Karen Rose - Count to Ten

His hands ran up and down her back as he sobered. "I hoped."

Her heart turned over. "Where is Beth?"

"In a room down the hall with Lauren."

"And the puppy?"

"At an all-night veterinary clinic. In a cast and resting comfortably. My family is safe and accounted for." He kissed her sweetly. "Come to bed with me, Mia."

She smiled up at him. It would be this easy then. "Okay."

Sunday, December 3, 7:15 a.m.

How had he managed to lose her again? He'd had her. She'd come to him. He'd been waiting for her at Solliday's house and she'd come. But with another man, not alone. And when she left, she'd checked into a hotel with very good security.

And when she came out this morning, it was with Solliday, who'd checked in a few hours after she did. Solliday's arm was around her shoulders, hers around his waist. He remembered the box of condoms on her nightstand and it occurred to him that if he'd just waited, he might have gotten them both in Solliday's bed.

Now it was too late. He'd have to follow her. Sooner or later even Mitchell had to be alone.

Sunday, December 3, 8:00 a.m.

Murphy tossed a copy of the Bulletin across the conference room table. "Howard and Brooks picked up Getts last night. Page four, bottom corner."

Mia flipped to the article with a smile. "Go team." Reed studied her face. "I thought you wanted in on that arrest."

She lifted a shoulder. "Abe and I figured Carmichael was there that night, that she knew where DuPree and Getts were hiding all along and that she was feeding us information to keep her stories front page. She offered me Getts last night thinking I'd swallow the bait. Even tried to tail me. I decided not to play her game."

Westphalen patted her hand. "Our little girl's growing up."

Mia just grinned at him. "Quiet, old man."

Spinnelli leaned back in his chair. "So, Reed, how's your house?"

Reed grimaced. "Now I'll know what it's like on the paperwork end of an insurance claim. But it was Kates, no question. He came in through a window, went through the upstairs while I was downstairs on the phone. We think he grabbed Beth's puppy on the way back out her window, but dropped him halfway down the tree. Ben Trammel] found residue and egg fragments in both bedrooms." He paused, thinking. "He used an egg at Tyler Young's Friday night. He's used nine now. Assuming he had access to a dozen of them in the art teacher's cabinet, he's still got up to three more."

"What do we know about Tyler Young?" Spinnelli asked.

"His name was in the computer we took from Yvonne Lukowitch's house," Jack said. "Kates found Young's real estate Web site through a high school alumni site."

"I called Tom Tennant from the Indy OFI this morning and got the rest of the story. He said Tyler and his wife died. Both bodies were charred, but the ME found organ damage in the wife consistent with the same stab wounds Joe Dougherty had. She was lying on her stomach, just like Joe Junior. But Tyler was chained to the bed, his throat slit."

"He's getting good at that," Mia murmured, troubled.

"I know. Their ME also thinks that Tyler received multiple stab wounds to the groin."

"I think we know what happened in that house the year Andrew and Shane lived there," Westphalen said. "They were trapped and nobody came to check on them."

"And Laura and Penny had put them there," Mia said. "Andrew must have cursed them every day. But they were there a year, then a big fire. Something must have happened on Shane's tenth birthday."

"Maybe it was the first time Tyler assaulted them," Aidan suggested.

Mia nodded slowly. "Maybe. The other son might know."

"Tennant said they found a number in Tyler's personnel file for his brother, Tim. Tim Young's a youth pastor in New Mexico. He works with underprivileged kids."

Westphalen's brows went up. "That's either an attempt at redemption or a kid in a candy store. We may find out which one depending on what he's willing to tell us."

Reed had thought the same thing. "Tennant informed Tim of Tyler's death yesterday. He's traveling to Indianapolis today. Tennant will call me when he gets here."

"In the meantime," Mia said, "that leaves one person who knows what happened. Andrew Kates. We know he's in town. At least he was nine hours ago. He wanted Laura dead, so much he tried three times. He made mistakes with Caitlin, Niki Markov, and with Donna. And still he didn't get Laura. Ironically, he goofed with Penny, too."

"What do mean?" Spinnelli frowned. "She left him there a year."

"No. That didn't sit right with what everyone had told me about Penny. I went back and checked my notes and Reed, do you remember when we talked to Margaret Hill? Remember when she said she almost lost her mother when she was fifteen?"

"Yeah. She said her mother had been shot by a client. She almost died."

"Margaret Hill is twenty-five," Mia said. "You do the math."

"Oh," Reed breathed. She was right. "Penny Hill went into the hospital right about the time she placed Andrew and Shane in that home. She didn't forget about them. I bet her files got forwarded to other people and the kids fell through the cracks."

Mia nodded. "Then Shane dies and somebody says Oh shit . Andrew gets shuffled to another foster home and Shane gets swept under the rug."

"And his file disappears," Spinnelli said grimly. "This is bad for the state. I'll work it."

"That's fine. But back to Kates," Mia said. "Knowing how much he hates to miss his mark, what if he were to find out he'd goofed with Penny Hill? She never abandoned him. She wasn't even working the year he and Shane were at the Youngs'. Someone else dropped the ball with those boys. Someone else is to blame."

"So someone else should pay," Reed murmured, understanding her plan.

Spinnelli's smile started slow and grew. "I like this. We could draw him out."

"We'd have to set up some fake caseworker to take the fall," Mia said. "DCFS would have to cooperate."

"Leave that to me," Spinnelli said.

"And," she added, her own smile starting to spread, "it would have to get leaked to the press. By accident of course. And I wouldn't want to lie to any nice reporters."

"Of course not," Spinnelli repeated dryly. "So Wheaton's going down?"

"Oh yeah. I'll have to give her a little factual information, like Kates is angry because he was lost in foster care. Wheaton will dig deeper. It could get ugly."

"He's killed eleven people in my jurisdiction alone," Spinnelli said grimly. "Five more elsewhere, plus all those rapes. I want him stopped. Leak the story. Give his motive. Don't mention the dead brother or the lost file. We'll try to deal with that internally."

"Wheaton said she'd run that clip of Kelsey tonight at six, Marc," Mia said.

Spinnelli nodded. "You think you can pull off the crawl-and-grovel act, Mia?"

"Oh yeah. Wheaton'll think she has the biggest exclusive since Deep Throat."

"Then we wait for Kates to come to us," Reed finished.

She gave a single, satisfied nod. "And then we all live happily ever after."

Sunday, December 3, 11:15 A.M.

Mia walked up to Wheaton's table, angry belligerence in every step. Wheaton had insisted they meet in the same place she'd met Reed a few nights before.

Wheaton looked at Mia's clothing with disapproval. "I thought you'd dress."

Mia took a deliberate look at Wheaton's low-cut blouse. "I thought you would, too."

Wheaton's smile was feline. "Detective, that's hardly adult."

"Neither was sending me that video. And we both know it wasn't a mistake so just cut the bullshit." A lady at the next table gave her a glare.

"If you're done alienating the other diners," Wheaton drawled, "what do you want?"