Killing Fear pb-1

by Allison Brennan

  “Busy day for everyone, not just us,” Will said. “What was in the box?”

  “You’re not going to like it.” She slid over a folder.

  Inside were copies of photographs of Robin. They’d been taken over time, over at least two years. “Sara,” Will said.

  Carina nodded. “Sara kept a journal of Robin’s movements for the last twenty-six months, much more intensive in the last year since she started working at the Sin under the name of Gina Clover. There were also letters from Glenn to Sara about how to circumvent the system, how to create corporations within corporations, things like that. We have a good chunk of their correspondence and Doug is going over it now to create a better time line.”

  “We know the gist of it.” Will looked through the pictures. Robin at the art gallery. Robin at work. Robin at the gun range. Many of the photos were taken from a distance. Some from odd angles, as if Sara had used a camera phone at waist level. “Sara was probably sending Glenn photographs to help gain his trust.”

  “Lot of good that did her.” Carina rubbed her eyes.

  “Go home,” Will told her. “It’s been a long couple of days. The Feds are tracking Glenn in Mexico, we can’t even take a shot at him down there.”

  “Jim’s killer is still out there.”

  “And we can’t do anything about that at six o’clock on Friday night.”

  “What about you?”

  “I-” He didn’t want to tell Carina he was working on Jim’s case. She would insist on staying, but she was going through an emotional wringer. “Just paperwork.” Not a complete lie. “If anything breaks, I’ll call you.”

  “Promise?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Carina left and Will found himself alone in the task-force command center. It had been set up to track Glenn, but right now Will spread out his file on Anna Clark’s murder. Why had Jim called him? What had he wanted to talk about? Jim’s message hadn’t sounded urgent, but Will wouldn’t forgive himself anytime soon for not responding to it immediately.

  The door opened and Hans walked in. Closed it behind him. “Got something.”

  “And?”

  “Gage’s phone records. He made a call last night to Dillon Kincaid. I assume you know him.”

  “Yes, I didn’t know you did.”

  “I worked with him on a case last year. I saw the 202 area code and called the number. I was surprised when he answered.”

  “I wonder why Jim called him.”

  “And talked for twenty-six minutes. We started talking, but I think you need to listen in. He’s waiting for our call.”

  Hans put the phone on speaker and dialed Dillon’s number. He answered on the first ring.

  “Hi, Dillon, it’s Hans with Will Hooper.”

  “How are you doing, Will? How’s Carina holding up?”

  “She’s okay. I just sent her home. I didn’t know we’d be talking.”

  “You can fill her in later. I feel awful about Jim. He was a good guy, one of the best investigators I’ve ever worked with.”

  “We’re going to have a huge hole in the department,” Will agreed. “Why did Jim call you last night?”

  “He wanted to run through something that was bugging him. And I’ve been thinking about it all day. Hans filled me in on the differences in the crimes Glenn confessed to and the Clark homicide. What I keep coming back to is Jim’s thought that the cuts were made postmortem.”

  “Which means what? That the killer didn’t want the victim to suffer?”

  “Yes. The killer wanted to kill her, but not torture her. There was no pleasure in the act of killing. Killing was a means to an end. And especially since Anna wasn’t the intended victim. If you’re right and everyone involved in the case knew Anna was going to be out of town, then the killer was surprised when Anna showed up.”

  “There was one more thing about Anna’s crime scene,” Will said. “Glenn always tortured his victims in their bed, then moved them to the front door before slitting their throat. But there was no evidence that Anna was even in her bed that night.”

  “That fits in with your theory that the killer was waiting for Robin,” Dillon agreed. “The killer surprises Anna, subdues her-according to Hans she was petite, so it would have been easy for someone of virtually any size to slit her throat. Then, to make it appear that Glenn killed her, the copycat makes incisions in her body with an identical weapon. Jim said that it appeared that the marks were made twice?”

  “Yes,” Will said. “We talked about that yesterday, that the killer traced and deepened the marks. But the coroner at the time didn’t make note of anything odd.”

