Will had to begrudgingly admit that was good policing. He told Lena, “Nesbitt pointed us in the direction of eight more cases that’ve happened since he’s been incarcerated. He thinks they’re connected.”
“Really?” She laughed. “Okay. And you’re going to believe a pedophile who tried to murder a corrections officer because …?”
Faith said, “Nesbitt was only convicted on the child porn. The Caterino and Truong cases still technically remain unsolved.”
“This isn’t about a case. This is about Nesbitt going after Jeffrey’s reputation again.” Lena studied Will. Her eyebrow was arched. He picked up on her sudden paranoia a half-second before she asked the question. “Did Sara put you up to this?”
Will cleared his throat. He wasn’t going to feed her any information about Sara. “It’s unrelated.”
“The hell it is.”
“Lena—”
“I see it now. I was a little slow before, but—” Lena’s laugh was sharp, and like that, she had turned again. “Christ, talk about playing the long game. Sara thinks she’s found a weak spot, right? You’re both here to jam me up over Nesbitt. That’s why you want my notebooks. You think I was stupid enough to write down something that will land my ass in trouble.”
Faith took back over. “We’re here because we’re investigating a string of—”
“Mitchell,” Lena said, as if they’d just now been introduced. “How long have you two been partnered?”
Faith didn’t answer.
“You’d kill for him, right?” Lena nodded to herself like she already knew the answer. “Sara thinks she understands what it’s like, but she’s not a cop. Bad guys, the bosses, the thugs and criminals and civilians and even the victims, everything they do, every breath they take, is about winding you up. And then someone hurts you, or worse, hurts your partner, and you can’t unwind yourself. You shoot off in whatever direction vengeance points you in.”
Faith said, “The trick is to not let anybody get hurt in the first place.”
“You know it’s not that easy,” Lena said. “I’m trying to give you some advice, because I watched Jeffrey jump every time Sara snapped her fingers, and it ended up getting him killed.”
Will rubbed his jaw. He could see red clouds edging into the corners of his vision.
Faith said, “I’m not sure your memory is right on that one.”
Lena ignored her, telling Will, “Come on, dude. Grow some balls. Sara’s using Nesbitt to yank your chain.”
“All right.” Faith stuck her notebook into her purse. “Time to go.”
Lena smirked. “I gotta hand it to Sara. She comes off like a tight-assed goody-two-shoes, but that nasty bitch has got a snatch like a Venus flytrap.”
Will’s fists clenched. “Watch your fucking mouth.”
“Watch your back,” Lena said. “You’re just as cumblind as Jeffrey was.”
Will stood up so fast that his chair scraped back.
“Okay.” Faith was standing, too. “If anyone gets to punch the pregnant woman in the face, it’s going to be me.”
“Both of you need to leave.” Jared appeared behind Lena. He must’ve been listening from the hallway. He was wearing his uniform. His hand rested on the butt of his gun. “Now.”
Will threw back his jacket. He had a gun, too.
“Jesus! Okay, we’re leaving.” Faith kept her hand wrapped around Will’s arm as she pushed him toward the door. “Let’s go.”
Will let her move him, but only because he knew the alternative would end in bloodshed.
Jared goaded, “Tell Aunt Sara I said congratulations.”
Will’s hands itched to pummel the sneer off Jared’s face. Faith had to push him again to get him out the door, then down the stairs. Will glared back at Jared. He could beat the kid into the ground with one hand.
“Mitchell.” Lena stood in the doorway behind her husband. “I’ll let you know if I remember anything important. Too bad I don’t have my notebooks to jog my memory.”
“Oh my God,” Faith groaned. “Shut up.”
Will felt her hand pressing into his back. He let Faith lead him down the driveway, back up the sidewalk. She opened the passenger-side door. She waited for him to get in. She got behind the wheel. She threw the gear into drive. The Mini’s tires dug up a good portion of Lena and Jared’s front yard as she made a wide U-turn.
“Fucking motherfucker!” Faith strangled the steering wheel with both hands. “I hate that bitch so much. I mean, seriously. The hate is physically sucking the oxygen out of my blood.”
Will looked down at his fists. He was so furious right now that he could barely see. That fucking kid. And Lena. Especially Lena. Will had never hit a woman before. Even when his ex-wife had hounded him, he had never fully lost control. Now, it was taking every ounce of self-discipline not to go back and punch Sara’s name out of Lena’s filthy mouth.
Faith said, “Okay, deep breath. Let’s get past this.”
Will wasn’t going to get past this. Not until he hurt somebody.
“Another deep breath,” Faith coaxed.
Will could feel his fingernails digging into his palms. He wasn’t one of her suspects who needed a fucking time out.
“Okay,” Faith’s tone said she was ready to move on. “Let’s focus on what we accomplished in there. We managed to Scooby-Doo two new details before shit got crazy.”
Will gritted his teeth. He didn’t give a shit about details.
Faith said, “One, who gave Nesbitt the money to hire a lawyer? No one sues a dead cop’s wife on a contingency.”
Will had been a fool for thinking Lena had any saving graces. There was nothing good about her. She had twisted him into a corkscrew and he hadn’t even seen it coming.
“Number two,” Faith said, oblivious to his rage. “Truong’s mother reported that her daughter thought her roommates were stealing from her. That could be the bad guy taking a trophy.”
Will squeezed his fist tighter. He wanted to break something. To hurt something. To kill something.
“We could find out if the women from Nesbitt’s articles were—”
“Jesus, Faith!” Will exploded. “What is the fucking
