Page 56 of Chameleon Killer

She noticed. Of course she did.

Mallory noticed when someone changed breathing patterns from across a ballroom. My concern wasn’t going to slip past unnoticed in my own living room.

She kept talking before I could object.

“Colin had access to my legal files. My sources. My communications. Even some of my pending stories. He knew which threats I took seriously and which ones I pretended not to.”

“That makes him connected to you. It doesn’t explain why he was killed.” It didn’t matter what I said, she was going to keep blaming herself. So, I did what I could. I tore apart the story to make her see all the angles.

“It explains why his death changed my behavior.”

“You had already stopped reporting.” I folded my arms so I wouldn’t wrap them around her. “Brewster and the feds changed your behavior.” If anything, Colin’s death had been a catalyst to get her back to work.

“I disappeared.”

“You were in protection. I think Brewster’s a jackass, but he had the right idea.” Even if it killed me to admit it. “Colin’s death pissed you off.”

“Yes.”

“It was also when you started fighting to get back to work.” So, no, he hadn’t been killed to shut her up.

“Colin wasn’t punished,” she said. “He was used.” The words seemed to take something out of her. She stepped away from the board as though Colin’s name had become too close.

I picked up the red marker.

Around his name, I drew a box.

Then I wrote:

FUNCTION?

Not motive.

Function.

Mallory read it and went very still.

“What did his death accomplish?” I asked.

“It frightened me.”

“More.”

“It almost discredited me. Put me back at the center of every story.”

“More.”

“It drew the FBI closer.”

“More.”

She gave an exasperated huff. “I don’t know what more.”

“It pushed you closer to Brewster.” I capped the marker harder than necessary. The click cracked through the room.

No doubt, Mallory heard everything in that sound. Thankfully, she chose not to comment.

“It also pushed you back into the news, made you visible, so the Auditor would reach out to you again.”