“Before his current incarceration,” Caroline replied.“He commanded me to correct those who led others to break the seventh commandment but asked that I wait.I asked him how long, and he told me I would know when the time was right.”She smiled at Kate.“He said I would know when the Scapegoat arrived that it was time for me to complete my mission.”
Kate’s eyes narrowed.She didn’t speak quite yet.She wasn’t sure she trusted herself to do that yet.
“He also said he was proud of you.That you’d come so far.That you’d be a great and shining example for the people of the world.”
“Maybe we have the rest of this conversation at the field office,” Marcus suggested.“WhereMissBennett can get more comfortable.”
Caroline’s eyes flashed, but she kept her voice calm.“Tell me, Special Agent Reid.Who led you to disrespect your own marriage vows?”
Marcus stiffened.His face blanched.The blood drained from Kate’s own face as she realized that there was only one way Caroline could know that.
“You,” Marcus said hoarsely.“You’ve been spying on us.On me and Kate.”
“How?”Kate asked.“That’s not possible.We would have found out that you were following us when we looked you up.”
Caroline smiled, her teeth even and white, impossibly beautiful like the rest of her.“I spent some time following you under a different name.You wouldn’t have found Caroline Bennett.Had you looked for Michal Sallers, you might have found me.I thought the name appropriate.The name of King David’s wife, the one he betrayed with Bathsheba.”
Marcus moved so quickly that Kate didn’t register it until he had spun Caroline Bennett around and lifted her off the floor.“Did you hurt her?Did you hurt Cheryl?”
Kate hated the way it made her feel to hear Marcus say that.She hated the jealousy that coursed through her like venom at the sound of his wife’s name.She hated it because she knew that Cheryl had almost certainly felt the same way whenever she heard Kate’s name.
But Marcus had a good reason to ask.It wasn’t just the two agents Caroline had spied on.
“Of course not,” Caroline replied, seeming genuinely surprised by the idea.“Youhurt Cheryl.You cheated on her.”
“We never…”
Marcus clamped his lips shut, but it was too late.Caroline’s lips twisted cruelly.“‘But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’Tell me, Special Agent Reid, have you lusted after Kate Valentine?Have you looked at her and imagined what it would be like to feel her legs wrapped around you, hear her soft moans in your ear?”
Marcus dropped her and flinched backwards as though he’d been struck.Kate decided to follow his earlier advice.“That’s enough out of you,” she told Caroline.“It’s time to go.”
Kate’s phone rang.She pressed her lips together.Caroline laughed.“You should get that.”
“You should shut the hell up,” Kate snapped.
But she pulled her phone from her pocket and checked the number.Rivera.Probably following up on the team they had requested.
She answered, stepping away so she wouldn’t have Caroline’s cackling in her ear.“Hey, Rivera.Bennett’s here.She just confessed to the murders.Also, to criminal harassment, but that’s kind of pointless considering the multiple murders.”
“Kate, you need to listen to me.”
His tone was soft, urgent.The hairs on the back of Kate’s neck prickled.She swallowed with a throat that was suddenly tight.“O—okay.Um… What’s up?”
“Elijah Cox broke out of prison twenty minutes ago.”
The world shifted under Kate’s feet.She stumbled and reached out reflexively to the easy chair for balance.
“Kate?”Marcus asked.“What is it?Kate, talk to me!”
Kate swallowed.She tried to speak, but her airway was clamped tightly shut.Spots formed in her vision as she processed the impossibility she had just been told.
Behind her, Caroline Bennett laughed.There was nothing beautiful about the witch’s cackle that escaped her throat.“The Lawgiver is not finished with you, Kate Valentine!”
Marcus whirled on her.“You shut up!”He turned back to his partner.“Kate.Kate, talk to me.What happened?”
Kate swallowed again.Numbly, she managed to release, “He’s out.”
