An Eye for an Eye

by Caroline Fardig

  I worried over my sister on the drive home. I’d sat in the back seat with her, holding her hand, but she wouldn’t utter a word. She sat with her head bowed, her tangled hair covering most of her face. Once we got home, the first thing she wanted to do was take a hot bath. After I drew it for her and got her some fresh towels and clothes, I left her in private and wandered back to the living room where Baxter was staring at my Christmas tree.

  “Is Nate coming home today?” he asked.

  I smiled. “He is. I called David, and they’re on their way back from Cincinnati. Should be here in a couple of hours.”

  “Then you need to do something about this tree.” He gestured to it. “This is the stuff of nightmares for a kid.”

  My smile fading, I said, “You have a point. I think I have some extra decorations I can use to fill in what I broke.”

  “I’ll help.”

  As we cleaned up the mess underfoot, strung new lights, and replaced the shattered ornaments, I noticed Baxter watching me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I want to offer some unsolicited advice.”

  “Go for it.”

  He scratched his beard. “Well, I noticed on the drive over that Rachel wasn’t incredibly talkative. That’s completely normal. Don’t push her.”

  “I think Sterling and Manetti are planning to come over soon and do just that. Is that going to be a problem?”

  “Yes and no. We need to get her statement, and I promise I’ll do everything I can to rein those guys in. But for a while, she’s probably going to be kind of closed off. I feel like she’s going to think it’s somehow her fault because she let Justin Fox in. There’ll be a lot of guilt that goes with that.”

  I sighed, angered that my baby sister had to endure the pain of working through this. “I didn’t think of it that way, but I see your point.”

  “If it would help, I can meet with her sometime. Be a sympathetic sounding board for her frustrations.”

  “I’ll let her know that. Thanks.”

  We continued to work on the tree for a while longer until he said, “You know, I meant what I said back there in the barn, Ellie. If you hadn’t noticed that photo, we’d still be looking for Rachel. Her rescue was all you.”

  I smiled. “I feel like you’re downplaying your role a little, but thanks for saying that.”

  “It’s the truth. You did an amazing job on this investigation, and that’s besides the fact that you were stressed out of your mind. I know you’ve said in the past that you’re not cut out for this job, but I think you just proved that you are. I don’t know of anyone who could have done what you did.”

  Feeling heat creeping up my cheeks, I said, “Aw, stop. You’re making me blush.”

  He took my hand. “Ellie, don’t make light of this. I hope you’ll think about coming back to help the department on more of a regular basis. And maybe when things slow down for you, we can finish the conversation we started last night.”

  Looking away, I pulled my hand away from his. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about all of that. I feel like maybe I’m ready now to come back and consult.”

  “That’s great news.”

  “Right, but the problem is we can’t have both. We can’t work together and be in a relationship.”

  “Sterling and Amanda seem to be doing just fine.”

  “Yeah, but this is me we’re talking about. Trust me, Nick. I’d find a way to screw it up, which would ruin our partnership. We work too well together to let that happen.”

  He frowned. “I’m a part of this, too. It takes two people to ruin a relationship.”

  Shaking my head, I said, “You had a front row seat to watch the last relationship I was in implode because of my bad judgment. Surely you don’t want to get yourself mixed up with me after witnessing that.”

  “So you’re not even going to give it a try because you’ve already decided it’s going to fail?”

  “No, I’m saying that you deserve better than what I can give you.”

  Baxter’s eyes registered pain. “You think you’re not good enough for me? That’s not true.”

  My doorbell rang, and I breathed a sigh of relief to be able to put an end to this conversation. Manetti and Sterling walked in, and it was time to lock down my emotions one more time.

  ***

  I sat on the couch with my arm around my sister while Manetti, Sterling, and Baxter did their best to coax information out of her. They started with her initial relationship with Justin Fox and her abduction. I could tell from the color on her cheeks that Baxter had been right about the guilt and embarrassment she felt over having been played. At first, Rachel would only give non-verbal answers—shrugging, nodding, and shaking her head. The three men adapted their questioning to what she could manage, but there finally came a time when they needed to know more.

