Page 57 of The Italian Reckoning
“Is this the first time he’s had contact with you?”
“Ye—” I hesitate, catching myself before I say too much. I could lie, but that lie would unravel the second we had The Painter in custody. One word from him and everything about mewould be thrown into suspicion. Hell, he could even claim we were working together. “No.”
Brant’s brow twitches up. “What?”
“He… he left me a note at the crime scene with a number to call.”
“And you called it?” Brant lifts out of his seat slightly as he hisses at me, then he sits back down and rakes his hand through his hair.
“Yes.”
“Did you report it? Record it? Did you catalog the call in any way?”
“No.”
“Dammit, Sarah.”
“I know?—”
“No, you don’t know! Do you have any idea how fragile this case is? When it was just a single murder, having you working on it was fine because I stand by the decision that the similarities between Belle and The Painter’s victims were circumstantial at best. But with this second victim? Having you, of all people, on this case puts the entire thing under a microscope. And now!” His voice drops to a hiss. “Now you tell me you’ve been having private calls with the killer? Do I have to tell you what this looks like?”
“But I brought it to you!” My heart races as Brant’s implications settle like a weighted hand on my shoulder. “We can trace the call and try to find out how he got onto the network. We can maybe even find out what connector code he used, and that will tell us whose phone he hijacked!”
“You’re off the case.”
My mouth hangs open with words catching in my throat. “What?”
“You’re off the damn case, Sarah! Listen to yourself! This is your second call with the suspect and you didn’t even report thefirst one. And I don’t even want to know how you got a note from the killer when you were neveratthe second crime scene, but open your damn eyes and tell me what you see.”
“You can’t think?—”
“That you’re working with him?” Brant catches himself raising his voice and sighs deeply, puffing out his cheeks. “No. After what you went through, I don’t think that, but other people won’t be so kind. When people find this out, every single piece of evidence you have ever touched, from here to Montana, will be thrown out. Don’t you see? His defense won’t even need to be good to showcase how badly you’re fucking this case.”
“But I haven’tdoneanything!”
“And who's going to believe you when the defense attorney spins your calls—on an internal system, mind you—as your passing The Painter information or even messing with evidence?”
His accusation forces me to take a step back. “Brant, I would never. You know me. You know this case.”
“I know,” Brant says solemnly. “Which is why I’m throwing you off the case with immediate effect. The sooner you’re away from this, the sooner we can build a strong case.”
“Please, I need this. I need to be working on this. It’s me that he’s taunting, me that he wants to piss off! You can’t take this from me when I’m the only one who’s been fighting for this damn case.”
“I don’t care.” Brant picks up his phone and dials a number, presumably to resume the call I interrupted. “I’m trying to protect you, Sarah, so please. Hand everything over to another detective and step away.”
“And if I don’t?” The challenge rises like vomit.
Brant’s fingers hover over the final digit on the keypad. “If you don’t, then I’ll be forced to take your badge. Is that what you want?”
25
ROCKY
Ihate him.
I think I always have. I just didn’t realize it until now.
There’s no love in my father’s eyes when he looks at me and no love in my own heart when I hear his voice. If there’s anything at all, it’s fear. Fear that the man I live under might one day decide I’ve made one mistake too many. Fear that I won’t be able to protect the people I care about. Fear that I’m nothing more than a tool to be used to keep everyone else in line.
