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23
EVA
Mark watchedthe interview before we went to bed last night and I forced myself to watch it with him. After that, I made the mistake of reading the viewers’ comments and they were not kind to me and my stuttering replies to Hana’s accusations, to say the least.
Jumped-up has been. A washed-up journalist desperately clinging to fame. A fake expert with nothing to back up her claims.
And some of them were much worse than that. They kept echoing in my mind all night and were very loud in my dreams too.
Mark was very good about not saying, I told you so. Instead, he said it was just plain old jealousy on Hana’s part and that I handled it well. I know very well that I did not. He also had some choice words for the network and the show’s host, who he thinks made it as incendiary as it was, because that’s what they do to get views.
He also said that the work I do, that we’re all doing, on this case, is important and that it doesn’t really matter what the press says or thinks about it.
But our work is pretty much done.
The witness ID’d Kline and Lap as the two men who attacked her by the river using the exact kind of MO that we assumed the killer was using. All that’s left is to tie up the loose ends now.
Right?
We’ve just wrapped up the morning meeting during which Brina and Mark brought us up to speed on what they learned from the witness yesterday and Sojer informed us that he got the search warrants for Lap’s and Kline’s homes.
“I still think we should look into Hana,” I say, as they all start getting up from the table. “How did she know the last victim’s name, for one thing? I never told her, and I know none of you did.”
Brina, Dino, and Mark all have an almost identical look of pity on their faces as they look at me.
“Well, she probably has contacts at the police station, since she writes for the crime section,” Mark says. “Someone there must’ve told her.”
“OK, sure, that may be,” I say. “But why did she come at me the way she did? That’s odd all in itself. She’s really working hard to discredit me and it makes no sense. Unless she’s trying to hide something.”
That look of pity is back on their faces. And yes, OK, I can see why, since what I’m saying can be heard as me being overly sensitive and offended, but I don’t think that’s what I am being here. I mean, sure, I am offended, and I did get disgraced in public, but that’s not the only reason I think we should be focusing on Hana more.
Brina clears her throat and glances at Mark and Dino before fixing her eyes on mine. “The way I see it, what happened to you yesterday is just run-of-the-mill Slovene envy. You probably don’t have that much experience with it, since you worked abroad for so long, but people here can be downright cruel in their jealousy of those that are more successful than them.”
“I am aware of that, but I’m not sure that’s all that’s happening here,” I say as she pauses.
“It is,” Brina insists. “Hana is jealous of you because you have the career she wanted, and the journalists at that TV network are known for saying whatever will get them the most viewers, facts be damned. We at the police force have long since learned to only deal directly with the national TV network, although those journalists can be just as bad lately.”
The three of them keep glancing at each other, and now Rok, who just came in to refill his large travel mug with coffee, is doing it too.
“I just got done analyzing the email that contained the letter from the killer,” Rok says. “And it came from the same IP address as the one she sometimes sends stuff from. Her home, I think. But that could just be because she forwarded it to herself before showing it to you.”
“You see?” I ask the room at large. “That’s suspicious. And why would Lap and Kline be sendingherletters? They’re on TV at least once a month and Lap does a Q&A for one of the weekly magazines. They have no shortage of journalist acquaintances.”
“Hana’s probably one of them too,” Mark says in a level voice. “And it’s very possible she wrote the letter and sent it to herself as a way of jumpstarting her career. Didn’t you say she’s been out of work for a while now?”
“But that’s not normal behavior either,” I say and stand up. “Chances are good that Kline and Lap are the ones we’re looking for, but I’m going to speak to the people at the church anyway. The man who ran the youth center when Hana attended is still there.”
Mark thinks that’s a bad idea. I can read it clearly off his face.
“I want to know what she’s really like,” I explain before he can say anything. “And I’m going to start at the beginning.”
“Fine, you and Dino can look into that,” Mark says. “And Brina and I will go to see how they’re progressing with the search of the doctors’ houses.”
I could use a little more support from him in this, but I get it. He thinks the case is pretty much wrapped up. And I really wish I agreed, but I just can’t ignore the little voice in my head telling me we’re not done.
* * *
MARK
