Page 57 of Chameleon Killer

She looked back at the board. “Colin’s death didn’t fit the pattern because it wasn’t about his guilt.”

“It wasn’t about yours, either.” No way in hell would I let her blame herself. “It was all about getting the result his killer wanted.”

She nodded.

Then both of us looked at the empty space beneath his name. The name we hadn’t written.

Guy Reardon.

For several seconds, neither of us moved.

Guy fit if you stood far enough away.

Corporate executive.

Money.

Power.

Secrets.

A career spent inside an industry that could convert human misery into ratings before the blood dried. Constructing a moral indictment wouldn’t have been difficult.

But the Auditor didn’t deal in general sins. He chose specific wrongs, specific victims, and specific profits. He could point to the exact transactions.

Mallory lifted the black marker.

GUY REARDON

Under CRIME, she wrote:

Corporate manipulation?

I made a doubtful sound.

She glanced at me, then crossed it out.

Suppressed stories?

“Did he?” I asked.

“Every executive suppresses stories.”

I just gave her a look and she sighed before she crossed that out too.

Profited from corruption?

“All of us profit from the stories. They’re our bread and butter.” Point. Counterpoint. Deconstruct. Pare it all down.

Mallory lowered the marker. For a moment, she looked smaller inside my shirt. Almost fragile. Though, I had no doubt she would have objected violently to fragile.

Guy had complicated her worldview in death. She had disliked him, distrusted him, and relied on him. He had funded investigations quietly, approved budgets after everyone else refused, and forced stories onto the schedule while pretending they hadn’t been his idea.

He had steered her. That could have been manipulation. It could also have been protection. With executives, it was usually both. It was why he and I butted heads so much.

“What was the accusation at Guy’s scene?” I asked.

She closed her eyes as though she needed to retrieve it. “Complicity. Concealment. Misuse of public trust.”