“Right. Now, Mr. Parson, take me through exactly what happened.”
The driver winced as Rory placed the last butterfly bandage on his forehead. “Me and Charlie left the warehouse after lunch, about 1 o’clock. We got behind in our deliveries, even though we only had four to make this afternoon. We have three on the southwest side of town and then this one. The problem was there was an accident over on Market Street and they detoured us onto Harrison Drive. Well, our first pharmacy was on Market. So I called the pharmacy manager and talked to him, and we decided to move him to later.”
“Did you check in with your supervisor?”
“Absolutely. I wouldn’t make a change in our delivery schedule without letting somebody back at Kilton know.”
“So, then what’d you do?”
“We went to the next two on our route. This was the second one. We pulled up to the back and there was another delivery truck near the entrance. I just figured the pharmacy was getting another delivery of merchandise. The back door was closed, so I stayed in the van and my partner went to the door.”
Swinging around, he spied Alex talking to another man standing to the side wearing the same blue uniform. “That your partner?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go on. What happened next?”
“Charlie got out and started walking to the back door, and suddenly two men jumped out of the other truck, and one headed to Charlie, and the other came straight up to the driver's side and pointed his gun right at me. Told me to get out, so I did. They pressed us up against the side and told us to stay put. One kept his gun on us and the other got inside our van and started clearing it out.”
“Did you know them? Had you ever seen them before?”
He shook his head then winced again. “No, I didn’t recognize ‘em, but they had on masks.”
Mr. Parson weaved slightly, and Rory shot a look toward Kyle. “Okay, Mr. Parson, they’re going to take you to the hospital. We’ll need you to come to the station and make a statement and answer more questions. If you’re able tomorrow, we’ll make that arrangement.” Offering a chin lift toward Rory, he walked over to where Alex was interviewing the other Kilton delivery employee.
“Mr. Fisher, this is my partner, Detective Kyle McBride. This is Charlie Fisher.”
“I know you were just talking to Detective Freeman, but Mr. Fisher, I’d like you to tell me what happened since I’ve just been speaking to Mr. Parson.”
Charlie’s gaze shot to the side, and he asked, “Are they taking Joe to the hospital?”
“Yes. He’ll get checked out. Now take us through your day.”
Charlie’s version began much like his partner’s. It was their afternoon run. An accident kept them from making it to the first pharmacy so, after they called and cleared it with the pharmacy and Kilton, they went to the second one on their schedule. After that delivery, they drove to their current location. They pulled in behind the other delivery truck, assuming the pharmacy was accepting merchandise from another vendor.
“Joe told me to get out and ring the bell on the pharmacy’s back door. By the time I walked around to the front, two men got out of the truck, both had guns and pointed right at me. Don’t mind telling you, scared the piss outta me.”
“Did Joe stay in the van?”
“Yeah, he stayed there and one of the men headed toward him. I was focused on the man closest to me. He told me to lean back against the van and by that time Joe was out and right next to me. One of them kept his gun on us and the other one went around and started emptying all the boxes that we had in our van.”
“Did Joe try to be a hero? Is that why he got hit?”
Charlie’s face scrunched in thought, and he shook his head. “No, it didn’t happen then. After the other man got the boxes out of our van and put them in his truck, the one with us told us to get on our knees and face the other direction. I don’t mind telling you, Detective, I figured I was going to get a bullet through the brain. They had masks on so I couldn’t have told you what they look like, but I couldn’t think of any other reason why they want us to get on our knees.