Allison Brennan - Killing Fear

“I’d stake my reputation on the fact that the killer is a woman. She identified solely with her father, and would have followed in his footsteps. If she’s a cop, her father was a cop. If she’s a CSI, she has an advanced degree and her father was a doctor or scientist of some kind. She worshipped her father and is an only child, possibly a child the father wanted to be male and couldn’t keep those feelings from her. She internalized that and concluded that women were inferior.”

Will leaned forward but couldn’t speak. Dillon was describing a woman he knew. As Dillon continued, Will’s fear grew.

“Her mother was a weaker figure in her mind, likely a homemaker,” Dillon surmised. “She may have gone back to work at some point and took a working-class job because she had no formal education, something that would embarrass the killer even if it was satisfying to the mother. She will have no close female relationships. Her female colleagues will not like her and she will exclusively socialize with her male colleagues. She is attractive, professional, and a perfectionist. She will have clocked in as much overtime as she can, not for the money but because her job is her identity.

“Will, you personally know this woman. And there’s a fifty-fifty chance you had a sexual relationship with her.”

“Diana Cresson,” Will said.

His stomach churned. How could he accuse a woman he’d worked with for more than a decade, a woman he’d slept with, of murder?

But as Dillon explained the profile, Diana came to mind and stayed. Diana was the only woman in Jim’s department Will had dated. She was meticulous-a wonderful trait in a criminalist. She was a dream in court, formal and professional. Her father was a biologist for a prestigious university on the East Coast, where she grew up. Will couldn’t remember her ever talking about her mother.

Could Diana have killed Jim? Shot him in cold blood? A man she’d worked with for years?

“Did you have a relationship with her?” Hans asked.

“Years ago, shortly after my divorce. Hell, I had relationships with a lot of women after my divorce. They were all short-term, but we always parted on friendly terms. Including Diana.” Could he peg her as a killer?

“So your relationship with Diana was before Robin?” Hans asked.

“Yeah. It ended a year or more before I hooked up with Robin.”

“How?” Dillon asked.

“As friends. We both had busy careers. My job always came first. We’ve had drinks after working on a case, in a group, ever since. I didn’t hurt her or dump her for someone else. That’s not my style.”

“Will, you’re not up for trial here, don’t get defensive,” Hans said.

“I’m not defensive, I’m angry! How could I have not seen it?”

“No one did.”

“Why? Why on earth would Diana want to kill Robin?” As Will said it, he realized the truth. “She knew about my relationship with her.”

“You said your partner knew?” Hans asked.

“Frank brought it up all the time, until I lost my temper when he got crude.” Will shook his head. “So Diana found out? But is that a motive for murder? I’ve dated other women since Diana, and they’re all alive.”

“To Diana it is,” Dillon said. “In her mind, you preferred a low-class, unworthy woman over her.”

“Robin is not low-class,” Will said.

“I’m explaining how Diana sees Robin. Robin was a stripper, correct? Diana would put her in the same class as a prostitute. And you, Will, are a detective. A noble profession, someone intensely dedicated to his job. In fact, your job always came first and that was how she justified your breakup. She could come in second to a job. She could not come in second to an inferior woman.”

Hans interrupted. “But if she doesn’t like women, how could any other woman be acceptable to her? Wouldn’t she look at the other women Will dated as inferior?”

“Possibly, but I know Will and I’d guess most of his relationships were discreet and the women had some sort of professional career. Correct?”

“True,” Will acknowledged.

“But closely on the heels of Diana’s failed relationship with Will came his relationship with Robin, and it grated on her. She watched for signs that you were now unworthy of her devotion. If you looked tired, it was because you had been with Robin the night before. She built up a fantasy in her mind that you preferred Robin to not only her, but to your job, and that was unacceptable. A serious relationship would take you away from your destiny of being a cop. You couldn’t be a good cop and be in love-in her mind.

“But there’s something else. Anna Clark wasn’t the first woman Diana killed. If you go back into her past, there will be at least one more. Probably in college.”

“We don’t have enough evidence to arrest her,” Will said. “Stanton will never give me a warrant based on a profile.”

“Was she one of the people Jim talked to yesterday when he was leaving?” Dillon asked.

“Yes.”

“Call everyone Jim spoke with yesterday and have them come in. Call them into an interview room separately, ask what they talked to Jim about, and then let them leave quickly, walking past the room where everyone is waiting. In and out. Diana goes last. If Carina can put on her game face, have her in the room asking the questions. If Carina can pull it off-make it seem like Diana is not a suspect-it will put Diana at ease, since it was common knowledge that Jim and Carina used to live together. And if Carina can let down her guard a bit, tell Diana how hard she’s taking Jim’s death, it’ll bring on Diana’s guilt. She killed Jim because she thought he was a threat to her-that he knew something that would lead back to her. But she didn’t want to do it. It will bother her because Jim was one of the good guys in her mind, and the more salt you can rub on that wound, the greater chance she’ll confess or slip up. But Diana will not confess to a woman, so I’d suggest after Carina asks the questions, you go in-maybe find an excuse to send Carina off-and push her.”

“Thanks for your help, Dillon,” Hans said.

“Anytime. And again, I’m sorry about Jim.”

Hans disconnected the phone and Will slammed his fist on the desk. “Diana.”

“You couldn’t have known.”

“Why not? I slept with that woman. I liked her. I wouldn’t have believed she could do something like this.”

“We still don’t have proof. We need the gun.”

“She’s not stupid enough to keep it lying around her house.”

“Has ballistics come back on the bullets?”

“The coroner performed the autopsy this afternoon, the bullets are already at the sheriff’s forensic lab and they’re rushing it. We’ll have the report by tomorrow. They’ll work all weekend if they have to.”

Will paced, bouncing ideas off Hans. “Diana isn’t stupid. She’s not going to use her own gun, even if she has one.”

“She could have taken something out of the evidence room,” Hans suggested.

Will nodded. “I’ll have Hazelwood look into that, see if she signed anything out. But if it’s a gun that has been used in a crime, we’d have the ballistics on it for comparison.

“But,” Will continued, “she framed Theodore Glenn for Anna’s murder, maybe she’ll try to frame someone else.”

“We need to get all seven of those individuals in and talk to them,” Hans said. “And check to see if any of them has a concealed carry permit.”

Will glanced at his watch. “It’s after eight. Let’s get everyone together and see what happens. On the QT. We don’t want Diana thinking she’s a suspect.”

Will made the call to Hazelwood to contact the seven people seen speaking with Jim as he was leaving the lab yesterday, then he called Chief Causey at home and filled him in. Causey would contact Stanton to give him a heads-up and work out a reason to get a warrant. Then Will called Carina, filled her in on his conversation with Dillon, and told her the plan. She assured him she could play the part.