  “Sometimes, we only see what we expect to see,” Dillon said sadly.

  “We’re no closer to figuring this out,” Will said. “I need to interview the seven people Jim spoke with between clocking out and going home. I’ll drag them all down to interrogation-”

  “Good idea,” Dillon said. “But I think I can do you one better.”

  “How so?”

  “Jim was hung up on why you were paged. Pagers started going out of fashion even back then. Everyone had cell phones. But I think the person didn’t want to talk to you. The person wanted you to come to the apartment and find the body. You, Will, specifically you.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re getting at, Dillon.”

  “The killer was angry with you. I told Jim last night that this sounded like a premeditated crime of passion. I suggested that he look into Robin McKenna’s ex-boyfriends, regulars at the club, anyone who may have wanted her dead and planned on using Glenn’s M.O. to do it. But not just anyone could have access to Glenn’s hair samples and, according to Jim, no one in the media knew about the bleach until the trial. That was insider knowledge.”

  “Not to mention using the exact type of knife. Those details weren’t revealed until trial either,” Will interjected.

  “This murder was a crime of passion, but it was directed at you, Will,” Dillon said. “The individual has an above average IQ. Methodical, organized to the point of being borderline OCD. Narcissistic-not in the same way as Theodore Glenn who believes he’s above everyone, but to the extent that this person categorizes people as worthy and unworthy. That is how Anna’s death was justified, even though she wasn’t the target. Anna was unworthy because she was a stripper-it wasn’t a ‘real’ job in the eyes of the killer. In fact, the killer probably has disdain for working-class professions and individuals. But more important, this individual dislikes women in general. And this is what is key:

  “I’d stake my reputation on the fact that the killer is a woman. She identified solely with her father, and would have followed in his footsteps. If she’s a cop, her father was a cop. If she’s a CSI, she has an advanced degree and her father was a doctor or scientist of some kind. She worshipped her father and is an only child, possibly a child the father wanted to be male and couldn’t keep those feelings from her. She internalized that and concluded that women were inferior.”

  Will leaned forward but couldn’t speak. Dillon was describing a woman he knew. As Dillon continued, Will’s fear grew.

  “Her mother was a weaker figure in her mind, likely a homemaker,” Dillon surmised. “She may have gone back to work at some point and took a working-class job because she had no formal education, something that would embarrass the killer even if it was satisfying to the mother. She will have no close female relationships. Her female colleagues will not like her and she will exclusively socialize with her male colleagues. She is attractive, professional, and a perfectionist. She will have clocked in as much overtime as she can, not for the money but because her job is her identity.

  “Will, you personally know this woman. And there’s a fifty-fifty chance you had a sexual relationship with her.”

  THIRTY-FOUR

  “Diana Cresson,” Will said.

  His stomach churned. How could he accuse a woman he’d worked with for more than a decade, a woman he’d slept with, of murder
?

  But as Dillon explained the profile, Diana came to mind and stayed. Diana was the only woman in Jim’s department Will had dated. She was meticulous-a wonderful trait in a criminalist. She was a dream in court, formal and professional. Her father was a biologist for a prestigious university on the East Coast, where she grew up. Will couldn’t remember her ever talking about her mother.

  Could Diana have killed Jim? Shot him in cold blood? A man she’d worked with for years?

  “Did you have a relationship with her?” Hans asked.

  “Years ago, shortly after my divorce. Hell, I had relationships with a lot of women after my divorce. They were all short-term, but we always parted on friendly terms. Including Diana.” Could he peg her as a killer?

  “So your relationship with Diana was before Robin?” Hans asked.

  “Yeah. It ended a year or more before I hooked up with Robin.”

  “How?” Dillon asked.

  “As friends. We both had busy careers. My job always came first. We’ve had drinks after working on a case, in a group, ever since. I didn’t hurt her or dump her for someone else. That’s not my style.”

