A yellow “Police Line—Do Not Cross” ribbon had been strung across the front yard. Jen saw Hank Jackson, Bill Meyers, and Gene Pence making sure no one disobeyed the ribbon. They’d had to face this madness twice already, and they had thought that was bad. Now the horror had truly hit home because now it was one of their own.
Hank was standing near the front door. He reached out and squeezed her hand. His eyes were red. Jen looked away, feeling her own starting to sting.
“Hang in there, babe,” he muttered, and she nodded.
Inside she saw signs of a struggle in the foyer. A brass candlestick lay on the floor, and the hall table was sitting askew. O’Neill was taking pictures of both, and Jen knew both the table and the candlestick would be tagged and collected for evidence when he was done.
Lonnie and Al were standing just inside the door to the living room, talking in hushed voices. Lonnie was dabbing at his eyes with his handkerchief. They looked up as Will and Jen approached, and Al took her in his arms.
“I’m glad you’re all right.” His voice broke.
She nodded, not trusting her voice. She’d thought she had herself under control till she saw the anguish in the eyes of these normally tough men.
“We’ll get him, Jen,” Al whispered in her ear. “We have to.”
She pulled away and looked at him. Tears glistened in his eyes, but his face was set and hard. The unforgivable had been done. A police officer had been killed, and that was bad enough. But the police officer had been a woman, and she had died a horrible death. That made it worse to these men. Jen knew Al would not rest until the killer was found, and if at all possible, killed. The same feeling was in the heart of every officer present. The only difference was that Al would act on the feeling whether the killer resisted arrest or not.
She started toward the bedroom, and Lonnie tried to stop her. He hadn’t spoken since she had entered the house nor did he now. He simply took her by the shoulder. She shook her head and moved on into the bedroom.
Follett and his two assistants were huddled over the body on the bed like a pack of benign vultures. When they saw her, Dr. Follett and Madeline averted their eyes and moved away. Larry Adams straightened and stood his ground, his eyes locking on hers. She was shocked to see what looked very much like triumph there, as if he were gloating. Then he looked away and stepped back.
Jen stared hard at him, remembering Trish’s words of the night before. Trish had thought him weird. There was little doubt in Jen’s mind that Trish had been right on the money on that call. But just how weird? Weird enough to do this and then show up to pick up the pieces and maybe obscure the evidence?
She took a deep breath and turned away from Adams. There would be time enough for him later. Now she stepped forward and looked at what was left of a friend. She stood for a long time, simply looking, memorizing every detail. Will stayed beside her, his hand resting lightly on her arm, as if afraid she might collapse. She knew she wasn’t going to, but it was comforting to know he was there if she did.
She looked until she was through, then turned and moved away, her eyes dry. Before she left the bedroom, she looked at Larry Adams again. He stood with his head bowed, an expression of sadness on his face, but she knew it was a lie.
In the living room, she asked Lonnie if she and Will were needed to help out.
“No, you go ahead.” Lonnie shook his head. “We’ll take care of everything.” He looked at Will. “Stay with her, okay?”
The crowd outside had grown, the news having spread that a policewoman had been killed. Jen saw fear on the faces of the women in the crowd and on the faces of their men. They had been frightened before, but now they were terrified, knowing that if the faceless horror could get to a cop, he could get to anybody. The first line of defense had been penetrated.
“Where to?” Will asked after he had started the car.
“The building, of course. We’ve got work to do.”
“Jen, you don’t have to go in today.” He turned to her. “I heard about the hit-skip last night. That was bad enough, but now you’ve had a hell of a shock on top of that. There’s no sense pushing yourself. Let me take you home. We’ll just rest and talk if you feel like it.”
“Will,” Jen said, tamping down her irritation at his babying. “I’m a police officer, remember? I’m assigned to these cases. I am not going to freak out on you. Trish was my friend, but she was a friend to everybody on this department. Would you suggest that every officer go home and rest when something hits too close to home? Who’d mind the store if we did that?”
“Okay, I’m sorry.” Will looked confused and a little hurt. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I’m just worried about you, that’s all.”
“I know.” Jen took his hand. “And I appreciate it. I needed you to hold me back at the apartment when I first heard the news. It was too much to handle alone, and I’m glad you were there. But I’ll be okay now if I can just work. I couldn’t stand just sitting back doing nothing, especially not now, not with Trish lying in there.”
“Okay, I guess I can understand that.”
They had driven a couple of blocks in silence when Jen thought of something.
“I need to stop by Brandon’s school. I’m
