Jaci Burton - The Heart of A Killer

“I really need to get back to work.”

“Then tell me everything. Did you kill all those people?”

His gaze shot to hers. Anger. “No.”

“Did you come after me at my house the other night?”

He frowned. “What? No.”

“Then tell me how I’m supposed to believe you.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone about what happened to my brother that night?”

A cold chill shivered down her spine. “You were there.”

“Yeah. I was there.” He lifted the gun. “I saw it all.”

She wondered if he had really seen it all.

“Do you know what Tony did that night?”

His gaze didn’t waver, not even when Sam and Roman came running in, guns drawn. She lifted her hand to stay them.

“Yeah. My brother died.”

“Do you know what else he did that night?”

He cocked his head to the side. He didn’t know.

Anna unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt and showed him the heart.

“Did you see him do this to me?”

Sam’s gaze bored into the scar on her chest. His eyes filled with tears and he stepped forward, his hand out as if he wanted to touch her.

“Maclin, don’t.” Dante took a step forward.

“It’s okay, Dante.”

Sam didn’t touch her, just drew closer. “Jesus Christ. I didn’t know he cut you like that.”

“You were there. You saw.”

He started rocking back and forth on his heels, the gun still aimed at her, but his hand was more relaxed now. “We were home alone together and he told me he was going out. I told him I was old enough to go along. He said fine, so he took me with him, said we’d go play laser tag, but he had a stop to make first. He drove to the alley, told me to wait in the car for him, that he’d be right back. Said he had to buy some blow and I was supposed to stay in the car.”

“You didn’t stay in the car, did you?” Anna asked.

“No. I wanted to see. I was scared for him. I wanted to make sure he was gonna be okay, so I got out of the car and followed him into the alley, but I hid. He was waiting for the guy, then you…you showed up. He was already high. Really high. That’s why I was worried about him, afraid he’d do something stupid. And he did. He jumped you and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to do.”

Tears rolled down his cheeks.

“I was going to stop him, but I was scared. When we first got there he told me if the dealer found me he’d kill me, so I stayed where I was. And then your friends came and they beat up Tony, and I was even more scared that they’d find me and hurt me, too. So I just stayed hiding, trying not to make any noise.”

“What happened after the guys left with me?”

“I was going to go get Tony and get the hell out of there, right? Because Tony was starting to get up. But then this guy came, and Tony asked for help, said some guys beat him up. And the guy was pissed, man. Really pissed. Said Tony blew it for him. And he took a brick and slammed it on Tony’s head, hard.”

Sam really started to cry then. Anna forced herself to stay composed, trying not to relive that night, the same night Sam had had to live through.

He could have stopped it, could have stopped it from the beginning. He chose not to.

“Then what happened?”

“I was afraid. I ran. I ran for blocks until I couldn’t breathe anymore. I caught a taxi home and never told anyone what I saw. I saw my brother get killed and I never said anything to anyone. All these years I’ve felt weak and ashamed because I didn’t do anything. I didn’t stop him when he did…that…to you, and I didn’t stop my brother from getting killed.”

Sam lowered the gun and turned to face the sculpture. “All I could do was make beautiful things. The beautiful things to erase all that ugliness.”

Dante rushed in and grabbed the gun from Sam. Roman cuffed him.

Susan Maclin had seen it all, heard it all, her eyes wide and tear filled as Anna walked by.

She stopped Anna. “My Tony did that to you?”

Anna nodded.

She lifted a fisted hand to her lips and began to sob. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

They took Sam into the station. Dante got Pohanski and he led the interview.

In interrogation, Sam told him everything that went down twelve years ago, informed them that Tony told him his dealer was a medical student who’d gone to the same high school. Based on their suspicions about Crey Robinson, they gave Sam a photo lineup and he picked Robinson right away as the one who’d hit Tony with the brick.

It had given Anna a great sense of satisfaction when the arrogant Dr. Robinson was arrested for Tony Maclin’s murder.

Now that their involvement in the Maclin case was out in the open, Pohanski called them all into the office.

“Jesus Christ,” Pohanski said, pacing his office. “You didn’t think to mention any of this to me before now?”

Anna didn’t say a word. Neither did Dante or Roman.

“All this time. All these years. You were all involved in a murder and a cover-up. And Anna-your father?”

“Did what he thought was best, sir.”

Pohanski rubbed his hand over his bald head. “What am I supposed to do about this now?”

She didn’t think he was really asking any of them to answer that question.

“Son of a bitch. You were all kids then. And what Maclin did to you that night. Goddamn, Anna. I’m sorry about that. It’s no wonder you decided to become a cop. And a damn good one.”

“Thank you, sir.”

He shot her a glare. “Don’t thank me yet. I have to figure out what I’m going to do about this. About all of you.”

“There’s still a killer out there,” Dante said.

“Don’t remind me. My department’s stretched thin as it is. And the fact the three of you were involved in solving a cold case is-shit, this is fucked up.”

That was an understatement. “The guys saved my life that night, Captain. And everyone around me is dying because of it. Please let us figure out why and put a stop to it before everyone else around me dies.”

He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it, continuing to pace and rub his head. “Give me a goddamn minute to think, Pallino.”

She did, though it was difficult not to throw herself on his mercy and plead her case-all their cases. He had to see reason.

“You were all juveniles then, and Anna was a victim of a violent crime. And what was done to you, Anna, by Maclin-whose killer has now been found-I don’t think a prosecutor is going to want to mess with any of you. Robinson will be prosecuted for murder, he’ll probably pull a plea deal and we’ll be able to get out of this messy business with our skins intact.”

“And the other murders?”

He gave her a straight look. “You can’t investigate your father’s murder, Anna.”

“I can, though,” Dante said.

Pohanski shrugged. “I have no jurisdiction over you, Dante. But you have to work within our guidelines. And if you happen to bring Anna or Roman along to assist in an unofficial capacity, that’s up to you.”

“But you’d better have another detective sign off on everything, and dot every i and cross every goddamn t so our asses are covered.”

After Pohanski left them, Anna breathed a sigh of relief and the three of them regrouped to figure out the next steps. Sam was still a suspect in the other murders, but Anna didn’t see it.

“He was focused on all of us, but afraid, mostly,” she argued.

“He doesn’t have alibis,” Roman argued. “We can’t clear him. He stays a suspect.”

“Roman’s right,” Dante said. “You’re letting your personal feelings get in the way.”

She lifted her chin. “I don’t have personal feelings. If he’s guilty, he goes down. But other than him being a little dark and twisty, we don’t have anything on him. He just has no alibis for the nights of the murders. And when he found out he was a suspect, he bolted and hid, which meant the night I was attacked he was hiding in his own house.”