I'm posting this chapter just a little while after posting the last one, so if you're following the story, make sure you've read already read Chapter 5. Also, this chapter's a really short one, but here it is anyways. :)
Cal had spent the better part of the morning knocking on doors with a police officer in tow demanding to know where the homeowners had been the previous night and if they'd been in a car accident. After going to all 26 homes and interrogating as many people as he could find, he wound up seeing a lot more lies between spouses than he ever cared to and ended up with just 4 possible suspects. Of all the people he interrogated, none of them were the perp, and just those 4 were left that weren't at home or work. So he called up Gillian, demanding that she and Loker come into the office and help him hunt them down, and told her to bring along Reynolds for good measure because the 'lackey copper' he had been assigned wasn't doing him any good. Seeing as Ria wanted to rest anyways, Eva decided to leave as well and come back later, promising to sneak in a burger with her when she came.
For this reason, Ria was all alone and was just drifting off to sleep when another visitor arrived. The man – a tall, white guy who looked to be in his late 50s – slowly approached her, stopping half way between the door and her bed. She jolted awake, aware of a new presence in the room, and found herself staring at a guy holding a gun pointed at her.
"You know, when I hit you yesterday, I thought that I had killed you. But then come to find out, you didn't die after all." The guy spit the words at her in a menacing voice and a look of contempt plastered on his face.
Ria stared at him, her eyes wide with fear and apprehension, her mouth slightly open in surprise, slowly taking in his words, and the murderous rage that was creeping onto his face. "You were the one that hit me? Why? I don't even know you."
"No. But you know my son. Jacob Harper ring a bell?"
Ria's mind flashed back to last week. She had been a witness at a trial for the Assistant District Attorney – her first trial since joining The Lightman Group – and her testimony had played a key role in convicting Jacob Harper of murdering his girlfriend.
She didn't say anything, too terrified that any response from her would set him off, but he started screaming in rage when she stayed quiet. "My son! My son will spend the rest of his life locked in a prison cell because of you!"
Two shots rang out as he fired at her, and then he turned the gun on himself and fired one last time.