  “Will, you’re not up for trial here, don’t get defensive,” Hans said.

  “I’m not defensive, I’m angry! How could I have not seen it?”

  “No one did.”

  “Why? Why on earth would Diana want to kill Robin?” As Will said it, he realized the truth. “She knew about my relationship with her.”

  “You said your partner knew?” Hans asked.

  “Frank brought it up all the time, until I lost my temper when he got crude.” Will shook his head. “So Diana found out? But is that a motive for murder? I’ve dated other women since Diana, and they’re all alive.”

  “To Diana it is,” Dillon said. “In her mind, you preferred a low-class, unworthy woman over her.”

  “Robin is not low-class,” Will said.

  “I’m explaining how Diana sees Robin. Robin was a stripper, correct? Diana would put her in the same class as a prostitute. And you, Will, are a detective. A noble profession, someone intensely dedicated to his job. In fact, your job always came first and that was how she justified your breakup. She could come in second to a job. She could not come in second to an inferior woman.”

  Hans interrupted. “But if she doesn’t like women, how could any other woman be acceptable to her? Wouldn’t she look at the other women Will dated as inferior?”

  “Possibly, but I know Will and I’d guess most of his relationships were discreet and the women had some sort of professional career. Correct?”

  “True,” Will acknowledged.

  “But closely on the heels of Diana’s failed relationship with Will came his relationship with Robin, and it grated on her. She watched for signs that you were now unworthy of her devotion. If you looked tired, it was because you had been with Robin the night before. She built up a fantasy in her mind that you preferred Robin to not only her, but to your job, and that was unacceptable. A serious relationship would take you away from your destiny of being a cop. You couldn’t be a good cop and be in love-in her mind.

  “But there’s something else. Anna Clark wasn’t the first woman Diana killed. If you go back into her past, there will be at least one more. Probably in college.”

  “We don’t have enough evidence to arrest her,” Will said. “Stanton will never give me a warrant based on a profile.”

  “Was she one of the people Jim talked to yesterday when he was leaving?” Dillon asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Call everyone Jim spoke with yesterday and have them come in. Call them into an interview room separately, ask what they talked to Jim about, and then let them leave quickly, walking past the room where everyone is waiting. In and out. Diana goes last. If Carina can put on her game face, have her in the room asking the questions. If Carina can pull it off-make it seem like Diana is not a suspect-it will put Diana at ease, since it was common knowledge that Jim and Carina used to live together. And if Carina can let down her guard a bit, tell Diana how hard she’s taking Jim’s death, it’ll bring on Diana’s guilt. She killed Jim because she thought he was a threat to her-that he knew something that would lead back to her. But she didn’t want to do it. It will bother her because Jim was one of the good guys in her mind, and the more salt you can rub on that wound, the greater chance she’ll confess or slip up. But Diana will not confess to a woman, so I’d suggest after Carina asks the questions, you go in-maybe find an excuse to send Carina off-and push her.”

  “Thanks for your help, Dillon,” Hans said.

  “Anytime. And again, I’m sorry about Jim.”

  Hans disconnected the phone and Will slammed his fist on the desk. “Diana.”

  “You couldn’t have known.”

  “Why not? I slept with that woman. I liked her. I wouldn’t have believed she could do something like this.”

  “We still don’t have proof. We need the gun.”

  “She’s not stupid enough to keep it lying around her house.”

  “Has ballistics come back on the bullets?”

  “The coroner performed the autopsy this afternoon, the bullets are already at the sheriff’s forensic lab and they’re rushing it. We’ll have the report by tomorrow. They’ll work all weekend if they have to.”

  Will paced, bouncing ideas off Hans. “Diana isn’t stupid. She’s not going to use her own gun, even if she has one.”

  “She could have taken something out of the evidence room,” Hans suggested.

  Will nodded. “I’ll have Hazelwood look into that, see if she signed anything out. But if it’s a gun that has been used in a crime, we’d have the ballistics on it for comparison.

