Page 26 of The Italian Reckoning
I need to find her, and fast.
10
SARAH
“Denied,” I mutter, staring furiously down at my phone. “Of course it was fucking denied.”
Despite orders from my captain to shut down the case and rule Belle’s death as a gang killing, I’ve been doing everything I can to stop that from happening. The parcel left on my doorstep is a clear sign that this has nothing to do with the Mafia that has New York in a chokehold. The only thing I can’t work out is whether or not this is the real Painter or if someone is just being a copycat.
My therapists back in Montana would order me to hand this case over to someone else and not think about it, but I can’t do that.
I can’t let him get awayagain.
As a result of spending a night panicking on the roof of my building, I’ve doubled down on my investigation efforts which includes trying to get a warrant for Belle’s father. He refuses to talk to me willingly and he’s the only one with intimate knowledge of her life. He could very well be sitting on a clue about who did this to her and not even know it. If only he would talk to me.
But the most recent email to land in my inbox is a denial of my warrant request, putting me right back to square one.
“Bad day?” Bobby, the cafe owner, stops by my table with several empty cups dangling from his fingers.
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”
“I know what you do for a living. I’d be inclined to believe you.”
I squint up at him, studying the thick beard that hugs his jaw for a long moment. “I wouldn’t want to put you out.”
Bobby leans back and rests against the empty table across from me. “Try me.”
“Alright.” I take a deep, calming breath. “I’m working a murder case. On the surface, it’s pretty cut and dry, and given the city we live in, most would chalk it down to collateral damage. An accidental death of someone caught in the crossfire.”
“But you think differently?”
“Iknowdifferently. Too many aspects of the case are suspicious so I don’t think it’s gang related at all. I think there’s a psychopath wandering the streets and we’re overlooking them because so much shit gets pawned off as gang warfare.”
“Is it a gut feeling or do you have evidence?”
My heart skips briefly up to my throat as the image of the Saran Wrap and makeup palette jump into my mind. “Circumstantial evidence,” I admit, remembering my captain’s words about how often Saran Wrap is used to kill. “But eerily similar to an old case.”
“Oh?” Bobby’s brows dart up and a spark of interest ignites in his eyes.
“Just… nothing important. It’s just familiar, y’know?” I can’t tell him the truth. The moment the wordserial killergets out, people go crazy and there are enough true crime addicts in this city that they’d end up doing more harm than good.
“So it’s mostly gut instinct,” Bobby muses, rubbing at his beard. “Well, far be it for me to tell you how to do your job, but surely, if your instinct is telling you something is off, then it’s better to follow that, right? You don’t want to end up arresting the wrong person.”
Or no one at all.
Bobby’s innocent view on how this case might end is rather heartwarming. He doesn’t even consider that the case will get closed and shelved with no real answers attached. If only that were true.
“You’re right.” I flash him a smile. “Thanks for letting me bounce that around.”
“Anytime. Besides, this kind of customer service is what keeps you coming back, right?” He winks at me and is quickly pulled away by another customer at the counter, leaving me to my mess of thoughts.
On one hand, he’s right. I can’t settle until I’ve followed this gut feeling through until the end. The only problem is, anyone I tell about The Painter is just going to look at me like I’m crazy. My captain was clear about his thoughts about the connection, but while I can’t deny thechancethat it’s just a coincidence, the parcel sent to my address makes this personal.
I’m being toyed with. I know it, so I have to weigh my options.
Either he’s back, in which case I have to do everything in my power not to shrivel up into a ball of terror and let him walk again, or there’s a copycat with enough knowledge to know my history with the killer.
Both options are terrible.
