“The convertible driver waits by the truck until another guy drives up in a black Mercedes. He comes over. The convertible driver pulls a weapon out from the back of the truck and hands it to the guy.”
“M-4?”
“Yes. I’m sure of it. I used to be in the army, now I’m retired. A siren sounded. I can see it’s an emergency vehicle a couple of blocks away. The guy with the automatic weapon must have thought it was the cops. So, he bolts—gets into his car and speeds away.”
“What did the convertible driver do?”
“He yells at the guy, but it doesn’t do any good. Finally, he gets in the truck and drives off.”
She pulled out David’s picture and handed it to Mike. “Is this the man who was driving the convertible and then drove away in the truck?”
Mike studied the picture for a few minutes. “It was from a ways away, but that looks like the guy.”
“Sir, thank you for your help.” She handed him her card. “Could you please call me if you remember anything else?”
“Sure will. You guys shouldn’t put someone on hold for so long.”
“I’ll pass that along.”
When they were out of earshot, Sienna turned to A.J. “Looks like David was involved. Tyrone was apprehended in a black Mercedes.”
“This is hard for me to accept.” But faced with irrefutable evidence that a witness placed David at the scene with Tyrone Knight engaging in an illegal gun transaction, A.J. could only feel sick in the pit of his stomach.
“It would be hard for anyone who loves a brother to accept. You’re human.”
Back at the car, A.J. asked, “What now?”
“We’re going to take another swing at Tyrone, but first I need to generate another list.”
“What list?”
“Early this morning I ran a list of possible gunrunners, thinking we might be able to narrow it down to perhaps one or two who would be involved in stolen military shipments, but the list was too long.”
“You know a way to narrow it down?”
“Yes, I do.” She got into the driver’s seat and turned to him as he settled into the passenger one. “I told you they always lie.”
* * *
At her desk, the keys of the computer felt cool to her touch as she accessed the search parameters on the database she needed and typed in the pertinent details. A.J. was sitting in a chair to the right of her watching her.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m cross-referencing Tyrone with known gunrunners to see if there’s any connection.”
“You sound confident you’re going to find one.”
“I am confident. I think Tyrone works for one of them. Tyrone was a buyer for someone.”
“Which means that David was the seller.”
“Right.”
A single sheet of paper spit out of her printer and Sienna picked it up.
She smiled like a cat who had just discovered the canary cage open. “Bingo.”
She still had that smile on her face when she walked into the interrogation room the second time. This time A.J. went in with her.