See No Evil

and go on to lead relatively normal lives.

He stared at Faye through the observation window, realizing that he didn’t know enough right now to help her. But he wanted to. Something inside her was crying out for help.

He feared it was too late.

Will continued with his questions after Faye calmed down. Dillon, Connor, and Julia watched through the one-way mirror.

“Did you also kill Paul Judson?”

“Who’s he?”

“The teacher from-”

She nodded, cutting Will off. “Oh, yeah, right. The principal. Shot him through the eyes. Skip did that. I was supposed to. Robbie and Skip didn’t think a girl could do what we’d planned. But I don’t like guns. That’s why I used a knife on Skip.”

Will asked Faye, “Why did you kill Jason Ridge?”

Faye shook her head, her face blank. “I don’t know him. I didn’t kill him. He doesn’t go to my school.”

“And you don’t know Shannon Chase? Michelle O’Dell?”

“No.”

“Do you know a girl named Cami? She was at Bowen’s party Saturday night.”

A brief flicker, then nothing. It might have been Dillon’s imagination.

“No.”

“What about Judge Vernon Small?”

Faye shook her head. She counted on her fingers. “Skip, Robbie, and I killed that principal because he cost that nice kid his basketball scholarship, then the judge because he hurt Emily, then Dr. Bowen because we didn’t like him. Then I killed Robbie and Skip. They were getting stupid.”

It sounded logical the way Faye put it, but something was off in her statement. Dillon couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was bothering him.

“Why did you turn yourself in? You killed the only two people who knew what really happened. You might have gotten away with it.”

Faye sighed. And for the first time, Dillon believed she spoke the whole truth.

“I’m tired. I just can’t do it anymore.”

Observing in the back of the room, Dillon turned to Chief Causey and Stanton.

“This kid needs to be on a 24/7 suicide watch. At the hospital secure ward. Complete medical exam. Faye Kessler can’t be alone, even to urinate.”

The phone rang in the observation room and Causey answered it. Everyone watched his face harden. He hung up. “Faye didn’t lie about Robert Haxton. The quarry manager checked the area on our request. He found the kid crushed to death in his truck.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

He hadn’t gone to Cami’s apartment before, but now he was desperate.

“Where’s Faye?” he demanded when she opened the door.

“You haven’t been watching the news, have you?” Letting him in, Cami waved her arm toward the flat, wide- screen television on the wall above the fireplace.

A newscaster somberly gave his report. “The San Diego Police Department has made an arrest in the murder of Judge Victor Montgomery. There are no details at this time, but Chief Causey will be providing a statement at four-thirty this afternoon. Sources say the killer surrendered to authorities early this afternoon at the downtown precinct. Wait-” The attractive newscaster was looking at something off-screen. “We have just learned that the alleged killer is female, possibly a minor.

“To repeat this breaking news, an arrest has been made in the homicide of Superior Court Judge Victor Montgomery. We’ll be broadcasting Chief Causey’s press conference live at four-thirty. Stay tuned to the station that brings it to you first, Channel Seven.”

Cami hit the remote. “You see? It’s over. We’re safe and Faye will be happy in her padded room.”

“Safe? You think we’re safe?”

“Faye would never turn me in,” Cami said with complete confidence.

He didn’t think Faye would either. Cami had such tight control on Faye that the girl didn’t even know it.

Had Faye heard what the bitch said this morning? Is that why she’d confessed? To protect him?

The thought of Faye being locked up disturbed him. She’d never survive imprisonment. She hated shrinks and doctors and anyone who poked at her.

He thought of her scars. They’d run test after test. Blood tests, psychological tests, medical tests. She’d sacrificed herself for him. Not for Cami, for him.

“To save you, she needs to confess.”

Faye must have heard. He didn’t need to hear the report to know she put all the blame on herself, Skip, and Robbie. Skip and Robbie couldn’t contradict her. They were dead.

But he wasn’t stupid. The police would verify everything she said. Julia Chandler had already spoken to Tom Chase, had been trying to talk to Michelle O’Dell. Could they put all of it together?

He could disappear tonight and no one would be the wiser until he was far beyond the reach of the U.S. government.

Faye wouldn’t break. She would never give him up. She’d kill herself first. It was his fault. Cami’s fault. They’d used her, used Faye’s weaknesses and passions and fears to get her to carry out their plan for vengeance. Justice.

And in the end, justice no longer meant anything to him. Sure Garrett Bowen was dead, but the one person he loved was behind bars.

He had to find a way to get her out. If he had to spend every last dime, break every law, whatever it took, he was going to protect Faye.

“I know everything.” Cami stared at him, eyes hot and narrow.

He should have seen her rage when he first came to the door, but he’d been too worried about Faye to fully take in how close to the edge Cami was.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You slept with her. You wouldn’t fuck me, but Faye? You were all over that ugly bitch.”

“Don’t say that. Faye worships you. She did everything you told her to.”

“Of course she did,” Cami snapped. “She wanted to be me. She wanted my body, my face, and I thought she wanted my life. I see you preferred fucking the ugly duckling over the swan.” She threw a pile of papers at his face. No, not papers. They were photographs of him and Faye in bed. Of her cutting him. In their rawness they were ugly, distorted, fuzzy. The crude images hardly conveyed the exquisite high, the perfect beauty he’d experienced in Faye’s arms, under her knife.

“Why are you jealous? I never cared that you were screwing Skip. And who else? Probably every man who crossed your path. I heard about you throwing yourself at that guy at Bowen’s party. You think you’re the only one with spies?”

“Well, my spies are dead, and so are yours.”

“Don’t you lay a hand on her.”

“I won’t have to. One night locked up and Faye will take care of it herself.”

Cami paced, furious he’d chosen Faye over her. How could he? How could he even touch that bisexual cunt?”

She made the call.

“It’s me,” she said. “He’s going to cause trouble.”

“Didn’t you see the press conference? That little psychotic bitch confessed to everything, implicated Skip and Robbie and no one else. We’re fine. Everything is done. Justice has finally been served.”