“Diseases? Witness protection? Secret husband?
Undercover nun?”
Eve shook her head, feeling like she’d been run over
by a very small truck. “No.”
“Do you like him?” Trina wagged her forefinger in
warning. “And don’t you lie to me.”
“Yes,” Eve murmured. “Very much.”
“Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. So you like him,
you want him, and there are no reasonable impediments to a relationship that I
can see. Do you like roast beef?”
Eve had given up trying to keep up. “Yes.”
“Good. We eat Sundays at five.” She pulled a folded
piece of paper from her pocket.
Eve saw it held an address, neatly printed. “You
planned to invite me all along?”
“Yes.” Trina smiled then. “Noah made me promise not to
interfere, but I figured that kiss this morning nullified any promises
previously rendered. I wanted to talk to you, find out if you were leading him
on.” She sobered. “You’re not. Whatever’s bothering you is real. But time is
precious and Noah’s wasted a lot of years. Figure out how to deal with
whatever’s keeping you from ‘being interested.’ See you on Sunday.”
And with that she slid off the stool and left, leaving
Eve staring after her.
Tuesday, February 23, 7:55 p.m.
“So all we have tying this guy to the murder is his
car leaving a parking lot after one of the victims?” ADA Brian Ramsey frowned
into the glass separating them from an ashen-faced Axel Girard. “Nothing more?”
“No,” Noah said. Either Girard was good or he was
telling the truth.
“That’s not enough to at least
hold
him?” Jack
demanded.
“Not unless you have something physical tying him to
the victim or the scene.”
Jack huffed in frustration. “Dammit, Brian.”
“What about his alibi for Sunday night when the Lewis
woman was killed?”
“His wife says he was with her,” Jack said
sarcastically. “All night. Like we haven’t heard that before. Dammit, those
pictures don’t lie. He was there.”
“His car was there,” Brian corrected. “That’s what the
defense will claim.”
“He never reported it stolen,” Abbott said. “If the
wife says he was with her all night, he couldn’t have been in the parking lot
to begin with. Somebody’s lying and those pictures from the diner’s
surveillance system are clear.”
“Crystal clear,” Jack added. “Wives always say their
husbands were there all night.”
Brian grunted his agreement to that. “Noah, you’re
being awfully quiet.”
Noah glanced at Jack, who was glaring at him. They’d
had this conversation already and Jack was not a happy partner. Jack was also
an uninformed partner. Noah hadn’t told him about Eve’s call. He’d started to a
dozen times, but… hadn’t.
“I don’t think he did it, but I sure as hell don’t
want to take the chance that I’m wrong. If he did it, I don’t want to give him
opportunity to kill again.”
“What about his alibis for the nights the other two
were killed?” Brian pressed.
“Ian’s time of death windows are wide on the other
two,” Noah said. “As best we can pinpoint, Girard was home with his wife.”
“We passed out photos of the three victims at our
press conference today,” Abbott said. “They’ll run on newscasts and in the
papers. We’re hoping to find somebody who saw these women the night they were
attacked.”
“That’s good, but that doesn’t help me right now,”
Brian said.
Noah thought of the dates Eve had given him, when the
killer had changed his victims’ avatars. If Girard had alibis for those times,
other than his wife, he’d be cleared. But if he used the information Eve had
given him, Ramsey would want to know where it came from and if it resulted in
proving Girard’s guilt, they couldn’t use it anyway.
And Eve’s hacking would be exposed.
Noah blinked hard. Too little sleep and too much worry
were fogging his brain.
“Noah?” Abbott prodded. “What are you thinking?”
Noah rubbed his temples, hard. “That we need more
information. His car was there, but was he? And if he wasn’t, how did his car
get there? He’s involved somehow, Brian. Can’t we keep him here until we figure
out how?”
Brian shook his head. “Until you can place him at the scene,
you can’t hold him.”
“Goddammit,” Jack spat. He glared at Noah. “You
know
he’s going to do it again.”
“I know he’s going to do it again,” Noah spat back,
“but
he
might not be
him
.”
Brian shrugged. “Cut him loose, guys.”
“We’ll put an unmarked car on his house,” Abbott said.
“That’s the best we can do for now. Get something physical to connect Girard.
But first, take a break and cool off.”
“I don’t need a break,” Jack said, disgusted. “I’m
going to the morgue. Maybe Ian’s finished with Samantha Altman by now. Maybe
he’s found something
physical
.”
Noah winced when Jack shut the door too hard.
Brian Ramsey was looking at him with concern. “You
okay, Web?”
“Too little sleep, too much coffee.” And too much
worry. “Thanks for coming.”
Abbott looked distinctly unhappy. “I’ll cut Mr. Girard
loose. Noah, go to my office.”
Feeling like a kid about to be scolded by the
principal, Noah could only obey.
Ten minutes later Abbott closed his office door, a cup
of coffee in each hand. “There’s a fine line between too much and not enough,”
he said, handing him a cup.
“Too much and not enough what?” Noah asked and Abbott
shrugged.
“You tell me,” he said, sitting in his chair. “And I
mean that. You better tell me.”
Noah’s head nodded. His mouth, however, did not
cooperate.
“Sometime today,” Abbott added sharply. “What’s going
on between you and Jack?”
“Too much and not enough,” Noah muttered, then met his
boss’s eyes. “Eve.”
Abbott looked unsurprised. “Are we talking turf war or
cold war?”
Noah laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “Both.
Jack’s been after her for months.”
“Yeah, I knew that. I go to Sal’s. I’ve got eyes. And
today Eve locks lips with you.”
Noah’s brows went up. “You know about that, too?”
“Yes,” Abbott said, clearly annoyed Noah would even
ask the question. “I sent two uniforms to keep an eye
out
. Instead they
got an eye
full
. What were you thinking?”
