Stranded on the wrong side of the tape, Ellie clenched her teeth in helpless frustration. She should be over there, helping the department search for clues. Instead, she was a hostage to Valdez’s endless interrogations. The detective asked the same six questions posed in slightly different ways.
“When did you last see the victim alive?”
Like that one. Ellie twined a loose curl tighter and tighter around her finger, tugging until her scalp stung from the pressure. “Yesterday afternoon, just before I left the precinct to go home. The same thing I told you the last three times you asked this question, and all the rest of them.”
When did you become aware that something was wrong?
Did you notice anyone suspicious?
To the best of your knowledge, had the victim been acting strangely over the past few days?
What did you touch?
That one made Ellie grimace. Grabbing the note from Fortis’s jacket had been a rookie mistake.
Do you know of anyone who’d want to hurt the victim?
The last question was a complete joke. Fortis was a lead detective who’d put his fair share of criminals behind bars. Like most LEOs, there were plenty of bad guys out there who’d love to take revenge, given half a chance.
But Ellie and Valdez both knew that Fortis’s murder wasn’t the work of some random criminal. Even before spotting the note, one killer in particular had risen to Ellie’s mind.
Kingsley. This had his fingers all over it.
Valdez rocked back on his heels. “Do you want to take a break and finish later?”
Ellie released the curl and expelled a noisy breath. “No. I’m sorry. Here I am, complaining about the same questions witnesses are subjected to every day. I just hate this, all of…this.”
She winced up at Valdez. The artificial lights washed some of the color from his brown skin, but the Latino man’s dark eyes were calm and steady as he regarded Ellie over the top of his notebook.
“It’s okay. This has been quite a shock for all of us, but especially you.”
She tried and failed to force her lips into a smile. “Thanks.” Until recently, Ellie and Valdez had been at each other’s throats, arguing about the multitude of Kingsley cases. For months following Valdez’s transfer to CPD, he’d made veiled accusations about Ellie being involved with Kingsley’s criminal enterprise, leaving her so furious on certain occasions, she’d come close to trading her job for the satisfaction of landing a punch.
During a private conference, Valdez had eventually come clean, admitting he was an undercover FBI agent sent to investigate corruption within the Charleston precinct after the explosive discovery that a former detective was on the take. Ever since the truth aired, suspicions between the two of them had simmered down to a more bearable temperature.
“Let’s prepare the area to move the victim.”
The command drew Ellie’s attention to where the medical examiner and her assistants were arranging thin plastic sheeting on the ground.
Victim.
The word pinged through her head, like an old record that always skipped at the same spot. But no amount of repetition could inject reality into the word. How could her grumpy, tough boss be a victim? The man was a force of nature. Relentless and strong. There’d been times when her boss’s by-the-book methods drove Ellie bonkers, but no matter how much they’d clashed, she’d always admired him. Always.
Harold Fortis had been a damned good cop and an even better man.
Sorrow swelled in Ellie’s throat. Fortis hadn’t deserved to die like this. None of Kingsley’s victims had.
She shied away from the scene, too heartsick to witness her boss being zipped into a body bag. “How did you get assigned this case if you’re still undercover?”
Valdez shrugged while scribbling something in his notebook. “I’m done with that job, and I guess the powers-that-be figured my knowledge of the CPD made me the best choice to lead this particular murder case.”
A small, injured noise escaped Ellie, and Valdez glanced up from his writing.
His brown eyes softened when he studied her face. “Like I said before, I know this is difficult, especially for you, but I liked Fortis too. I admired the hell out of him, and I trusted him. Please, let me take care of the case. I give you my word that I will devote myself to bringing the bastard who did it to justice.”
She nodded. “I know you will.”
“Any news yet?” Chief Johnson interrupted them, his expression as grim as Ellie had ever seen it. “Ellie, how are you holding up?”
“I don’t know. I think I’m still in shock that he’s gone.”
Gone. What a useless euphemism.
“I can imagine. You’re not alone, either. It’s been a shocking morning for all of us.” The chief patted her on the shoulder in an awkward attempt at comfort. “Are you sure you won’t reconsider what we talked about in my office yesterday? If anything, this makes a stronger case for you to take some time off.”
Ellie bit her lip as the pain spiraled into her chest like a drill. When they’d met in the chief’s office yesterday, they’d formed a trio, not a duo. Fortis had faced Chief Johnson across the desk and gone to bat for Ellie by defending her choice to work through the grief of Val’s murder.
Now less than twenty-four hours later, he was dead too. Wiped from the earth by pure, unadulterated evil.
“I haven’t changed my mind since yesterday. When we talked about it with Detective F-Fortis.” Ellie squeezed her arms as fresh sorrow washed over her. “If anything, I’m more determined than ever to keep working.”
“I understand.” The chief rubbed his jaw. “But maybe—”
“In fact, after this, I’d like to dedicate all of my working hours to Kingsley’s cases.”
Valdez cleared his throat. “I think this is my cue to leave before I offer unsolicited advice.”
“Right, sorry. Ellie, walk with me back to the office.” Chief Johnson gestured toward the exit, and Ellie fell into step beside him, putting his muscular frame between her and an
