Jan Burke - Nine

“Alex, we’ll have you sit here,” Everett said, pulling out a second chair.

Ciara shoved him hard into it.

“Ciara,” Everett said, turning Meghan around, “I know my darling resisted you, but did you have to strike her face?” Meghan’s left cheek and eye were a little swollen, Alex saw. It would have taken more than one blow. However many had landed, it hadn’t knocked the defiance out of her.

Everett caressed her cheek. She pulled as far away from him as her bonds would allow.

“Doesn’t look as if you’re satisfying him in bed, Ciara,” Alex said. “But then, it doesn’t look as if his new courtship is going all that well, either.”

Everett smiled. “Things will go better now that Kit is dead.”

Meghan shot a look of despair at Alex, then she seemed to notice the blood.

“I’m sorry,” he said, meaning it.

She shook her head, but tears were welling up in her eyes.

“You know, you have a point, Meghan. I think I’ll bring his body in here. It will give you closure. And then maybe you’ll feel like telling me where your brother the loser is.” Everett turned his attention back to Alex. “And for the record, Ciara and I have a strictly professional relationship.”

“The story of her life,” Alex said, and Ciara slapped him. He smiled. She struck him again, harder. That time he laughed. “This is obviously hurting you more than it does me.”

She folded her arms, visibly resisting the urge to hit him again.

“Ciara owes much of her career as a detective to me,” Everett said, as if nothing had happened. “Didn’t you ever wonder how she solved so many cases?”

“Actually, Internal Affairs is investigating her,” Alex lied. “She would have been fired long ago, but we wanted to catch those who were helping her. No one believed she was capable of that on her own.”

“You’re full of shit,” Ciara said.

“He’s envious,” Everett said. “They all are. Do you know what we’ve done? The best law enforcement agencies in the country couldn’t do what my small, select team could do. You see, Alex, your partner had an intelligent, privately operated, well-financed team on her side. Your underfunded lab with its six-month backlog? We could have answers in a week. I could hire men who could focus entirely on one case, while you had to take whatever came your way, whenever it came your way. And your stupid rules! When you’re dealing with lawbreakers, what could be more ridiculous than worrying about rules? Why not level the playing field? Look what we’ve accomplished. Wiretapping? No problem. Electronic tracking devices? Not to worry. Need to inflict a little pain to get a guilty party to talk? We could do it. It worked perfectly.”

“Not exactly perfect,” Alex said. “You only caught nine out of ten.”

“Oh, but one hundred percent of our goal-the truly guilty ones. It’s really an incredible fluke that Gabe ended up on the Ten Most Wanted list. He was at that robbery, of course. So technically, he can be tried for murder. But anyone who believes Gabe Taggert could murder anyone, let alone a family with small children-Why do the police always take the easy way out?”

“One of his partners named him-” He broke off, seeing Everett’s smile.

“Exactly. The whole thing went much bigger than we expected.”

“Are you so deluded, you think none of this will catch up to you?” Alex said. “We were already looking at you and Cameron as suspects before you had my ex call me.”

“She’s a really fine fuck, by the way.”

“If you don’t mind leftovers,” Alex said.

Everett laughed. Ciara made a sound of disgust and walked toward the door.

“Stay for a moment, Ciara,” Everett said. “I’ll need you to keep an eye on them while I check out his story about Kit.”

Remembering what Kit had told him about Everett, Alex said, “The body is in the woods. Cameron’s, too.”

He saw Everett hesitate.

Ciara saw it, too. “Let me look for him.”

“If you insist,” Everett said, glancing at his watch again. “You’ll have to hurry. And we’ll need to make sure we aren’t sending you into some sort of trap. There’s a big switch that turns on the baseball field lights out there somewhere. Near one of the dugouts, I think.”

Alex lowered his head to hide his reaction. He was sure Cameron had turned the lights on, after hearing Hamilton fire his gun. But when the lights had gone out again, he had assumed Everett had been the one to plunge the woods into darkness again. If it hadn’t been Everett, was it Kit?

No, Kit wouldn’t have been able to get to the switch to turn the lights off, and then back into the woods so quickly. But if it hadn’t been Everett or Kit or Hamilton…

“He knows something,” Ciara said, watching him.

“I know you’ve partnered up with a lunatic.” He looked at Everett. “I told your old man to get help for you, but I guess he didn’t listen.”

“Don’t try to pretend you had my best interests in mind,” Everett said. “You wanted to destroy me then, but you learned that it wasn’t so easy, didn’t you? And in case you haven’t noticed, the public doesn’t think I’m so crazy. The public loves what we’ve done. We’re heroes.”

“Martyrs, most of you,” Alex said. “There is that difference. Has he got another Bora waiting for you, Ciara? Who’s going to take care of Laney when that happens? You sold your soul-and your sister-to have the highest clearance rate in Homicide?”

“You don’t get it at all, Alex,” she said angrily. “You never did. That’s why people who should have been punished went free.”

There was a sound in the outer office.

Ciara and Everett tensed. “Check it out,” Everett ordered.

Alex saw the look of rebellion on Ciara’s face, but she went out, leaving the door open. They heard her moving, opening and closing other doors.

When she came back she said, “No one inside.”

Everett looked at Alex. “You know, Ciara, I think you’re right. I think he lied about Kit Logan being dead.”

“I’ll look for him,” Ciara said, and moved toward Alex. She pulled him to his feet.

“What are you doing?” Everett asked sharply.

“He’s going to be my bait.”

“You’d be better off using Meghan. If Kit Logan is alive, nothing will bring him more quickly to surrender than the threat of killing her. If he’s dead, it will be good for her to see it for herself. Besides, I don’t trust you, Ciara, dear. You might end up taking that badge of yours too seriously.”

“You sure I won’t just take off with your long-lost love?” she asked.

“You have no interest in her. But you do in Kit, and in Alex, here.”

“What the hell do you have against Kit Logan?” Alex asked her.

She shoved him hard back into his chair. “Jerome Naughton-how many victims were there?”

“Eight.”

“Wrong.”

“We never found Serenity Logan’s body, but we’re sure-”

“Oh, I count her. But you’re wrong.”

“If you’re telling me there may have been more, all the investigators agreed that was likely. Is this about some unknown victim of Naughton’s?”

“No, I’m talking about known victims.”

He was puzzled. She put the barrel of her gun to his temple. “Think, damn you!”

Alex’s pulse raced, and his mouth went dry. He looked into her eyes and saw nothing but a desire to pull the trigger.

Everett must have seen it, too. “I’d ask you to remember that I have plans for him, Ciara. Besides, we may need a hostage to get out of here-especially after your screaming broadcast.”

“How much time do we have?” she asked, her gaze not leaving Alex.

“A little more than an hour. So let’s not waste precious moments. You’ll have to spell it out for him, I’m afraid.”