  Baxter sat down on the coffee table across from her so he could look her in the eye. “Rachel, I’m sure the last thing you want to do is relive any of this experience, but we need to know a few things to be able to close this case once and for all. Did Justin Fox ever mention to you that he had abducted or hurt any other people besides Amy Donovan, Jenna Walsh, Michaela Richards, and yourself?”

  Rachel shook her head.

  “Did he talk to you much while you were in the barn with him?”

  She lowered her head. After a long pause, she whispered, “Yes.”

  “What kinds of things did he talk about?”

  She turned anguished eyes on me.

  I placed my hand on her head and pulled it down to rest on my shoulder. Stroking her hair, I said, “It’s okay, Rach. Tell us what you can.”

  She turned so her face was hidden against my neck. I felt her hot tears on my skin. It broke my heart to see her like this, but I knew the sooner she got this out, the sooner she could put it behind her.

  I tried a different tactic. “Rachel, honey, I know it’s hard. But these guys aren’t going to leave us alone until you talk. Personally, I want them the hell out of our house. Don’t you?”

  After a moment, Rachel raised herself up and wiped her face on her sleeves. She stared at her hands as she began to speak so quietly we had to strain to hear her. “He told me every last detail of what he did to Jenna. He knew she was my friend, so he tortured me with it. He talked about shoving a knife into her neck and letting her blood drain out. He showed me the table where he did it.” She shuddered. “He told me about pulling her tooth and dressing her up like his mom. And how he strung her up with fishing line in the park.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “But what he wouldn’t shut up about the most was telling me how gullible and stupid she and I were to have let him into our lives.”

  Baxter reached out and covered her hands with his. “That is not true. Justin Fox was a sociopath. People like him are masters of manipulation and have the ability to talk people into nearly anything. It wasn’t your fault—it was his. He targeted you and used everything you ever told him against you. There’s no way a normal person can compete with that.”

  I said, “He manipulated all of us, Rachel. I fell for his bullshit, too. More than once.”

  Looking over at me, she choked out, “He told me.” Before I realized what she was doing, she pulled my sleeve back to reveal my bandage. “So it’s true. He said he cut you because I was an uncooperative bitch. I’m sorry, sissy. I’m so sorry.” She put her head in her hands and sobbed.

  Manetti’s jaw clenched as he stared at my bandage. “He cut you? Why is this the first I’m hearing of it?”

  I ignored him and pulled Rachel to me. “That was a lie. He cut me because I pissed him off talking about his mother. It had nothing to do with you. Please don’t blame yourself.”

  Sterling stood. “I think between Rachel’s statement, Justin Fox’s boasting on the videos he sent, and what evidence they’ve already begun collecting at the barn, we’ll have enough to wrap this thing up. Rachel, thank you for speaking with us. We’re glad you’re home safe. We�
��ll get out of your hair now.”

  Baxter hung back as Manetti and Sterling headed for the door. He said quietly, “If either of you need anything—day or night—you call me. We’ve stationed a deputy outside so you won’t have to worry about reporters knocking on your door.”

  I smiled. “Thanks, Nick. I’ll see you later.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Once I had my family back under one roof, I slept like the dead. Rachel hadn’t let Nate out of her sight since their reunion, even insisting on staying in his room all night. In the morning, her eyes were sunken and ringed with dark circles, a sure sign she hadn’t gotten much sleep, not that I was terribly surprised. I had David come back and keep them company while I returned to the station for the requisite debriefing now that the Justin Fox murder cases had been put to bed.

  I had a some notes to make about the investigation Baxter and I had conducted over the past couple of days, so I headed in early to finish them up before the meeting. While I was typing my report in the lab office, I got a text from Manetti.

  Where are you right now?

  Lab office, I replied.