  “But,” Will continued, “she framed Theodore Glenn for Anna’s murder, maybe she’ll try to frame someone else.”

  “We need to get all seven of those individuals in and talk to them,” Hans said. “And check to see if any of them has a concealed carry permit.”

  Will glanced at his watch. “It’s after eight. Let’s get everyone together and see what happens. On the QT. We don’t want Diana thinking she’s a suspect.”

  Will made the call to Hazelwood to contact the seven people seen speaking with Jim as he was leaving the lab yesterday, then he called Chief Causey at home and filled him in. Causey would contact Stanton to give him a heads-up and work out a reason to get a warrant. Then Will called Carina, filled her in on his conversation with Dillon, and told her the plan. She assured him she could play the part.

  “I want her to fry,” Carina said. “I won’t screw it up.”

  Will was waiting on two more people-including Diana-when his cell phone rang. It was Officer Diaz, informing him that the couple who were seen driving Theodore Glenn across the border had just arrived home. Damn, he wanted to talk to them, but right now Jim’s murder was the priority. Instead, he sent Dominguez out.

  Then Trinity’s number popped up on his caller ID. He almost didn’t answer it, but he’d promised her a scoop.

  “Hooper.”

  “So I can see why you didn’t call me as soon as you found out Jim Gage had been murdered in his own home. You were busy investigating a crime. And maybe I can overlook the fact that you didn’t give me a heads-up that the Sheriff’s Department was working the crime scene because that’s logical-Gage was in charge of the city’s crime lab. His own people shouldn’t be processing his blood. Got it. But you couldn’t even call me and tell me Theodore Glenn wasn’t a suspect? That he fled to Mexico? You promised me, Will, and it’s barely been twenty-four hours!”

  “Trinity, it’s been hell over here. I’m sorry press relations wasn’t at the top of my to-do list. How’d you hear about Glenn?”

  “That’s not fair. I helped you, and you don’t even throw me a bone. And I’m not telling you my sources, but the fact that the nice cop outside my town house told me he was leaving because Glenn was in Mexico and he’d been pulled off babysitting duty kind of clued me in.”r />
  Will bit back a retort. He understood why Trinity was mad, but dammit, he was at a critical point in the investigation. “Off-the-record, Trinity.”

  “No.”

  “Then I’m not saying anything.”

  “You’re an ass!”

  “I’ll give you something, but you can’t report on it until I give you the okay.”

  “Not good enough.”

  “It’ll have to be.”

  “Dammit, Will! If you think I’ll ever be your messenger to the public again, ha! Never! You’re a liar, Will-”

  Will watched Diana walk into the bull pen and Detective Hazelwood approach her with a warm smile.

  “Okay, I’ll give it to you.”

  Silence. “What?”

  “We have a suspect in the Jim Gage homicide.”

  “In custody?”

  “No.”

  “Who?”

  “I can’t tell you that until the suspect has been arrested. You know that.”

  “Is it the same person who killed Anna Clark?”

  “That’s a big jump,” Will said.

  “No, it’s not. If Theodore Glenn didn’t kill Dr. Gage, who would? Maybe someone who thought Gage had information that would incriminate them? Maybe your little ploy yesterday didn’t work.”

  “Don’t go there.” Will still wasn’t certain he wasn’t partly responsible for what happened to Jim.

  “Sorry.” Trinity sounded sincere. “Well?”

  “Let’s say that the suspect is also a person of interest in the Anna Clark homicide.”

  “Fair enough. And I can run with this?”

  “Run.”

  “Ciao.”

  Will put his finger up to ward off Hazelwood when his fellow detective indicated everyone was ready. He called Causey again and clued him into his conversation with Trinity so the chief wouldn’t be surprised by the media coverage, then walked down the hall to where the seven employees in the crime scene lab who had spoken to Jim yesterday were waiting.

  “Thanks for coming in, I appreciate it. This won’t take long, we’re simply retracing Dr. Gage’s steps yesterday and you all spoke to him right before he left the office.”