Page 24 of The Truth You Told

But even knowing that, Raisa couldn’t imagine Kilkenny murdering Shay.

Of course, a lot of family, friends, and loved ones had thought just that before their family, friend, or loved one did the unimaginable.

Rage was a strong and terrible drug. There were plenty of normal, everyday people who snapped and then couldn’t even remember what it was that had set them off. It was such a common phenomenon while driving that it had its own name.

It was also part of the reason domestic violence statistics were so high.

Was Kilkenny hiding fingerprint-shaped bruises and torn knuckles in his past? Was the myth of Callum and Shay just that—smoke and mirrors that covered deep wounds?

The picture was so easy to paint, so easy that it could become compelling.

Raisa glanced at the clock on the bedside table of the hotel she’d checked into for Isabel’s trial. She’d come back to grab her bags while Kilkenny made flight arrangements.

It was three in the morning, an ungodly hour when nothing good happened. But that meant it was almost an acceptable time to call someone on the East Coast.

She slipped the hotel keys into the drop box in the lobby and then pulled up a contact she hadn’t used in quite a long time. She hit the call button as soon as she pulled out of the parking lot into the mostly empty Seattle streets.

“Shit, this better be important,” Matthew Nurse said when he answered, even though she could hear birds in the background and would bet money on the fact that he was already on his morning run.

Raisa’s first year at the Bureau had been rough. She’d been young and a paper pusher in a job most people had never heard of before. Matthew Nurse had been a seasoned vet in the behavioral sciences unit with his eye on the exit, and zero interest in taking a rookie underneath his wing.

But for some reason they’d made allies of each other. Unlike Kilkenny, Nurse had never felt like a partner. He’d played the role of reluctant mentor pretty well, much to his own surprise and displeasure. He’d taken some job in DC after her first year, and they’d mostly lost touch, as Raisa did with the vast majority of people who came into her life.

That was probably something she should work on, but that was a problem for another day.

“You were around for the Alphabet Man, right?” Raisa asked without any preamble. It was six in the morning for him. If she started in with small talk, he’d hang up on her.

“Not on the case,” Nurse said, panting only slightly.

“You were in the behavioral science unit, though,” Raisa said, taking the highway toward the airport. “With Agent Kilkenny.”

There was a long pause. “You want to know if he killed his wife.”

Raisa couldn’t hold in the surprised sound. “What? How did you get there?”

Nurse laughed. “Baby, I don’t live under a rock. And I know you worked with him on that last case. You doing okay over all that, by the way?”

“Yup,” she said, and she was sure that if he’d managed to intuit the reason she was calling, he was still sharp enough to tell that was mostly a lie.

“Sure.”

“Anyway,” she drawled. “Do you have an answer?”

“He didn’t do it,” Nurse said without missing a beat. “Someone with a grudge might plant some rumors over the next few days if you all don’t handle this quickly, though.”

“We’re headed to Texas now,” Raisa said absently. She’d had the passing thought as well—that even if no one really believed Kilkenny had murdered Shay and framed the serial killer he’d been hunting, it sure could throw a wrench in his career for some time.

“Good, you’ll get it straightened out,” Nurse said, sounding far more confident than she’d given him reason to be.

“How are you so sure that Kilkenny didn’t kill her?” she asked.

“Because the head honcho of the BSU at the time ran an internal investigation,” Nurse said. “I wasn’t on it, but I heard that all the t’s were dotted and i’s crossed and Kilkenny was cleared quickly. It’s not like we all lost our collective brains when the wife of an agent was killed. There are procedures in place.”

Raisa exhaled in relief. She hadn’t truly believed Kilkenny capable of such a thing, but that’s how people got away with crimes for so long. “Then it can’t be used against him.”

“Please, you know that’s not true.” Nurse had come to the Bureau a cynic and left with all his worst ideas about humanity and government work proven right. At least how he told it. “I’ll put a call in to make sure the report from the internal investigation surfaces, but you know the saying.”

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its underwear,” Raisa said, echoing the sentiment he’d used at least once a week in that first year.

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