Page 13 of So Savage (Faith Bold #21)

Faith sipped her coffee and looked at Turk. Turk was looking out of the window of the breakroom at the lake in the distance, visible from the glow of the streetlamps on the ice. Turk had never been an enthusiastic swimmer the way many dogs were, but he enjoyed the occasional walk along the shores of the Delaware and the summer beach trips to the Atlantic Ocean an hour east of the city.

It wouldn’t be a good idea to take him to the water in Duluth in late January, though. Even with his thick fur, she doubted he would enjoy a dunk in the frigid lake. Not that she could take him swimming anyway with the lake frozen over.

She sighed and sipped more of her coffee. “Well, that was good for thirty seconds of distraction,” she grumbled.

Marcus was in his office completing the paperwork for the arrest and waiting to hear back from animal control and the officers searching Daniel’s apartment. Faith and Turk were just waiting. If there was anything Faith hated, it was waiting. Her only consolation was that Daniel was also waiting, and he was doing it shackled to a chair with no one to keep him company.

Maybe this would work out. Maybe they’d get lucky and get a confession without having to offer him a less painful punishment. She could always hope.

Her phone buzzed. Turk pricked up his ears, and Faith said, “It’s Michael. Want to say hi?”

Turk got to his feet and trotted over. Faith put the phone on speaker and said, “Hey, Michael. Turk wants to say hi.”

Turk barked, and Michael chuckled. “Hey, buddy. How are you handling the cold?”

Turk barked again, and Faith translated. “He says, ‘I’m handling it better than Mommy.’ Seriously, though, this place is colder than Alaska.”

“Really? Damn.”

“The ninth circle of damn.”

“What?”

“It’s an Inferno reference.”

“Do I look like I play video games?”

Faith gave up on the reference. “Never mind. Why did you call me?”

“Am I on speaker?”

“Yeah.”

“Take me off.”

Faith’s heartbeat quickened slightly. “Okay. Say goodbye, Turk.”

Turk barked goodbye, then trotted back to the window. Faith turned off the speaker and brought the phone to her ear. “Do you have news on the Messenger?” she asked quietly.

Michael sighed. “No. The lead turned out to be a dead end.”

Faith’s shoulders slumped. “Got it. Not a killer, just a freak, huh?”

"Pretty much. She told me her marriage was boring, so she fantasized about West dominating her."

“Okay, I don’t need the details,” Faith said. “But you’re sure she’s not our killer?”

“I’m sure. We confirmed her alibi for the Boss’s death. I suppose we could look for alibis for the other murders, but there’s no doubt this is a dead end. If she didn’t kill the Boss, then she’s not the messenger.”

Faith slumped further. “Yeah, you’re right. Crap. I really thought you had something.”

"I thought so, too. Now we're back to square one. All of that for nothing."

Faith sighed. Then she cocked her head. “It might not be nothing. I think you actually might be onto something.”

“I mean… I’m willing to hear you out, but I can’t think of where else to look right now. I guess we could do a general survey of the population, but I don’t see many people honestly answering the question, ‘Do you admire Franklin West enough to brutally kill multiple people to torment the FBI agent he hates the most?’.”

“No, but there might be another way to reach the general public and draw our specific baddie out into the open.”

“Oh? And how do you propose to do that?”

“We publish the letters.”

Michael was silent for a long moment. “Uh, if we do that, it’ll get a lot of people in a lot of trouble. Specifically me.”

“Not if we do it the right way.”

Faith got to her feet and began pacing. The gears in her head were whirring as she thought of a plan to lure the Messenger into the open.

“And what’s the right way?” Michael asked.

“You come clean with everyone. You tell Desrouleaux that you talked to West. When he starts flying off of the handle, you show him the evidence you found. You also call your warden friend and tell him that you’re going to publish the letters.”

“That’s another sticking point with me,” Michael said. “I promised him that I wouldn’t expose him. I know it wasn’t a legal promise, but I did give my word, and if we start breaking our promises to CIs, then we make a lot of things harder for ourselves and the Bureau.”

“You won’t have to expose him. Your guy's story will be that he came across the letters and learned that West was having a clandestine conversation with this woman.”

“Who we can’t name.”

“Who you won’t need to name. The Warden did the right thing and brought it to the attention of the FBI who chose to publish it to alert the public to the fact that there is an admirer of West out there who’s willing to kill to get his attention.”

“Yes, but they’re killing to get your attention.”

“I know that, but this will do two things for us. First, it will make West look even worse, which will be really nice going into this trial. Second, when the Messenger learns that there are other admirers competing for West’s attention, he or she might make a mistake and reveal themselves.”

“Yes, by trying to kill you.”

“Let them try,” Faith said grimly. “I beat West when he tried to kill me. Let’s see if they can do better.”

“Yeah, I really hate that idea. But… it has its merits. I’ll talk to Desrouleaux. If we can get it out there, then maybe we’ll get lucky. In the meantime, please be careful and don’t try to go cowboy. We don’t want you to use yourself as bait.”

