"Is it dangerous?"
/> "Not as dangerous as what you're getting yourself into."
She seemed on the verge of taking issue with that but must have thought better of it. "Take care of yourself."
Then she walked away from him.
When he got back to his car, he checked his pager, drove to the nearest pay phone, and placed a call to the task force hotline. It was answered brusquely. "This is Hanley. Somebody there page me?"
"Where the hell have you been? Captain's about to stroke out. He's paged you at least ten times."
"I've got a stomach bug. Came on this afternoon. Been in the crapper ever since I knocked off at the tire plant."
"Too bad. Get here. I'm talking sprout wings and fly."
"What's up?"
"Our guy waltzed into a bank just before closing, hit it for about thirty grand, and took out a guard."
"Took out as in a hostage?"
"No. Took out as in killed."
CHAPTER
8
MS. BUCKLAND?"
"Yes?"
The voice was so faint Ski could barely hear her on his cell phone. He plugged his other ear with his index finger. "Sally Buckland?"
"Yes. This is ... I'm Sally Buckland."
"My name's Ski Nyland. I'm a deputy sheriff in Merritt County." When she said nothing to that, he plowed on. "We had an incident here last night, Ms. Buckland, and some people you know were involved."
"Oren and Berry. I heard about it on the news."
Ski wasn't surprised that the Houston media had picked up the story of the shooting. Probably dozens of similar incidents had occurred last night, but Caroline King had been a large player in the Houston area real estate market before moving to Merritt. Her name was newsworthy. He was glad of it. Because of the news coverage, millions of people would be on the lookout for Oren Starks.
He confirmed with Ms. Buckland that Starks and Berry Malone had been her co-workers at Delray Marketing and that she was also acquainted with the shooting victim, Ben Lofland.
"They said Ben is in serious condition."
"That's been upgraded," Ski told her. "He's going to be fine."
Two deputies came into the squad room carrying Whataburger sacks. Others fell on the fast food like a pack of coyotes. Ski placed his hand over his phone and yelled at them to pipe down. His stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn't had a proper meal today.
Back into the phone, he said, "I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me, Ms. Buckland."
"No."
Her abruptness took him aback. "I promise not to take up much of your time."
"Why did you call me?"
"Because I'm conducting an investigation, and you know the three principals involved. Oren Starks issued some serious threats, and he's still at large. Anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated." She was silent for so long that Ski had to prod her. "Ms. Buckland?"