Allison Brennan - The Kill

“You should go to the hospital,” the EMT, a burly guy named Trent, told her. “Just to be on the safe side.”

“See, I told you,” Zack said.

“I’m fine,” Olivia said. “Just clean the cuts.”

Zack winced as Trent sanitized the cut on her neck and applied a bandage.

“Um, do you want to unbutton your blouse?” Trent asked, glancing from Zack to Olivia.

Olivia frowned and looked at Zack. “Are you sure you don’t want to check in with Quinn?”

Zack looked at her, his heart thudding. She was worse off than she’d told him. “Unbutton your blouse, Liv. Or I’ll do it.”

She hesitated, then complied, wincing as she pulled the material from the dried wound on her chest.

Zack stared, feeling the rage building again. Her left breast had been stabbed, the cut at least an inch wide. The blood had dried, but in pulling the blouse off the wound had restarted a light flow.

Saying nothing, the EMT efficiently and discreetly cleaned and dressed the wound. He then turned to the cut in her side, shook his head, and took care of it.

Zack stared at Olivia. That he’d come so close to losing her affected him a million different ways. He wasn’t comfortable examining his feelings under such circumstances. He wanted to step back, think logically about what had happened, accept it, and move on. But he was stymied, unable to rid his memory of the image of Olivia jumping from the car, and now the obvious signs of violence on her body.

“Trent, could you give us a minute?” she said quietly, not turning her eyes from Zack’s.

Trent said, “Ms. St. Martin, you need to see a doctor when you get to town, okay?”

“I will,” she said.

The EMT left and she took Zack’s hand. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the scraped knuckles.

“I’m fine, Zack. Really. I’m fine.”

Zack ran a hand through his hair. “I thought he’d killed you,” he said quietly.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m sore, but I’ll be okay.”

He nodded, unable to speak, and sat heavily next to her on the bumper.

“Don’t. Don’t think about it,” Olivia said.

“I love you, Liv. I don’t want to lose you.” He choked up and closed his eyes, bending his forehead to hers.

“Oh, Zack.” She touched his cheek. “I need to tell you something. It’s important.”

He opened his eyes and looked at her. Something was wrong, but he had no idea what. He rubbed the back of her neck, kissed her lips, her cheek.

“What, Liv?”

“I’m not an FBI agent.”

He blinked, his body tensing. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m a scientist. I used to be a field agent, nearly ten years ago. But now I’m director of the Material Analysis and Trace Evidence lab.”

Zack dropped his hands. What ?! Conflicting emotions battled within him, raw from the turmoil he’d just gone through.

She’d been lying to him since the minute they met? He found that hard to believe, but she’d just said it.

“You’re not an FBI agent,” he repeated.

“Please listen. Try to understand,” she began, speaking quickly. “When I found out Brian Hall was being released, my entire world fell apart. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t do anything. I had helped put him in prison. I had testified against his parole six times! I called him evil to his face. But the evidence proved years later that he hadn’t raped Missy.

“So I used every resource at my disposal. I spent two weeks putting together similar cases from around the country. And when I read about Jenny Benedict’s murder, then Michelle’s abduction, I went straight to my boss.”

“And he told you to lie about your identity?” Zack felt sucker-punched. He found it hard to breathe.

She shook her head. “He said the evidence was circumstantial and until we were asked to help, his hands were tied. But,” she said before he could open his mouth, “I couldn’t stand back and do nothing! So I brought the evidence to you. I knew that if you had the information it would help. And it did, didn’t it? I know it did.”

“You haven’t heard of a fax machine?”

Tears welled in her eyes, but Zack shut off his feelings. To protect himself, he had to. He would not allow her past the wall he was building inside. She had deceived and lied to him, manipulating him from the minute they met.

“You know as well as I do that my familiarity with these cases helped. The raw data wouldn’t have given you as much as my interpretation.”

“You could have told me any time, Olivia. Why didn’t you? Why didn’t you come clean when you told me about your sister?”

“I-I-don’t know. I was scared I’d be removed from the case.”

He barked a humorless laugh. “Removed from a case you were never assigned to? You’ve started believing your own lies. Have you had a lot of practice? Because you sure had me fooled.”

She looked stricken, as if he had slapped her, and he had to force his attention away from her.

God, he thought he’d loved this woman. But she hadn’t trusted him. She’d slept with him, but didn’t trust him with the simple truth.

He’d been betrayed.

“Zack, believe me, I struggled with this. I didn’t want to lie, but I had no choice.”

“We all have choices, Olivia. No one held a gun to your head forcing you to deceive me. Not only me, but my boss, my partner, my colleagues. You lied to everyone. You’re a master of deception.”

He looked her straight in the eye. “You made the wrong choice. And now you’ll have to live with it.”

“Travis, Olivia, we need to get down to the substation,” Quinn said as he approached them. He stopped. “What happened?”

Zack shoved Quinn in the chest. He had liked the Fed, but Quinn Peterson was as much a liar as Olivia. “You knew and didn’t say anything. You’re just as much of a fraud as she is.”

He walked away before completely losing it.

Tears rolled down Olivia’s cheeks. “Oh, God, Quinn. I really screwed this up.”

Quinn touched her chin. “Liv, how did he find out?”

“I had to tell him. I’m in love with him.”

“He just needs time. He’s angry, but he’ll get over it.”

She shook her head. “It’s not his anger that I’m worried about. I hurt him badly, and I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me.”

Quinn looked at her bandages and frowned. “Are you okay? You really should go to the hospital and get checked out.”

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Go home.” She looked at her friend, blinked back the tears. “I have nothing else.”

Zack paced the interrogation room, waiting for Driscoll to be brought in.

He’d skipped riding with Peterson to the substation, tagging along with one of the deputies. He needed to push Olivia from his mind. Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to finish his job.

Damn, her betrayal hurt. Out of all the people he’d met, he’d never have pegged her as a liar.

The first day or two, he sensed she was holding back something. When she told him about her sister, he believed that was it. He hadn’t expected more lies, additional revelations.

He slammed his fist on the table and sat, taking deep breaths. Focus, Travis. You have a killer coming in five minutes and you need to do this right .

He had a list of questions for Driscoll, and he needed to get his mind wrapped around the case, not around the woman he’d mistakenly fallen in love with. The woman who would bear the scars of a killer on her body.

But he’d bare the scars of their brief relationship on his heart.

He took a deep breath and focused on Driscoll. He wanted answers to his questions, but didn’t hold out hope that this monster would cooperate. Still, the question why burned in him, not that any answer would be satisfying. But he had to try to understand.