“Copy that, Agent Boone. Stay out of this unless it gets messy.”
“Affirmative.”
Reis pulled up beside the Sheriff’s car and got out, hearing the crunch of gravel as Dr. Fell parked too.
“You stay here,” he said, turning to Mark as he approached, field kit in hand. “Until we’re sure everything is safe.”
Mark’s blue eyes widened slightly, but he nodded.
Reis turned to the Sheriff. “You want to do the honors?”
Sheriff Hardy threw him a dirty look, ordered his officers to fan out and cover the exits, and marched up to the door, hitting it twice with his fist.
“You got some reason you trying to break down my door, Earl?” said an elderly woman, looking thoroughly irritated.
“Sorry to bother you, Mrs. Connor, but I’m here on official business,” said Hardy, pointing at his badge as if trying to remind her of his standing as Sheriff.
“We have a warrant to search the premises,” Reis interjected as Hardy seemed to be waiting for some kind of invitation.
Old Mrs. Connor snorted, casting a stony glare in his direction, then sighed. “My Frankie’s been telling me you’ve been hounding him. Now you’ve come to tear up our house?”
“We’re just going to look around.”
She snorted again but stepped aside.
The house was a large farmhouse, but it was surprisingly desolate as if the usual clutter of things and memories in a family home had been cleared away.
“Found something!” Hardy called twenty minutes in. “Someone call the doc.”
Reis arrived just behind Dr. Fell and watched him prepare to bag the hunting knife Hardy held in a gloved hand.
“Is that blood?” asked an officer next to the Sheriff.
Reis resisted the urge to narrow his eyes. Neither the Sheriff nor this officer looked surprised. “You’re Cormick right?”
The officer looked up, startled, then nodded. “Yessir.”
Reis thought back on Gaby’s report. On a man matching Cormick’s description sneaking into the house when no one was home. Rosa’s warning of planted evidence seemed to be coming true.
“Arrest Frank Connor,” Hardy said.
A moment later, there was a shout from the back of the house. “He’s doing a runner!”
Reis acted on pure instinct, darting out the open bedroom window and racing around the corner of the house just in time to take Frank down and cuff him.
“Frank Connor, you are under arrest, but I’ll let your Sheriff read you your rights,” Reis said, hauling the man to his feet and handing him over to a puffing Hardy who came around from the front of the house.
“Why didn’t you let him escape?” Boone’s voice asked. “Or do you think Rosa was wrong after all?”
Reis followed them to the cars and got into his own before answering. “No, I think she was spot on, but little toerags like that deserve at least a little comeuppance, right?”
Gaby chuckled. “You’ll find no arguments here.”
They pulled up to the station a few minutes later, and Reis pulled Dr. Fell aside as the sheriff and his men made a deal of parading Frank Connor into the building.
“I want you to check every inch of that blade for a match,” Reis began.
“What did you think I was going to do with it,” asked Mark, sounding irritated.
Reis ignored him. “But I want it off books. The official stuff needs to take a while.”
Mark’s eyebrows had nearly vanished into his sandy hair. “Excuse me?”
Reis gave him a level look. “I need to know if that is the murder weapon or not before anyone else does.”
“You don’t think it is, do you?” Dr. Fell asked, searching his face.
“Never mind what I think or why. Just do it, Dr. Fell.”
Mark gave a small nod. “How long do you need? For my official progress?”
Reis gave a short laugh. “You know, I like you, Dr. Fell, even if you are giving out confidential information to your girlfriend.”
Mark flinched, backing half a step away before he could resume his usual expression. Reis smiled in a way that let the other man know that his reaction had neatly proven his guilt.
He watched Mark Fell slowly raise his eyes, his whole body seeming tensed for a physical blow, rather than a verbal one. But to his credit, his gaze was steady, a testament to the fact that he knew he had broken the law and was willing to take the corresponding punishment.
“Let me tell you two other observations I have made,” Reis said, watching the apprehension grow in the blue eyes. “You are excellent at your job. You have a quick mind and don’t slack. Your work is speedy and accurate, two things hardly ever found together in this line of work.” The eyes holding his had turned confused but kept a touch of hope too. “My second observation is that you love your job, but you love Rosa Kay more.”
Mark flinched again and looked away. “Do I resign after giving you the information on the knife or after the official report?”
Reis finally relented. “Oh, you’re not resigning, Dr. Fell. If I lost you, my team would have no hope.”
Mark’s eyes snapped back up to his own. “You’re not firing me?”
“Or arresting you?” Reis asked, earning a brave nod. “Not today, Dr. Fell. But from now on, you can only tell Rosa Kay what I let you. Understood?”
Mark grimaced but nodded.
“You’re also going to help me break through her walls.”
At this, the other man uttered a despairing chuckle. “I’m afraid you’ll need a miracle there, Agent Reis. Ever since her father was murdered, no one gets beyond her walls, not even her own sisters.”
10
“You came.”
Rosa looked up as her newfound uncle descended the staircase, looking even more like a hippie today as three beaded necklaces clinked against each other.
He was wearing his contacts again, his eyes that strange turquoise
