Page 41 of The Drowned Woman
“Why not just lie low, then? Or make a run for it? Why keep engaging Risa, why tell you about Cherise? Have you met Cliff before? Did he know Cherise?”
As much as he appreciated Leah voicing all the questions roiling through his mind, giving them some semblance of order, he wished she’d be quiet, give him a minute to think. “I never met Vogel before. Cherise never mentioned him. I have no idea why he’s doing this or how he got Cherise’s ring.”
“Maybe when he learned you were in charge of Trudy’s case, he saw an opportunity to create some chaos?" she mused. “Live up to the name he’s chosen for himself?”
He didn’t answer. Suddenly his case was in shambles, despite now having a viable suspect. Chaos. The killer worshiped it; Luka’s face grew cold as realization hit him. Chaos. That had been his life after Cherise. An abyss of confusion, rage, despair, and endless questioning, scrutinizing his every decision, blaming himself for missing vital clues.
Despite being in the cavernous empty lobby facing Leah, suddenly Luka felt claustrophobic, trapped in the tightest vice imaginable: of feeling alone. Then Leah touched his arm, breaking his reverie.
“He sees a way out—and it’s through me,” Luka said in a low tone. “They’ll remove me from the case—personal involvement. Like how you doctors can’t treat family members. Which means, I’m out of the game. Exactly what he wants.”
“If they take you off the case, who will replace you?”
“It doesn’t matter, you’re off it as well.” Her glare forced an answer from him. “It’d have to be a sergeant or higher, but not someone too close to me, so they won’t be tainted, just in case—”
“In case what?” she scoffed. Then she sobered, took a moment to consider. “In case they think you’re a killer? That you were involved in your fiancée’s death? No. Who would believe that?”
He wished he could joke about it. This was his life—past, present and future—on the line. “Leah. This guy is smart enough to go undetected for seventeen years. I don’t have an alibi for Cherise’s death. Maybe he’ll claim I gave him the ring or he stole it from me or who knows what. Point is, this could easily spiral out of control. Whatever happens, the department will need to investigate any role I may or may not have played in her death. They can’t afford even a whiff of impropriety. Otherwise this guy could walk, even if we do catch him.”
She frowned at that. “They’d really suspect you?”
“There’s no innocent until proven guilty, not when you’re a cop—not in the eyes of the public, at least.”
“So who will take over? Will they take over Trudy’s case or just Risa’s? How does it work?”
He could tell by her earnest expression that she wasn’t asking out of curiosity, but rather because she wanted to know how best to intercede on his behalf. “My guess? Ahearn will personally supervise, and he’ll put McKinley in charge of the day to day of the search for Vogel and the investigation into Risa’s stalker and any deaths he might have been involved in. Maybe they’ll let me stay on Trudy’s case, I’m not sure.”
“McKinley? The SWAT guy?”
“ERT,” he corrected automatically. “Listen. I have to go, try to get ahead of this. And you are no longer involved with this case, with Risa Saliba, or with me. Other than taking care of Nate. Understand?”
Defiance flashed across her face.
“Leah. I’m trusting you with Nate. With my family. If I’m in this guy’s sights, I need to make sure no one else is targeted along with me. Especially not Nate.”
“Right.” She blew her breath out. “Okay. But you need to keep me in the loop—if I don’t know what’s happening, I can’t protect him. Especially once this hits the news—”
“And you know the killer will make sure it lands with a splash, gets everyone’s attention. Only a question of when.”
“We’ll need to tell Nate as much as we can. He needs to understand—”
“I don’t even understand,” he snapped. Then he softened his tone. “No, you’re right. I’ll come by tonight, tomorrow at the latest—as soon as I know something.”
They walked toward the large glass doors at the front of the building. Despite their weight, the rain and wind lashed at them hard enough to make them shake.
“What will happen? To you?” she asked as Luka opened the first set of doors. “I mean with your boss?” But her tone made it clear it was more than his career that she was concerned about.
He looked out at the rain, not at her, not back at the scene of the crime he’d been lead investigator on up until a few minutes ago. “Same thing that happens with every suspect, guilty or not. They’ll tear my life apart.”
Twenty-Four
As she fixed Emily and Nate their dinner, Ruby kept talking about how proud she was of them both. But that didn’t make sense to Emily. Shouldn’t she be in trouble? She didn’t hit anyone, but she had made Jimmy fall.
“When’s Mommy coming home?” she asked Ruby. Miss Ruby was good when you needed loud voices or to run away, but Emily had quickly realized that she wasn’t the best at actually thinking through a problem. Not like Mommy or Daddy.
“Late. She’s busy at work.”
Emily sighed. Mommy was always busy at work. Helping other people. Guess it was up to her to figure this out on her own. Nate was in worse trouble now because of her—trouble with the Homans, trouble with Luka for losing Nate’s great’s war medal, and trouble with Ms. Driscoll. She couldn’t help with Ms. Driscoll, but maybe she could help with the Homans and the lost medal.