  Within a minute, Manetti burst through the door with a big grin on his face. He was so handsome when he smiled. It was probably partially my fault that he didn’t do that a lot around me.

  He said, “I have a present for you.”

  I sat back in my chair. “I like presents.”

  “Oh, but first before I forget, I’m taking the team out for drinks tonight at O’Loughlin’s. I figure you’d rather be with your family, especially since I pulled you away from them this morning, but with you having been the one to crack this case wide open, I’d feel bad if I neglected to invite you.”

  I smiled. “Thanks for the offer, but yes, I’d rather hang at home tonight.”

  Manetti’s expression grew serious. “Then maybe you’d consider letting me take you out for a drink another time.”

  I hesitated. “You mean…just the two of us?”

  The corner of his mouth curved up. “Yeah.”

  While I wouldn’t dream of ruining my work relationship with Baxter, I had no problem taking that chance with Manetti. We didn’t work well together in the first place, and we’d likely never have a reason to work together again, anyway. Plus, he was more my type—a pompous asshole, as Sterling had so succinctly put it.

  “Okay.”

  “Don’t act so excited.” Getting out his phone, he said, “As promised, and within our allotted time frame, I have the DNA results you wanted.”

  My jaw dropped. I hadn’t thought there was any way he’d be able to make good on his promise. “Okay, now I’m excited.”

  Grinning again, he said, “I have to admit it takes some of the wind out of my sails that my little favor isn’t going to be the thing that saves the day.”

  “Wow. Way to make it about you, Manetti,” I said, smiling.

  He chuckled and handed me his phone. “I thought you should have the honors, since you were the one who found our killer. I showed great restraint in not looking at the attachment with the CODIS hit.”

  I took his phone and opened the attachment on the email he’d pulled up. When I read the name on the form, I felt like the bottom dropped out of me.

  “What is it?” he asked, his voice concerned.

  I looked up at him. “Are you sure this is right? There was no mix-up of samples?”

  “Not possible. What’s wrong?”

  “It says the DNA from the semen I found in Leann Fox’s underwear belongs to Frank Donovan.”

  Manetti’s face went ashen as he took his phone back from me. He stared at the screen in disbelief. “Wait. So Frank Donovan is the mystery boyfriend we’ve been looking for?”

  I didn’t want to believe it, but DNA results were unquestionable. “I guess it fits, sort of. Frank and Jayne made multiple calls to the Foxes’ home after Samuel roughed Leann up. Maybe…Leann thought of him as her knight in shining armor. But I don’t see Frank as a killer.”

  “Frank was married at the time, right?”

  “Yes. He’s been married for thirty-some years.”

  “And it would have been a big conflict of interest to have a relationship—extra-marital or otherwise—with a victim whose case he’d worked.”

  I nodded. “Right. That could explain why it was such a carefully guarded secret.”

  Manetti sighed. “A pregnancy would bring that secret to light, though. Frank could easily have lost his job and his marriage. You back someone into a corner, and you never know what he’ll do. You said yourself that if we find the lover, we find the killer. I’m bringing him in.”

  I put my head in my hands. If this was true, it was going to kill Jayne. Frank had been her partner and friend for years, and she didn’t even know him at all.

  “If you don’t mind, can I be the one to break the news to Jayne?”

  “Sure, but make it quick. The meeting’s in five minutes. We’ve got a lot of brass coming in for it, so don’t be late.”

  I had him send the email to me, and then I printed out the CODIS results and called Jayne to ask her to meet me in the lab office, where we would have more privacy to talk. Manetti headed off to dispatch some deputies to pick up Frank.

  Jayne smiled me as she came in the door. “I hope you slept well. Rachel doing okay today?”

  “She’s quiet, but of course happy to be home.” I cleared my throat. “Um…I have something I need to tell you, and you’re going to need to sit down.”

  Eyeing me warily, she sat down on the couch. “Tell me.”

