High Noon

Lieutenant, because the voices said so.”
    “Then it’ll be a lot harder to find him. Victim two, chronologically, is Vendi, Christina. She was part of an organization called Sundown, a small, extreme fringe terrorist group. Poorly organized, poorly funded, and still they managed to invade the home of Gulfstream Aerospace’s CEO during a dinner party, taking fifteen people hostage.”
    “I remember that.” Nably pointed a finger. “You were on that.”
    “I was. The demands were as radical and extreme as the group, and as poorly thought out. After twelve hours of negotiation, during which time it was known that at least one of the hostages was seriously injured if not dead, it was determined by tactical command to move in.”
    “You talked them into letting the kids out, and a pregnant woman. I remember this.”
    “They did agree to release the CEO’s two minor children and a female guest who was seven months pregnant, taking the hostages down to twelve. Two members of Tactical were able to gain entry through a second-story window, and took out two of the hostage-takers. Vendi opened fire on law enforcement and was terminated. The single remaining terrorist was taken into custody. He’s still inside.”
    She could remember how horrible it was. The screams, the gunfire.
    “Vendi’s father was career army until his recent retirement. He has, always, disavowed her actions, and cannot be placed in Savannah nor in Hilton Head during the time frame. However, there would be any number of military connections there, and further connections to Vendi from any remaining members of the disbanded Sundown organization.”
    She pushed at her hair. “I’ve asked the FBI to look into this angle. I know,” she said, reading the expressions. “This is our case. But the Bureau’s resources for this kind of investigation are wider and deeper than ours.”
    “Next is Delray, Phillipa, who was killed during a carjacking. Her five-year-old daughter was in the car, and was then taken by the two carjackers as hostage. They were pursued to a garage on the west side, managed to get inside. Negotiations were successful, the child released and the two men surrendered. Delray’s brother was in the army, serving in Germany at the time of his sister’s death. He now lives in Savannah, as does Delray’s husband. Delray’s brother, Ricardo Sanchez, is with the mounted patrol.”
    “I know him.” The uniformed officer held up a hand. “I know Rick Sanchez. He’s a good guy.”
    “I hope you’re right, but he’ll have to be interviewed.”
    Didn’t sit well, she could see that, just didn’t sit well for cops to poke at another cop. “I’ll be speaking to him myself,” she decided on the spot. “We then have Brentine, Angela, killed during an attempted bank robbery. Her injuries were received during the initial phase, and initial attempts to secure medical attention for her were refused. She succumbed on the way to the hospital during hour four of negotiations, when we were able to secure her release. Her husband, Brentine, Joshua, was in New York on business. He remarried nineteen months after his first wife’s death, since divorced. He has never served in the military or in any law enforcement capacity. Angela Brentine has no living male relations.”
    “There was a lot of press on that one,” Sykes remembered. “Not only the bank-robbing spree that ended here, but Brentine’s wife. He’s old Savannah, money and status. Rumors floated around, as I recall, that her dying saved him a messy divorce.”
    “I’ll be talking to Brentine very soon. Officer Landow? I’d like you to re-interview Reeanna Curtis, from the Hitch Street incident. Any details she remembers before, during, after she was evacuated. Talk to neighboring apartments as well. Take another officer of your choosing. I’ll authorize it. Detective Sykes, I’d like you to reach out to members of the tactical team on that same incident. I believe they’ll be more…relaxed with you than with me. I’m not looking to cause trouble for any of them. I want to know if anyone caught so much as a glimpse of another officer—uniformed or just badged—that they might not have recognized right off. If anyone is reluctant to speak about this, I’d suggest you show them a couple of the crime-scene photos of Bonaventure. After Roy Squire was blown to pieces.”
    “I’ll take care of it, Lieutenant.”
    “Thank you.” She nodded because she saw Dave