Killing Fear

“How about the noon news?”

“I can’t get it taped that fast-unless you go down to the studio.”

“I’ll trust you on this. We can do it live.”

Her eyes brightened. “Really?”

“Yes. But you have to promise me you’ll be careful.”

“And you have to promise me the scoop before any other station.”

“Absolutely.”

“And an interview.”

“Okay.”

“And a date.”

He paused. Had he read her wrong? Did Trinity still have feelings for him? He didn’t want to hurt her. He liked her, but not intimately. Especially now.

“I’m kidding,” she said, grinning.

He must have looked relieved because she added, “You’re still involved with her.”

“Her?”

“Robin. Unless I’m wrong.”

He shook his head. “You’re not wrong.”

She winked at him. “It would never have worked between us. Cops and reporters, fire and ice.”

TWENTY-SIX

Robin woke to the sun streaming in over her partition. Odd-she glanced at the clock. Nine fifteen! She never slept this late.

She rolled over, already knowing Will wasn’t in bed with her. She listened to the sounds of her loft. The faint tick-tick-tick of the clock in her kitchen. Water running in the apartment downstairs. The general buzz of traffic three floors below. The purr of Pickles at her feet.

She felt the sheets where Will had been sleeping. Cool. He’d left some time ago. Her hand touched paper and she opened her eyes again. It was a note torn from the notepad beside her bed.

Robin-

You are beautiful when you sleep. I had to go to a meeting, but I’ll be back at ten. I’ll be bringing Agent Vigo and Dr. Gage with me.

I love you.

— Will

She wasn’t angry that he’d left; he had work to do. Still, she wished they’d woken up together, to see him in daylight with a clear mind and heart.

For years it had been so hard to let go of the pain of the past, but last night erased barriers between them. Maybe they had a chance. If she could just forget that horrible conversation seven years ago, delete it like she deleted spam, with a simple click.

Right now, she wanted to savor this blissful feeling. She almost felt guilty for feeling happy. Almost. But after this week of hell didn’t she deserve a moment of peace? Of happiness? Of the idea that maybe something good might come of all this, this, this evil that surrounded Theodore Glenn?

Robin showered and dressed in jeans and a filmy white blouse, as if she were going into the Sin. She restrained from putting on her belt holster. She didn’t want to act paranoid in her own damn apartment. Sleeping with the lights on was bad enough.

Thinking about the Sin brought her back down to earth. She had to close her business, at least for the next couple days. The idea made her ill, but she had to think about her employees. Her customers. What if Glenn wanted to go out with a bang? Have a big hostage situation? Kill not only her, but everyone in the building?

She couldn’t run the risk.

She made coffee, anything to act normally.

Though she was expecting the company, the knock on the door startled her. She looked through the peephole, then opened the door unceremoniously.

Will smiled warmly at Robin. For the first time since he saw her on Monday, she looked rested. Rested and beautiful, even with the worry lines across her face.

“You remember Jim Gage, right?” he asked. “And Hans Vigo?”

She nodded. “I made coffee.”

“I’ll help,” Will said. The kitchen didn’t afford them any privacy, but at least he could say softly, “I’m sorry I had to leave, but-”

“I got your note. It’s fine.”

He wanted to say something else. Specifically, something to the effect of, We’re okay now, right? You’re not still mad at me? But he didn’t.

Will was uncomfortable in this position. He generally decided when to break off a relationship. While he often pursued women, they always wanted to be pursued. It was safe that way. But Robin had left him when he didn’t want her to leave, and now she was back but he didn’t know how back. Forever? For tonight only?

She smiled at him, but he couldn’t read anything in the smile.

Robin put a tray of coffee, cream, and sugar on the kitchen table, then sat down.

Will said, “Robin, you might want to step out of the room.”

“I’m okay.”

“We’re going to be looking at crime scene photos.”

“I’ve seen them.”

“Robin-” He stopped. “You can walk away anytime.”

She nodded, holding her coffee mug with both hands.

They were the only four in the room. Even Mario was outside the door. No leaks.

First, Will said, “Trinity agreed to run the report. Twelve o’clock news, with repeats in the evening.”

“What report?” Jim asked.

“We asked Trinity to run with the story of Glenn breaking into her apartment. Then she’s going to interview me at the station and I’m going to state categorically that we looked at the evidence, the Feds looked at the evidence, and Glenn is guilty, case closed.”

Jim frowned. “So if Glenn didn’t do it, what do you think happened? We processed that scene with a fine- tooth comb. After the Coleman crime scene, we had everyone breathing down our neck. You, Descario, the press. I even had to go up in front of the professional conduct board. I swear the scene was processed clean.”

“You’re not under scrutiny, Dr. Gage,” Hans said.

“Then what exactly am I doing here?”

Will didn’t blame Jim for sounding defensive. “We want to look at the crime scene photos and preliminary notes again. With Hans, who hasn’t seen everything. That’s why I asked you to bring the case files.”

“I don’t have any evidence, only the written reports and photos.”

“But you have all the photos, correct?” Hans asked. “Not just the ones that went to the jury.”

“True. I prepared a board for the jury to highlight the similarities between the four murders. As you know, because we couldn’t use the physical evidence in the Coleman homicide, I needed to establish a causal link between the Anna Clark murder-where we had physical evidence-to the other three homicides where we didn’t have physical evidence. That we could use,” he added.

Jim opened the box, took out files, and put them on the table. “You don’t honestly believe Theodore Glenn is innocent?”