  I sat down next to her. “You know I found semen in Leann Fox’s underwear, and we all agreed that it would have to belong to her boyfriend, who was most likely her baby daddy…and her killer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, Manetti got me the results, and it pulled a name from CODIS.”

  “Who?”

  I swallowed. “Frank.”

  She stared at me, stunned.

  I handed her the paper I’d printed. “I didn’t believe it either, but here are the results. We can have them run again if you want. There’s enough fabric to make another sample for testing.”

  A tear escaped her eye as she read the information on the sheet. “How is this possible? He and I investigated the murder together. How could he have been as dispassionate as he was if he were the killer? How could he have let an innocent man go down for murder?”

  “I don’t know.” I let out a sigh. “Maybe we’ve got it all wrong. Maybe—”

  The door opened a crack. “Jayne? You in there?” Frank Donovan entered the office. “Oh, there you are. I wondered if I could talk to you—”

  Jayne was up off the couch and in Frank’s face in an instant. “You son of a bitch. What in the hell were you thinking sleeping with Leann Fox? We have your DNA—”

  “Whoa,” I said, getting in between them and pushing Jayne back by her shoulders. “We don’t need to get into that right now.”

  If Frank was indeed guilty, what we needed was him under arrest and in custody before we had this conversation. Jayne was not thinking straight.

  Her steely glare landed on me. “This is between me and Frank.”

  Frank said from behind me, “Jayne, no. I didn’t sleep with Leann. I barely knew her. The only contact I had with her was when we kept getting called out to her house all those times.”

  She replied, “You’re lying. What else are you lying about?”

  I heard Frank begin to breathe heavily. I would have liked to distance myself from him, but I had to stand my ground and keep my hands on Jayne’s shoulders to keep her from lunging at him.

  He said, “Are you trying to insinuate I had something to do with Leann’s death? That’s crazy. We worked the case together, remember? Her husband did it. There was a ton of evidence stacked against him.”

  “Evidence that could easily have been planted by someone who knew what he was doing. When we reexamined the evidence, we got back a hit on your
DNA, Frank.”

  “I worked the scene! Of course my DNA would be there.”

  “Was the scene in Leann’s panties?” she snapped.

  “Okay,” I said. “We need some kind of mediator here that isn’t me.”

  I hated seeing Jayne and Frank at odds. They made a great team back in the day, reminding me a lot of the way Baxter and I worked together. It would be like a knife to my heart to fight with him this bitterly.

  Jayne stepped back and held up her hands, conceding, “You’re right. We need to do this the proper way.” She got out her phone. “I’m going to have to turn this over to Agent Manetti. Sorry, Frank.”

  Before she had time to make the call, I heard the cock of a revolver. At the same time, one of Frank’s meaty hands closed around my throat. He jabbed something hard into my side, which I assumed was the .38 Special he always carried with him. Jayne froze, gaping at us in horror.

  Jerking me backward, Frank growled, “I can see that you all have decided I’m guilty already. It doesn’t matter what I say. Some law enforcement family you’ve got here, Jayne—turning on your own kind. I gave this place half my life, and I’m not going to let you screw me out of the rest of it. I’m getting the hell out of town, and your little friend here is going to be my insurance policy.”

  Damn it. “Frank, please,” I choked out. “Don’t you think we’ve all been through enough this week?”

  He tightened his fingers around my neck, making it difficult for me to breathe. I couldn’t get free from his grip, so I had no choice but to stumble along with him as he retreated backward into the lab.

  Jayne followed us. “Frank, don’t do this. Take me instead.”

  Frank snapped, “Shut up. Your days of telling me what to do are over. But don’t worry. Once I get out of town, I’ll turn your girl here loose.”

  Manetti’s voice barked from behind us, “Frank Donovan, put down your weapon and release Ms. Matthews.”

  Frank spun both of us around to face Manetti. Manetti was pointing a gun in our direction. I was beginning to get lightheaded from the shallow breaths I could get, and having two guns pointing at me was not helping matters.