“… Nobody in any of the houses along here, even if they were looking, would have seen the approach,” Mac finished. He crouched down and looked at the path which was a combination of sand and trampled down grass. Stepping to the left side of the path and into the taller grass and bush, Mac carefully made his way fifteen feet down the bluff to a ten-foot open stretch of sand in the path. There were footprints leading up to and then back down the path from the top. The prints looked fresh and there were two sets, so two people. He pulled out his phone and took pictures of the prints.
“Get moulds?” Wire shouted down.
“Yeah, we should,” Mac answered back as he slowly picked his way farther down the path to another patch of sand at a switchback where the path turned left. The same prints appeared. However, the imprints of this second set of treads were deep and distinctive, this area of the path being flatter and damp, an area where water would collect during a rain. Mac crouched down and took more pictures with his phone. Satisfied, he carefully worked his way back up the steep bluff to Wire.
“There were a couple of fresh large footprints we found in a dirt garden in the yard behind McCormick’s house,” Mac stated.
“Maybe we get a match to these?” Wire offered with a little smile.
Mac nodded as he typed an e-mail on his phone, attaching the pictures.
“Who are you sending those to?”
“My cousin Paddy. He’ll get these compared to the moulds we took last night. If we get a match …”
“… We put this whole suicide into question,” Wire finished.
“Right,” Mac finished as he completed the e-mail and then looked up with a blank stare on his face. Wire saw it.
“What, Mac? What are you thinking?”
“Whoever is behind this just took out Checketts, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And Stroudt, Montgomery and Sebastian as well.”
“Yeah, so?”
“I gotta warn Riley. They may not try to free their man in custody, but they may try to …”
“Finish off the job now that we have him,” Wire was following his train of thought and hers quickly shifted into gear. “You know, Mac, you could do this.” She explained her thoughts.
Mac replied with a smile, “That could work.” Mac pulled his cell phone out again and called Riley and explained his and Wire’s sudden epiphany. Riley understood.
“How is our shooter doing?” Wire asked Mac as Kaufman and Herdine approached.
“Riles says fifty-fifty at best,” Mac answered. “The trauma doc on the scene wants to move him, get him to the hospital.”
“Who is that you’re talking about?” Herdine asked.
“The man who shot McCormick last night? We have him in custody but he has several bullet holes in him courtesy of Ms. Wire here. We’re moving him from the off-the-books doctor we found him with to a nearby hospital,” Mac answered. “Speaking of medical issues, what’s preliminary time of death for Checketts?”
“Coroner puts it between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m.,” Herdine answered.
“Funny. And this happens just as we’re on our way to talk to him.”
Kaufman offered a smile, “This does kind of look like a suicide.”
“It does look like that,” Mac replied.
“But we don’t buy it either,” Kaufman answered. “Just a little too timely for my taste.”
“Good, then let me tell you what we’re thinking,” Wire answered. She posited her and Mac’s theory and mentioned the footprints and then their thoughts on flights from the Twin Cities. “We need to check on planes arriving and based on time of death, they would need to have arrived sometime after say midnight and before 4:00 a.m.”
“Now that sounds kinda interesting,” Kaufman answered, obviously intrigued.
“Can you guys look into that?” Wire asked.
Kaufman looked over to Herdine who nodded. “Why not,” Kaufman said and pulled out his phone.
While his partner walked a few feet away to make that call, Herdine continued. “Along the lines of how you guys are thinking, I have an interesting tidbit of information for someone who might not buy that this is a suicide. Turns out it’s been a tough run for DataPoint.”
“Oh, why do you say that?” Wire asked, perking up, catching Herdine’s leading tone.
“I got a call from my HQ a few minutes ago,” Herdine replied. “Three nights ago, Wednesday night, DataPoint’s CIO, Gabriel Martin, was killed in a hit and run accident in the city.” The Milwaukee detective smiled mischievously.
“Did you say Wednesday night?” Wire asked but was looking at Mac who