I wasn’t.
For those few seconds he’d held her, Noah hadn’t thought about anything at all.
Except that he’d wanted more. He still did.
“It wasn’t planned, Bruce. She’d been confronted by
her advisor’s assistant and that asshole Buckland within the space of an hour.
She was trying to keep her involvement… secret. Jack accused her of doing so to
protect her job.”
“And wasn’t she?” Abbott asked, and Noah shook his
head.
“No. She knows it’ll all come out eventually and
she’ll lose her spot in the program.”
“There are other graduate programs.”
“She said she’d be blacklisted from those. Anyway,
Jack apologized later, said he was basically jealous. Of me.”
“Yeah,” Abbott said, again unsurprised.
“Why do I get the impression that you know all and
you’re just making me dance?”
“Being captain is more than nodding when you bring me
information,” Abbott said testily. “I know my staff. Personalities have to
work. Until this week, yours and Jack’s did.” His frown softened. “And you
didn’t see your face last night when she was talking.”
“When?” Noah asked, feeling testy himself now.
“Every time she opened her mouth. Do I need to take
you off this case?”
“No.” Noah drew a breath. “She called you about the
male avatar, right?”
“She did. I’ve been following him off and on.” Abbott
pointed to his screen. “He’s still there, doing the tango. And if he’s in
there, Girard can’t be him. Is that it?”
“Partly, yes. And partly that it just doesn’t feel
right, Bruce. After all he’s done to date, he drove his own car and let it be
photographed by security cameras.”
“How could he have known he was being photographed?”
“Because there were about a hundred signs all over the
goddamned parking lot,” Noah snapped, frustrated. “That was the point of the
surveillance system. The two store owners wanted everybody to know they were on
candid camera. That was the deterrent.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Plus,
I just don’t think he did it, Bruce. I’ve been doing this job a long time and I
don’t think he did it.”
“Jack’s been doing it a long time, too,” Abbott said
quietly.
“Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think he
informed me of that, several times?” Noah pushed his knuckles into his
throbbing temples. “There’s more I couldn’t tell him.”
“Because you’re not supposed to know.”
Noah looked up. “Now you’re scaring me.”
“I figured this was bound to happen. Eve hacked into
ShadowCo’s server. What did she find that we can’t legally use?”
“Times that the killer logged in and changed the
avatars’ faces.”
Abbott’s eyes sparkled with interest. “Times that Axel
Girard will need alibis for. Why didn’t you tell Jack?”
“Today Eve offered to go onto the university’s server
to get us the test subjects’ files. She said she could do it faster. That’s
when Jack accused her of trying to keep her job and said we couldn’t use the
info anyway. About the second thing he was right. But a week ago? He would have
grabbed those files as fast as she could have printed them.”
“Now you’re wondering how much of Jack’s sudden moral
uprightness is true belief and how much is the fact Eve rejected him. And how
much of your willingness to accept illegally gotten information is because you
want to catch a killer versus being smitten.”
Noah sucked in one cheek. “God, you are scary good.”
“That’s why they pay me the medium-sized bucks. I’ll
find out if we can get a warrant for Girard’s house and office, including the
computers, based on what we know.”
“If he is guilty, he’ll wipe the evidence tonight. Or
he’ll destroy it.”
“Then we’ll have to go the conventional route, request
ShadowCo’s records, and hope that they cooperate.”
“Have they so far?”
Abbott shook his head. “We requested the victims’
files and they said that they are ‘committed to providing their users with a
place where their anonymity remains secure.’ ”
“Sometimes you want to go where no one knows your
name,” Noah said.
“Exactly. We’ll keep an eye on Mr. Girard tonight,
then in the morning the two of you pay him a visit at work. Find out where he
was at the times Eve said the killer changed the avatars. We can at least do
that.”
Noah stood. “Did Olivia and Kane search that apartment
next to Martha Brisbane’s?”
“They did. It was filled with bags of garbage. Some
was Martha’s mail.”
“Because he made her clean the house.” Noah frowned.
“Why would he do that?”
“Don’t know. I made sure Carleton knew, so he could
incorporate it into his profile.”
“Were there any papers, documents showing her
Shadowland movements?”
“So far no. Olivia and Kane have gone through about
half of it. Micki had the carpet vacuumed and all surfaces dusted for prints,
but if we find Kobrecki’s prints, they’ll just say he was doing maintenance.
Micki will have a prelim report tomorrow morning.”
The thought of Micki reminded Noah he needed to ask if
anyone had found Eve’s keys. One thought of Eve spurred another. “Eve had some
screen name possibilities for that dancing avatar. She thought you might be
able to use them in a warrant.”
“I already know his name. He’s Romeo62.”
Noah looked at Abbott’s screen. “What happened to your
other guy?”
“Ditched him. Meet Lola.” Lola was a statuesque
raven-haired stunner. “I’m trying to get Romeo to talk to me, ask him to meet
me. My guy avatar was a definite liability.”
“Better for you to go undercover than Eve.” Who wanted
to catch this guy for all the right—and wrong—reasons. Either way, Noah wanted
her off the playing field.
“I thought so, too. If Girard’s innocent, we need to
continue the Romeo lead. Work things out with Jack. I won’t have you working
against each other. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Tuesday, February 23, 8:45 p.m.
“Miss Wilson?” For the second time that evening Eve
found herself summoned. A man stood at the bar, looking out of place in a suit.
He was an infrequent customer, but she didn’t know his name and for the life of
her, could not remember his drink.
She smiled her bartender smile. “Yes, how can I help
you?”
“It’s more how I can help you. I’m Dr. Carleton
Pierce. I’m a psychologist.”