point where he could move and breathe on his own without much pain. He still had quite a bit of recovery to do at home, but at this rate it wouldn't take very long. As I was driving to the hospital, it crossed my mind that we might still be in danger, so I called Jack.

He answered right away. "What's up?"

"Have you made much progress on the case?"

"Uh... Not quite. At least not me, personally."

I got out of my car, phone sandwiched between my head and shoulder. "What do you mean, 'not quite'? Jack, this is my family we're talking about."

"I know. Do you wanna meet up and talk about this somewhere?"

I strolled through the doors and stopped on my way to Ross's room. "I guess. Where are you now?" The line went dead. "Hello?"

"Behind you."

I whirled around and came face-to-face with Jack Lane. "Oh my God... You look like crap."

Jack's forehead was wrapped in layers of thick bandages. His arms and shins were raw and blistered. Part of his jaw was scabbed and he winced with every move. "Brandon and I went to check out one of the employees at AutoExpress. Someone shot the employee and blew up the house." He took a deep breath. "Brandon took the brunt of the blast. Won't wake up for a while. I actually just got discharged, so I was about to walk home."

I shook my head. "I'm actually here to pick up Ross and take him home. I wasn't counting on you getting blown up, but you're staying with me until you get better."

He blinked. "Carmen, I'm fine. I'll walk home."

"Not unless you body-check me." I folded my arms. "Remember how you let me stay at your apartment when I came back from Arizona? This is me returning the favor. Now stay here while I get Ross."

Surprisingly, he did, and the three of us rode to my house in silence. I didn't dare discuss the case in front of a six-year-old and the Chief didn't even try. When we arrived, Ross went straight to his room and Jack sat on the sofa.

I sat next to him. "Who was it?"

"Andrew Delaney, thirty-five, computer geek who switched to the car dealer three weeks before it blew up." He sighed. "We have five some employees left to go. Brandon's the tech-wizard at the precinct and the new Chief Investigator is a bag of beans, so not much is getting done. We still haven't gone over traffic cameras, made a list of Delaney's friends..."

"Well, it's a start. He had to have been paid by someone, and someone wealthy at that. I mean, C4 and techs cost a lot. And then..." I looked out the window. "Daniel and Danielle should be here."

Jack nodded. "I did pull flight records. You told me they were planning to go to Europe on the tenth, right?" He shook his head. "They didn't make the flight."

"But they came on the plane from Arizona, and they dropped Ross off at noon and left."

"So between noon and seven, they were kidnapped."