Killing Fear

the DNA tests to the forefront.”

“But the evidence was thrown out.”

“Don’t fucking remind me. All the evidence from Bethany’s crime scene was contaminated. We could use nothing from it. When I had to let Glenn go it just about killed me. I knew he was guilty. But until Brandi was killed, we didn’t even know we had contaminated evidence.”

“What I need to know is how Glenn got away with killing Jessica Suarez.”

“You know that, Trinity. You saw the picture.”

“But what I don’t understand is why you didn’t know Frank Sturgeon had a drinking problem?”

Will closed his eyes and drained his Scotch. The bartender came over and nodded toward the glass. Will shook his head. He would not end up like his dead partner.

“What are you doing, Trinity?” he asked quietly.

“I’m trying to figure out what happened seven years ago.”

“Theodore Glenn killed four women, was convicted, sent to death row, and has since escaped from prison. What more do you want to know? What more can help anyone?”

“He said-”

“Theodore Glenn is a sociopath, Trinity. He’s a liar. You can’t believe everything he says.”

“But what if he’s telling the truth?”

“Off the record?”

“Of course.”

“We’re quietly looking into Anna Clark’s homicide. I can’t reopen it, not based on the word of the man who was convicted of her murder-a man who has now admitted to killing at least three other women-but I’m listening to you, Trinity.

“But,” Will continued, “digging into the past isn’t going to do either of us any good.”

“Finding the truth will-”

“Buy you a ticket to New York City. I get that.”

“You make my career sound evil, Will. That’s not fair.”

“I’m doing this on the QT, Trinity. I don’t want this on the front page until Chief Causey gives his press conference. Got it?”

She nodded. “All right. Off the record, Will. What did you know about Frank Sturgeon seven years ago?”

“Off the record?”

“Have I ever lied to you, Will? In the ten years I’ve known you-during the weeks that we dated-did I ever lie to you?”

“Well, there’s this morning.”

“I didn’t lie.”

“You didn’t tell me everything.”

“I couldn’t.”

“And now you can?”

“Are you going to tell me about Frank?” she asked.

Will wanted to haul Trinity’s pretty little ass to prison and make her tell him the truth. He didn’t like these kinds of games.

“If you spill any of this-a word-I swear no cop will ever speak to you again, on or off the record.”

“I give you my word, Will. As you said, though, I have the photograph.”

“We had Glenn under surveillance after we were forced to release him. But there were only the two of us on the case, Frank and me. No one cared that two strippers were dead. Priorities, you know? And the politicians put strippers right down there with hookers. In fact, the D.A. at the time, that prick Bryce Descario, told me when I went to him with the evidence after Brandi’s murder that he had more important cases. ‘Lie down with dogs, Detective,’ he told me with that condescending grin of his. He didn’t care that many of those girls had been abused as kids, that some of them were working their way through college or grad school.”

Will took a deep breath, motioned for the bartender to pour another Scotch. To take the sting out of the past. When she left, he continued, talking to himself as much as to Trinity.

“I couldn’t get more personnel. Now that Glenn is an escaped convict going after mothers and retired cops, I have every man I need. But then, I had no one. Just me and Frank. And Frank-” He took a deep breath. “Frank wasn’t all right back then. He had some personal problems, had a couple DUIs that no cop ticketed him for. He swore up one side and down the other that Theodore Glenn never left his house the night Jessica was killed. We were taking turns, you know. I did one night, Frank did the other. We were doing this off the clock. We still had to cover our shift.”

“But you didn’t believe Frank,” Trinity said quietly. “If Frank swore Glenn didn’t leave his house, how did Chandler get a conviction?”

“If you remember, Frank didn’t testify.”

Trinity thought back and nodded. “You were the arresting officer.”

“If Glenn had called him to the stand, he was instructed by the chief to admit that he had fallen asleep. If Frank lied on the stand, Causey was willing to send him up for perjury if necessary. We didn’t put any of this in the final report. Only Causey, Frank, and I know what really happened that night. Was that right? No, but would it have been more right to drag the department through a scandal? It wouldn’t matter that we were on our own time. Frank’s drinking and other problems would have been exposed, the department put under a public microscope. Causey put Frank on a desk to keep his pension-we handled it internally. Glenn couldn’t have brought Frank to the stand because it would have proven he had the opportunity to kill Jessica, and we had nothing in writing that indicated Frank was watching Glenn.”

Will continued, heated, remembering how he’d felt when he realized his own partner-a man he should have been able to trust with his life-had let not only him down, but the victims. “If you let Glenn get close enough, he’ll identify your weakness with little effort. He waited until Frank had passed out and left his house. Probably whistling ‘Dixie’ right past Frank’s unmarked car. Snapped the picture for kicks. He killed Jessica, returned, and Frank hadn’t moved.”

“So even though there was no direct evidence pointing to Glenn as killing Jessica Suarez, because of the M.O. you got the conviction.”

“It was touch and go whether the D.A. was going to charge him for all four murders. We only had hard evidence on Anna Clark. But because forensics proved, and the coroner backed up, that the same knife was used in all four murders, Descario decided to go for it.” Will paused, swirled his Scotch around the glass. “Remember, we all knew he’d killed Bethany Coleman. We had hard DNA evidence that we couldn’t use in court, but we knew he was guilty. It was only a matter of time before he slipped up again. You don’t know how sorry I am that I let Frank surveil alone that night.”

“What were you supposed to do? Go without sleep 24/7? You may have fallen asleep without the aid of alcohol sitting in front of Glenn’s house.”

He shook his head. Frank had insisted, and Will didn’t argue even though he damn well knew about Frank’s drinking problem. Frank was the senior detective, after all. And Will wanted time with Robin.

Trinity’s voice was low. “Last night when Glenn told me he didn’t kill Anna Clark, he said to ask you.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“He saw you and Robin. In the bar.”

Will clenched his glass, jaw tight, and said nothing.

“He said that you and Robin were, um, involved. It was two o’clock in the morning.”

“Fucking bastard!” He punched the bar, stood, and tossed money next to his empty glass. Glenn had watched them have sex. It put all his other cryptic comments into context. The kitchen table. Will’s entire relationship with Robin felt tainted and exploited, now that he knew that Theodore Glenn had watched their most passionate moments.

“Don’t you see what this means?” Will said. “He just put himself at the scene of the crime. RJ’s was across the street from Robin and Anna’s old apartment.”

“Why would he admit to killing three women, and not Anna? It doesn’t make sense.”

Glenn could have been watching him and Robin in the bar. Stalking them. Left them alone, went to Robin’s apartment to wait for her. Anna was home, surprised him, and he killed her instead. It fit.