Chapter 121

Cst. Keith and Cst. Halfkenney piled Sgt. Digby forcefully into the back of a waiting cruiser. She sat still for several minutes, then she unloaded her gun and reholstered it, empty.
The sound of Verryn’s anguished yells filled the air, over and over. She couldn’t listen to it. She hated to hear someone suffering.
After a few long minutes, the relieving sound of an ambulance came screaming up the hillside.
Digby watched out the window. Two EMT’s ran full tilt down the grass lawn with a thin red stretcher on wheels bouncing in between them.
They took Verryn’s body and set it on the stretcher. Their hands working fast. They were placing white packs down on his blood-drenched head.
In seconds, they had Verryn back in the bus and were gone.
Cst. Halfkenny and Wolfville Cst. Matt Keith got into the front seats of the cruiser.
“Are you injured?” Halfkenney said. “Fuckers didn’t even check you out.”
“I’m fine,” Digby said. “Nothing hit me.”
Halfkenney pulled away.
“Don’t I have to stay at the scene?” Digby said, not wanting to, but wanting to behave by the book.
“Fuck that,” Cst. Keith said. “We’re getting you out of here.”
Halfkenney drove straight to New Minas Detachment. When they arrived they all went and hid in the back by the Major Crime desk for a few hours. Digby had received no injuries but her arms felt light and she felt light-headed.
Verryn had apparently survived the immediate shooting, but Digby had hit him in the lung and head. He was rushed to the Kentville hospital in life-threatening condition.
As soon as he was stable, he would probably get airlifted to Halifax.
The shooting was going to make big waves in the Nova Scotia press, once word got out. A member of the press shot by a cop, probably fatally.
The media was going to go nuts.
Digby and all the other officers involved had to get their stories straight, fast. They sat at the detective’s table in the Southwest Nova Major Crime Unit area at the end of the back hallway and hashed it out.
Cst. Keith set up the coffee maker and brewed a pot.
Everything had happened so fast.
“Did anyone get his gun? Was it a real gun?” Digby said.
“What do you mean was it a real gun? Of course it was. It was a Jesus 20 guage.”
“I don’t know. I just need to make sure.”
Staff Sgt. Keetch arrived in the building before they could make much more progress than that.
He looked furious. His face was beet red as he lumbered into the back section, making a lot of noise, slamming doors. He walked straight back to the end desks of Major Crime.
“What in the fuck happened?” He was yelling.
Digby felt a sudden surge of anger from his tone of voice. She yelled back. “I was fired on. Thanks for asking, James.”
“-Uh. You don’t talk to me LIKE THAT!” Keetch boomed, pointing a finger and his face was blood red and sweaty, almost purple looking.
“-Hey, c’mon. Please, can we calm down?” Halfkenney stood up and blocked the path between Digby, at the detective’s table and Keetch, plowing down the hallway.
“Halfkenney. What happened?” Keetch demanded, stopping inches from the young officer’s chin.
“It was a good shooting, sir. Two or three of us witnessed it. I’m serious. Digby was tailing Kyle Verryn-“
“Kye Verryn.” Keetch put his hands on his hips and turned sideways, scanning the cubicles. “Can anybody tell me why? Can anybody tell me why Sgt. Digby was tailing Kyle Verryn? Did she receive an order to do so?”
“Fuck off, James.” Digby said.
“You are not in charge of the investigation, Digby!” Keetch yelled and pointed at her again.
“Just settle down.” Digby said. She was totally calm now.
“From what I understand,” Halfkenney said, “she had good reason to be interested in what he was doing. Time was also sensitive. It turns out that he was buying a ticket to leave the country.”
Keetch continued to pivot back and forth with his hands on his hips. He looked at Halfkenney, but said nothing to address his comments. He was still too angry to listen.
“When I left the investigation, yesterday, we had a list of persons-of-interest. We had Kurtis Missions, Jack Missions, Popular Missions, Darlene Missions, the pizza delivery guy and the taxi driver. Nowhere on that list was Kyle Verryn. Am I right or am I wrong?”
The entire detachment remained silent.
“When I return to the investigation today, I find that a co-worker of the murder victim, a journalist, has been gunned down in a park by the lead investigator-”
Digby chuckled. “I thought you said I was not in charge of the investigation?”
Keetch glared at her. “Don’t be a SMART-ASS!”
Digby stood up. “I intend to file a report on the shooting. But I’ll tell you this: I took the Lee killer down today. That’s the bottom. And right before he took me. So you tell that to whoever asks. Today, you’re team closed the top priority case of this detachment, and to top it all off you don’t have to explain why a cop got killed. Today was the best day of your life, you cocksucker.”
She got up and walked into the penalty box, the only room nearby with a door. She reefed on the door behind her as hard as she could, making a boom sound that echoed off the rafters.