DuPree,â she said. âMeanwhile, Iâll see if I can get anything on Henderson from some of the other databases I can access.â
âSounds like a plan. Do you have an update on how Ginaâs doing?â
âHer vitals are coming around and both lungs are functioning. Sheâs in recovery now.â
âCall me if you can when she wakes up.â
âOf course.â
âAnything from the crime scene team you can share?â
âNot yet, but the bullet that struck Gina was removed and has been turned over to our lab. I heard it was a thirty-eight hollow point, but they should be able to confirm that in a few hours,â she said.
âAnything on Baza?â
âNothing new. The Office of the Medical Investigator isnât in such a hurry with the dead,â she said. âGotta go. If you learn anything new, call.â
âSure. Bye.â
âAt least it sounds like good news on Gina,â Gordon said, sipping the last of his coffee from his Lobo mug. âA thirty-eight revolverâa good choice for an amateur hit. Cheap and easy to obtain in this country, simple to use, and deadly enough without overpenetration. If you canât do the job on one target with six rounds up close, hire it out.â
âSounds about right. Witnesses described a revolver.â Charlie stood. âNow letâs see if we can find what Eddie was looking for. I donât remember any Rolex, though.â
âNeither do I. Everything he said might have been on-the-spot bullshit. Thereâs no way he would have gotten a thousand bucks on a pawn, even with a high-end watch and a couple of rings. I may be new at this, but even I know that a realistic loan wouldnât top more than two hundred maybe, even with the rings. Now if heâd have sold them outrightâ¦,â Gordon said.
âThen he would have had to buy his collateral back for a lot more, especially if he let the loan date expire or missed a payment. Pawn interest is a killer. Either way, there should be a record of the transaction around here somewhere.â Charlie stepped around the counter and used a key to open one of the drawers where they kept the ring displays after-hours.
âIf not, then Eddie was lying. He sure gathered a lot of intelligence on Baza and this place, more than necessary for a burglary,â Gordon said, opening a drawer containing current paper invoices on pawned goods.
âYeah, and Iâm getting some bad vibes on Eddieâs background. If he went to school here, there should have been a record, even if he was homeschooled. Weâre new at this investigation crap, but we should have at least yanked off his gloves and gotten some prints. And checked out his car,â Charlie lamented, looking through the rings for something like Eddie had described.
âToo late now. It still leads back to the original question, what was he doing here? If heâd wanted to rob the place, why not go straight to the jewelry and electronics, or the guns? Why bother searching in file cabinets?â Gordon said. âHe hasnât gone through anything here, at least that I can tell.â
Charlie locked the ring drawer and came out from behind the counter. âHe may have been trying to find keys to the displays, or something in one of the folders. We need to know for sure. You think heâs going to stick around his old address and call on Saturday? If he does, thatâll at least tell us something. You notice how his mood kept changing, from terrified to dead calm, then attitude? Heâs either mostly telling us the truth, or trying to play us, making up a story as he goes along.â
Charlie walked over to the office door next and looked inside at the stacks of folders, now scattered randomly across the joined desks.
âHeâs playing with the wrong guys, then. Hey, now that youâre in the office, you wanna start on the transaction records? Iâll take
Lili Valente, Jessie Evans