mistake, luck was on his side. The crime techs contaminated the evidence. But he knew he’d screwed up, and started using bleach. Not only to torture his victims, but to destroy any evidence he inadvertently left behind. I think he took the picture of Frank more for himself than for anyone else.”
“You’re right,” Vigo said, “except for the last point. He’d always planned on using that photograph, and I imagine he has more hidden. You simply stopped him before he had an opportunity.”
Carina spoke up. “We know that he dumped a stolen vehicle in Anaheim. Do you have any women from Orange County who wrote to Glenn?”
Vigo nodded and looked at his file. “Three.”
“Maybe we should check them out as well,” Carina said.
“Good call, Detective,” Agent Vigo said. “I’ll call the Orange County field office and they’ll get on it today.”
“And we’ll start on the nineteen in San Diego,” Will said.
“There’s something else you need to consider.” Vigo paused.
Will nodded. “I already have.”
Vigo raised an eyebrow.
“You were going to ask if I believed Theodore Glenn didn’t kill Anna Clark, as he told the reporter and Robin.”
Vigo nodded.
“I’ve been looking at the case files,” Will said. “If there’s another killer out there, I want to find him. But honestly, I think this is one of his tricks. It was never released to the media that Glenn used bleach on his victims. That didn’t come out until the actual trial.”
“You understand if Glenn is telling the truth, then whoever killed Anna had inside knowledge of the investigation.”
“I know,” Will said, shifting uncomfortably.
If Glenn is in fact innocent of Anna’s murder, someone I know-possibly someone I trust-killed her.
“But why?”
“That,” Vigo said quietly, “I haven’t figured out yet. I’d like to talk to Robin McKenna and everyone else involved in Glenn’s prosecution.”
“Fine,” Will said, “as long as I can ride along with you.”
“I insist, Detective. In fact, you’re the only one I’m confident didn’t kill Anna Clark.”
Robin spent Wednesday morning at the gun range, then went to the club. She nodded to Mario Medina’s man who was monitoring the entrance. She didn’t remember his name, but he was bigger than her largest bouncer and if she could afford him, she’d have hired him in a heartbeat. Just one look, and anyone with a nefarious intention would run away. Fast.
“Where’s your partner?” she asked, knowing Mario had two men on the club at all times.
“Around,” the hulking man said.
That would have to be good enough.
Having the added security made her feel better. Proactive. Not a victim any longer, but the strong, independent woman everyone thought she was.
She went back to her office to focus on work, but after kissing Will the night before, she couldn’t get him-or the day she left him-out of her mind.
It was the day after she found Anna dead. The club was closed, she couldn’t get into her apartment-not that she wanted to ever go back after what happened to Anna inside. She had nowhere to go. No one to talk to. Will was her lifeline, her strength.
He brought her to his town house on the beach after she gave a statement to the police. Though she had washed in the police bathroom, she hadn’t showered. She still felt Anna’s blood all over her, even if she couldn’t see it. Like she’d never rid the smell from her nose, the taste from her mouth, the slippery feeling from her hands.
“Shower,” he told her.
“Don’t leave me,” she begged, feeling pathetic and needy. And fearful. She didn’t like being scared.
He caressed her hair. “Never. If I could take away what you saw I would. I wish I could change everything. I’m so sorry about what happened.” He kissed her lips. So light. Loving.
“Come with me,” she said to him.
He hesitated. Just a fraction and she felt like a stupid, clinging woman. “I know you have work to do. I’ll be fine.”
“No, it’s not that. I just-are you sure?”
She nodded.
He took the ill-fitting clothes off her body. She’d had to give up her own clothing as evidence. Because she had fallen into Anna’s blood. Blood coating her body. Her hands. Her face. She hadn’t known what she had fallen on, not until she scrambled up and turned on the lights.
Then she saw…
She began to cry. “No, Robin, please don’t cry.” Will brushed away the tears with his palms, then took off his own clothes, and helped her into his shower. She sobbed and he scrubbed her body. “Harder,” she said. “Her blood is all over me.”
“It’s gone.”
“Please.”
Will scrubbed until her skin was raw and the water painful. He washed her hair three times, used his soap on her body. She now smelled like him, and that gave her some peace. To be wrapped up in Will Hooper, she could live with that. She’d been thinking a lot about what they had and what they didn’t have. Will knew she was a stripper. He still showed her more care and compassion than any man in her life. There was something there, something more than there had ever been in her life.
They went to bed. Slow and passionate, two people brought together by tragedy forging something beautiful out of the evil surrounding them. And she slept, awaking only when she didn’t feel Will’s arms around her.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to go in. The lab found evidence that links Anna to Theodore Glenn. The D.A. is already working on the warrant, and I need to be there to haul him in.”
She sat up, pulling Will’s sheet around her naked body. “Take me with you.”
“You know I can’t.”
“I can’t help but think I could have done something to save her.” No tears came, she was drained.
“You didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know what?”
Will slipped on his slacks. “That Anna had sex with Glenn. She wasn’t on the target list we put together after Brandi was killed. He must have been watching her, knew she’d returned from Big Bear early.”
She blinked, watching Will button up his shirt. “Anna didn’t have a relationship with him.”
“Why would he change his M.O.?” Will shook his head. “I interrogated that bastard. I know his game. He thinks it’s part of the fun to kill women he had sex with. Sort of a reverse obsession. Usually rejection prompts a man of Glenn’s ego to act, the stressor to get him into a killing frame of mind. But with him, he gets the thrill of killing those who trust him. It’s not just about the victim. It’s about who finds the victim. He wanted you to
