Pretty Broken Dolls by Jennifer Chase
Chapter Six
Monday 1455 hours
Katie sat in one of the ambulances with an oxygen mask on, breathing easier and steadying her nerves. She was not only struggling with her anxious energy due to the stressful circumstances, she was also fighting back the anger. In her mind, she still saw Agent Campbell’s aloof demeanor mixed with some well-placed compliments in the sheriff’s office. And now she and McGaven had been sent into a precarious situation. Did he know it would potentially be dangerous?
Cisco had been returned to the police sedan—he sat stoically, watching the events unfold. Somehow, Katie surmised, in his urgent need to get to her aid, the dog had pressed the door remote control she had left behind, which had released the back door. She generally had it hooked to her waist when she was going somewhere alone, but since she had McGaven she felt it wasn’t needed.
She watched as firefighters checked the entire house and found that the gas had been turned back on—it had originally been shut off when the house was boarded up.
Several deputies walked down the street and knocked on doors to see if anyone had noticed anything suspicious at the Trenton house.
“You feeling better?” the attendant asked.
“Much better,” she said. Her focus had sharpened and her balance became normal again. Taking the mask off, she said, “I’m going to check on my partner.”
The attendant nodded.
As soon as Katie’s feet hit the ground, she felt like herself. In fact, she had a renewed energy. She saw McGaven still sporting his oxygen mask and quickly climbed into the ambulance and sat next to him.
“I’m feeling a bit of déjà vu,” she said.
McGaven pulled the mask away. “I hate that expression.”
“You okay?” she asked, ignoring his last comment.
“I’ll live. Is Cisco okay?”
“He’s fine. I don’t know how he pressed the remote to release the back door, but he’s special.”
“That’s true.”
“They haven’t said anything official yet, but I think someone tampered with the gas and helped to seal us inside.”
“It speaks volumes,” he said.
“Meaning?”
“There was something that they didn’t want us to see.”
“The killer?”
“Yeah, something.”
“Something? Investigators have been all over this property and it’s been sitting vacant for a while. So why now?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they don’t want any more investigators here. Maybe they don’t want us to investigate.”
“Us?”
“Katie, you do understand that there have been news stories about us, especially you, and how we solve and close cold cases. It’s intimidating to killers out there.”
Katie smiled. “I love your viewpoint.”
“I’m glad.”
“I—”
“Agent Campbell.” McGaven took a few breaths from the oxygen mask.
Katie looked directly at him, her eyes wide.
“Something feels off about these cases… or maybe ‘contrived’ would be a better word.”
“I feel the same way.”
McGaven coughed a few times.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Yep.”
Katie turned her attention to the house.
What was so imperative that the killer, or someone else, didn’t want them to see?
“What?”
“I’ll be right back,” she said.
Katie went to the deputies and requested that they have forensics dust for any prints around the front door area. One deputy nodded and put in the call.
“Detective Scott?” said Fire Captain Anderson.
“Yes?”
“Glad you’re feeling better. Any longer, and you and your partner would be in the hospital right now—or worse. Someone had jammed the front door with a stone.”
“What about the gas line?”
“It had been tampered with recently and turned back on, but there wasn’t anything in the kitchen to hook it up to. The gas caps had been removed, so it just flowed in.”
“How can you tell?” she said.
“This house had the electricity and gas turned off more than six months ago, according the utility company.”
Katie frowned. “What does it take to turn it back on?”
“The gas is on and available. It just depends if it’s turned on for each residence. Someone would need just a wrench to reconnect it to the line.”
“I see.”
“So you’re taking over the homicide case?” he asked with curiosity.
“Yes, we’re looking into it.”
“Good to know,” he said. “Poor girl, she deserves some justice.”
“Were you on the original call?”
He looked down. “Unfortunately. Not something you easily forget.”
“No, it isn’t. Thank you, Captain, for the update.”
“If you need anything else…”
“No, we’re good for now.”
Katie took another look at the house. The windows were now open for ventilation and a couple of firefighters were still checking everything. Suddenly, she saw something underneath the eaves. At first, she thought it was some type of connection for cable or the internet. Then she realized it was a small security camera. Not wanting to bring attention to it, at least for now, she kept walking and returned to McGaven, making a mental note that she wanted to see footage from the camera and find out where was it streaming.
“What’s up?” he said. He looked back to his usual self.
“Someone intentionally tried to gas us to death.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“You’re right. Someone really didn’t want us here—they wanted to kill us, or at least take us out of the game.”
“Game?”
Turning to him, in a serious tone, “You sure you’re up for it? For this? No matter what it brings?”
“You bet. I always have your back. I want to catch this killer even more now.”
“Me too.” She smiled, thinking about some of the close calls they had experienced together. Their partnership was solid.
“What do you want to do?” He put the oxygen mask down.
“I think we need some solid, straightforward answers.”
“From?”
“From the beginning.”
“Agent Campbell.” They both said.