Detective Abby Pearce 01-Her Ocean Grave by Perry Dana

Author:Perry, Dana [Perry, Dana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense, American Suspense, Police Procedural, Crime Thriller, Murder Investigation, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2021-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-TWO

“I was assigned to the Chelsea stationhouse on West 19th Street as a homicide detective. Tommy was my partner. A good cop. A good guy. About forty, had a wife and two kids, lived out on Long Island – Hicksville, I think the town was. I went out there for dinner a couple of times with him and his wife. A real nice family.

“One night, Tommy and I are in the car and we hear this call for a burglary at a sporting goods store on West 22nd Street. The store owner has been shot and killed – and the gunman fled with money he took from the cash register. Nothing too unusual there for us on the homicide beat. We answered plenty of calls like that all the time. And it all seemed very routine at first.

“The uniformed cops at the scene had already interviewed witnesses who said the gunman had fled west and appeared to have ducked into a building near Eighth Avenue. Tommy and I went down there to check it out. Well, when we get there everything’s all dark. No sign of anyone inside or out. We couldn’t tell if it was an apartment building or office building or warehouse or what. But we knew the killer was probably in there.

“I radioed back to the scene requesting backup for us to go in. But Tommy didn’t want to wait until they got there. He said he wouldn’t actually go inside until the backup arrived, but wanted to check out the outside perimeter to figure out the best way to handle it. He told me to wait next to our car, and cover him from there in case anything went wrong.

“Tommy’s about halfway from the car to the front of the building when I spot something coming out of a window. I thought I saw the glint of gun metal, but I wasn’t sure. I had a split-second decision to make. Did I assume it was a gunman and open fire to protect Tommy, who was standing in the open? But what if it was just someone sticking their head out to see what was happening? That’s every cop’s nightmare. You’ve got less than a second to make a life-and-death decision.”

“And you…?”

“I didn’t shoot. I held my fire.”

“The guy in the window did have a gun,” Connor said softly.

I nodded.

“He opened up and cut Tommy down before he knew what was happening. Tommy never had a chance. Then the guy pegged some rounds toward the car where I was. I fired back, but it was too late. He managed to get on the fire escape, climb up to the roof and get away. They caught him about a week later.”

“And your partner?”

“He died. Right there in the street.”

“They shouldn’t have blamed you for that. You had a decision to make. Other cops probably would have held their fire too until they were sure. No one wants to take a chance on shooting an innocent civilian.”

“True. But in my case it was something more.

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