Dead Shot (A Cal Murphy Thriller Book 1)

Chapter 62

Chapter 62

When Cal's phone rang, he didn't recognize the number. As he walked out of the lobby doors of The Tribune office, he thought about not answering it for a moment, fearing that some government agency might be trying to track him right now. But the curiosity was too much for him.

"Hello?"

"Cal, is that you?"

"Yes - who is this?"

"It's Mercer from the Statenville Sheriff's Department. Don't hang up - just hear me out."

"OK, make it quick, but I've done nothing wrong and I'm not coming in to face some trumped up charges."

"Well, that's kind of why I'm calling. I want to help you."

"I'm listening."

"OK, I know that Mayor Gold was trying to kill you and Kelly last night. Is she with you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It's important. I need both of you to help me catch Gold."

"Catch Gold? You? What for?"

"Well, Cal, I'm not exactly who I appear to be. I'm actually in deep cover with Buddy Walker, God rest his soul."

"What? Walker's dead?"

"Yeah, the body count is getting unusually high around here - and you know Gold wanted to add you to that number, right?"

"Yeah, so get to your point. I'm losing patience here."

"OK, listen. I know you're trying to write a story on all of this, but I want to help you win a Pulitzer."

Cal laughed. "OK, that'd be nice, but I'm willing to settle for something unusual for my clips file."

"How about Gold confessing to murder?"

"Murder? Who did he kill?"

"Walker, for starters. But he also killed someone else you know..."

Cal's heart stopped. There was only one person - other than the woman he was standing next to - that would've motivated him to risk his life to catch Gold. Then Mercer uttered his name.

"Guy Thompson."

Cal dropped to the ground. The phone fell out of his hand, too, spinning on the concrete below with the same speed as his racing mind.

How could this happen? This is my fault. He was the only one protecting me.

Only the ambient sounds of Fourth Street were being transmitted back to Mercer.

"What's wrong, Cal?" Kelly asked, kneeling beside him and placing her hand on his back. "What happened?"

Cal looked down and shook his head. "They killed Guy."

Kelly began sobbing. Cal finally released some tears, too. They shared a short embrace and wiped back their tears.

"Kelly, we've got to nail Gold. He can't get away with this."

She nodded. "Whatever we need to do, I'm in."

Cal had almost forgotten about Mercer until he heard a voice coming from his phone, which was now a foot away on the sidewalk.

"Cal? Cal? You there?"

Cal slowly picked up the phone.

"I'm here."

"Listen, Cal. I'm really sorry for your loss. I know Guy was a great man and a good newspaper editor."

"He was an amazing man - and I'm not going to let his death be for naught. How do we get Gold to confess to murder?"

"OK, great. Well, I was thinking that I could bring you two in so he wouldn't suspect anything. Then, I would call him over and you could have a private moment with him, get him to tell you he did it. Then I would turn around and arrest him and we'd all get what we wanted."

"Why are you doing this, Mercer?"

"Well, I like you, Cal. And I like Kelly. And I really liked Walker, my partner. I wouldn't want his name to be tarnished forever. What he did was wrong, lacing those drugs that ended up killing those boys. But he was just trying to do the right thing. I wouldn't want his relatives to think he was a killer instead of a man who fought for justice."

"Fair enough. Sounds like a good plan. You'll have to come get us. We'll be at the FBI offices in Salt Lake City."

"I'm on my way. I'll call you in two hours when I get there."

Cal hung up and exhaled. He was tired. And angry. And broken. His mentor was murdered all because Cal couldn't stop with this story. Guilt crept over him. Cal started crying again.

"It's all my fault," Cal said, trying to regain his composure.

Kelly teared up again as well. "No, it's not, Cal. You can't blame yourself for what one monster did to Guy. He chose to help us. We lost a good friend today, but let's think of him as a man who sacrificed his life for the truth to be known - and let's figure out a way to survive and tell this story so we can properly honor him."

Cal nodded. He wiped his tears with the back of his hand and got up. He would have to put the full gamut of his emotions on hold. He needed to talk with Mr. Youngman.