“The good news is that I’m halfway across the country. I can’t be bait, but the idea of me can.”

Michael chuckled. “Well, keep yourself and your ideas safe. I’ll get the ball rolling and let you know if anything comes out of the woodwork.”

“Awesome. And thank you. I really appreciate you doing this for me. You’re a good friend.”

“I try. How’s the Dart Gun case going?”

She grimaced. “Please don’t give this killer a name.”

“It will remain in between us, but I don’t know, the shorthand is growing on me.”

Faith rolled her eyes. “Well, with any luck, he’s in custody right now.”

“Oh yeah? Already?”

“With any luck. We have a disgruntled former K9 instructor who lost his business after our two witnesses reported him for animal cruelty. He’s stewing in the interrogation room right now.”

“Ooh, yum. I love murderer stew.”

She chuckled. “Try that one on Ellie later. I’m sure she’ll appreciate that more than I did.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of in the hot seat with her. She didn’t like me putting my career at risk sneaking around with this.”

Faith’s smile vanished. “Yeah, I don’t blame her. And you really shouldn’t have. I appreciate it, but—”

“Oh, go to hell. You’d have done the same thing for me. Ellie wants me to quit the FBI and get a job bagging groceries or taking drive-thru orders because it’s safer than what I do now. She understands that I’m not going to do that, and I understand that I can’t make her any happier about the job I have. So we compromise. That’s how marriages work.”

“I see. Thank you so much for the marriage counseling.”

“Have you talked to David recently?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, we talk at night before I go to sleep. Would you like to hear all of the spicy details?”

"And get in even more trouble with Ellie? No, thank you. Just making sure you're not forgetting about the poor guy."

She felt a touch of irritation at that. She’d shared some of her fears about her relationship with Michael, and now she was regretting that. “I’m not. We’ve worked through all of the stuff I told you earlier. We’re good now.”

That was a lie, but she didn’t want to have this conversation right now.

“Good. I wasn’t trying to bring up old news. Just making conversation. I miss you.”

She relaxed a little. “I miss you too. It’s a lot harder working cases without you here to question every decision I make. I’m not even being completely sarcastic when I say that.”

“It helps to have a devil’s advocate. I miss having a little firecracker ready to explode any time there’s even a hint of a lead.”

She smiled wryly. “You probably don’t want to call me a firecracker in front of anyone else.”

“Oh, whatever. I’m too old to censor my speech anymore. Everyone else can censor their mind.”

She chuckled. “That’s a difficult thing to do around you.”

“That didn’t come out the way you thought it did, but I can tell you’re a little distracted, so let’s just say I was really embarrassed by your excellent zinger.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“All right. Take care, Faith. Seriously. And good luck on this case. Once you wrap it up, you’ll be able to make a strong case for coming back to Philadelphia.”

“You think so? You don’t think Gardner will try to pawn me off on another field office?”

“Between you and me, I think Gardner’s days here are numbered. She’s a good agent, but the cracks are showing. I’m pretty sure a lot of the reason she doesn’t like you is because your actions are exposing that. The Boss knew how to manage you to keep you within shouting distance of FBI policy while still allowing you to take your own approach to solving crimes. Gardner doesn’t know how to adjust her style to her agents, and that’s taking a toll. Did you know she’s having us do bullpens?”

“Seriously? Like in cop shows?”

“Yep. Every morning at the start of the shift, we all get together in a conference room and run through every single case and any notes we have on it. Then Her Royal Majesty offers her opinions on our work along with pointers and sometimes even instructions that sound like something out of a first-year criminal justice course.”

Faith winced. “Ouch. That sounds painful.”

“It’s annoying as hell is what it is. If you ask me, she’s got a long way to go before she’s ready to run a field office.”

Faith smiled. “Well, there you go. They might talk to you about the job after all.”

“God, I hope not.”

“You could always say no.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

There was the tiniest breath of a pause before Michael answered, just enough to let Faith know that a part of him was considering the job. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but she didn’t want to wrestle with that right now.

Fortunately, duty called and pulled her mind back to the present. Marcus opened the door and lifted a hand to Faith. “All right. We’ve got some answers.”

Faith gave him a thumbs up, then said, “I have to go, Michael. I have an interrogation to do.”

“Super jealous. Take lots of pictures.”

She laughed. “Whatever that means. Bye, buddy.”

“Goodbye.”

She hung up, and Marcus asked, "Boyfriend?"

“No, partner. So what do you have for me?”

Marcus grinned. “Oh, so much.”

Faith’s spirits lifted a little more. If Marcus had evidence linking Daniel to the crime, then this could be the first case in years where Faith was able to catch a killer before he claimed another victim. Faith didn’t believe in omens, but considering the more vicious murderer prowling the streets of her hometown, she’d happily take that as a positive sign.

Maybe the shadow Jethro Trammell had cast over the world was finally lifting.