Unleashed by David Rosenfelt Read Free Book Online Page A

remained in the parking lot behind the Concord, New Hampshire, bar, but Keller was gone. Patrons said he left with the man identified as Rodney Larsen, which fit with what Drew had recorded in several reports about his investigation. But the fact that his car was there and he had not called in was a thoroughly ominous sign. Drew would never have voluntarily gone off with Rodney without any possibility of backup.
    With one of their own in obvious danger, every officer was called in to join in the search. Unfortunately, all that would have been required was one officer, manning the 911 line.
    A call came in from a service station owner four miles from the bar. He opened in the morning, went into the back room, and discovered the horrific carnage.
    Detective Lieutenant Clarence Burke took charge of the investigation and analyzed the crime scene. There were four dead bodies including Drew, all shot. Drew and Rodney were each killed with one bullet to the head, while the other two men were shot twice each.
    Burke immediately distrusted what he was looking at. It was set up as if a firefight had taken place, but to Burke’s trained eye, the pieces didn’t fit, or at least there was one key piece missing. And that key piece had to be a fifth person, who had fled the scene.
    Drew had been shot in the center of the forehead, so there was no question that he had died instantly. Therefore, by definition he had to have shot the others before he was hit himself.
    But if Drew had shot the others before taking a bullet himself, it would mean that one of the other men, already mortally wounded, had nonetheless fired off a shot with perfect accuracy, killing Drew. It was certainly possible, but very, very unlikely.
    There were also no stray bullet holes around the room; it seemed that every shot had hit its target. In a chaotic situation like this would have to have been, that simply was not credible.
    There had to have been a fifth person in the room. Since Drew would obviously have been his prime target, he would have likely shot Drew first. What didn’t make sense is why he would then have killed his three colleagues, if that’s what they were.
    It seemed to Burke highly unlikely that Drew had even fired a shot. If he had gone to the service station involuntarily, as was almost certainly the case, they would have taken his gun.
    Ballistics would determine a lot of what happened, and Burke had the feeling that Drew’s gun would be found to have fired the rounds that killed the other three men. But even though a gun was in the fallen Drew’s hand, Burke would bet his pension that Drew had never actually pulled the trigger. He would never have been let into that room with his gun, Burke knew. It must have been thrust into his hand after he was dead.
    So the investigation would begin, and Burke would not rest until he found the missing man, a mass murderer and cop killer. And not that he needed extra motivation, but Burke had some. Drew Keller had been his friend.
    Burke had an additional obligation. Drew was investigating people who had spoken about killing “a big shot.” Their threat hadn’t been independently determined to be real, but the fact that there were now four dead bodies made it instantly credible.
    Concord being the state capital, there had to be some concern that the big shot who was targeted was a political figure, perhaps even the governor. And if Burke was right about the way the killings went down, then the operation might still be intact.
    Anyone who could kill four people could make it five. Or more.
    So Burke went to his captain with the request that the FBI be alerted. If there was any suspicion of an assassination plot, that was protocol, and the captain instantly agreed.
    The FBI was called in, and security around the governor and other state officials was immediately increased.
    What they didn’t realize was that the effort was wasted, that Concord had just become one of the few places where no one was in