Chapter 8
David Masiello and Billy Bob Henry's Apartment, Wednesday at 3:00 am (Mountain Time)
Things were quiet in the middle of the week in the wee hours of the morning, which made it relatively easy for a car to drive in front of the old house, which had been converted into two apartments, an upper and a lower. Both college kids lived in the first floor residence, upstairs lived an immigrant family whose oldest son went to college with the two boys. The two men in the car made note of the police car parked out front but it didn't deter them from their task. Parking the vehicle, the two exited the beat up jalopy and went up the front steps. Quickly, they jimmied the lock on the door and entered the apartment. They found themselves in an empty living room and moved toward the hallway. The light was on in the first room on the left hand side. It without doubt contained the police officer. Once he was out of the way, they would move onto David's room down the hall.
The taller one entered the kitchen and the officer immediately grabbed his sidearm off the table. However, he wasn't fast enough and the bullet leaving the silenced weapon in the man's hand struck him in the chest. He fell down with a thud and cried out. He was wearing a vest. The officer took aim and fired at the men. One was struck in the shoulder but his second shot missed the other man completely. Quickly the two headed out into the hallway.
The loud noise had woken the family upstairs and David came out of his room. No doubt someone had called the cops as sirens could be heard in the distance. The uninjured man took a few shots at the college student but he ducked back inside his room. The officer assigned to watch him fired his weapon at the men, dropping one of them. The other was gone in a flash, jumping back inside the old car and racing off down the street.
"What is going on?" The father of the family upstairs entered the apartment afraid for the two inside.
"Mr. Lee please call the police," David urged him as he was kneeling down next to the officer.
"My wife has called them. They are on their way," the Chinese man promised. He quickly took a look at the downed hit man and determined he was too far gone to help. Then he moved to the two others.
"Are you hurt?" He asked David.
"No, I'm all right. I'm afraid Officer Daniels isn't," the boy told him.
"I'll be fine. Just a few cracked ribs," Daniels was in obvious pain but he wasn't bleeding.
"I'm glad you had your vest on," David smiled as he carefully tried to help him sit up with the help of Mr. Lee.
"My wife will be too," the officer smiled. It was then that they heard the front door slam open and someone calling out to Daniels.
"In the kitchen!" David called.
"Good God Daniels. I live you alone for one night and look what happens," the second officer, whose nametag said Spinelli, teased trying to lighten the mood despite the obvious bullet hole in his partner's chest.
"That'll teach you Jerry," Daniels tried to laugh but it hurt.
"An ambulance is on it's way but I guess I'd better get the coroner too," Spinelli commented.
"The bastard shot me and tried to kill David," Daniels explained as he pointed to the hole in his shirt before pulling the mashed bullet out of it.
"I see that," Spinelli nodded. "I'll get out front and direct traffic. Meantime, don't move until the medics have a look at you." His partner nodded and quickly Spinelli went back outside.
"Looks like you'll have to go into protective custody," Daniels said to the college student. David grimaced. He'd hoped that he would have been able to avoid that but now it seemed inevitable.
Within an hour, Booth and Brennan arrived on the scene and where greeted by Officer Chambliss.
"Why are we here?" Brennan wanted to know. She knew that there couldn't be another skeleton to look at.
"This man and another man tried to assassinate David and kill Officer Daniels," Chambliss pointed to the corpse on the floor.
"Seems Daniels was a good shot," Booth remarked noting the entry wounds in both the man's stomach chest.
"Somewhat, we have forensics digging some bullets out of the walls. Anyway, the man who got away was bleeding and we've alerted area hospitals. No one got plate numbers on the getaway vehicle but we caught him blowing through a red light down the block, so we may get lucky. But this was something we thought both of you needed to see," the Deputy took them over to the window. Next door in the yard was a German Shepard on a run. The animal was pacing back and forth and occasionally jumping up to see what was going on the other side of the fence separating the two homes. Booth pulled out the list he'd received from Agent Blachura. The address matched a man named Charles Reed.
"Seems we have to go talk to Mr. Reed. He's had Vinny Scarpini pour cement for him at a few job sites," the G-man said.
"What are the chances the guy is our killer?" Brennan asked.
"Slim as Mr. Reed has no record according to our list but that doesn't mean he hasn't had some people do things for him. Shall we?" Booth wondered.
"I'm coming with you," Chambliss told them.
To Be Continued…