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“That was—” Faith began.
“Or when you questioned family members of the victims and lied about your role on the case.”
Faith reddened, “Boss, I—”
“Or when you visited the coroner and tried to call in personal favors to get information on the case from him?”
“Every agent does that!” she shouted.
“Or now, when you take at face value a note that has his signature when nothing else about Gordon’s murder matches the Copycat’s MO.”
Faith’s lips thinned. She looked down and didn’t say anything else. She knew it was the Copycat Killer who killed Gordon as surely as she knew that it was the original Donkey Killer who had nearly killed her, but she didn’t have anything other than the note left behind to justify her assumption. Objectively, it was very possible that the killer had simply used the Copycat’s name to throw them off the scent.
But itwasthe Copycat Killer. Faithknewit.
“Faith,” the Boss said after a moment. “you’re emotionally compromised. Your friend is now dead, and you’re going to stay emotionally compromised for a while. I’m compromised too. Gordon was my friend too, and an agent I respected highly. I had plans for him to take over for me when I retired. He would have been a damned good SAC too. He saved your career and gave Chavez a chance to learn how to be a real agent. He knew how to work with people better than I ever did. And now he’s gone.”
He steepled his hands on the desk and said, half to himself, “I’m giving this to the New York field office.”
“What?” Faith asked, surprised. “New York?”
“Yes,” the Boss said. “We’ve done everything we can do, which has been precious little. I’m hoping the New York guys will be detached enough to start seeing patterns we’re missing.”
“Boss, this is a mistake,” Faith said. “I can—”
“No!” the Boss shouted, so loudly that she, Michael and Turk both jumped. He glared at Faith. “No, I’m not losing you too. I already almost lost you twice to one of these damned Donkey Killers. I’m not going to give one of them a chance to succeed. We’re not making this personal.”
“But Boss,he’smade this personal,” Faith said. “He threatenedme.He threatened people close to me. He’s going to come after me, and he’s going to finish what Trammell started if we don’t finish it first!”
“This isn’t up for discussion, Bold,” the Boss said firmly. “This is the right decision and the decision I should have made years ago. I'm sorry, Faith. Not because I'm making this decision now but because I didn't stay true to this decision before. You are the wrong choice for the job. You're a great agent, but you’re too close to this case and the one before it, and now you’re seeing the Copycat Killer in every murder you encounter.”
“I’m not just imagining things,” Faith said, pleading. “Some of the things in that note… he knows things about me that people who don’t know me personally wouldn’t know. He knows people in my life. He’s killed one of my friends, and he’s going to keep killing them. He threatened Michael in that note, and he threatened David.”
“Who’s David?” the Boss asked.
“Boyfriend,” Michael replied.
The Boss sighed. “Put him in protective custody, if you think you can get authorization, Faith.”
“Boss, that’s only thirty days without evidence of a credible threat,” she said.
“Which you don’t have,” the Boss pointed out.
“I do, but it’s not something that anyone else would recognize,” she said. “It’s like I said, there are things in that note that only I would know.”“ The Boss shared a look with Michael, and Faith felt her frustration threaten to overwhelm her.“Boss, he’s going to target my loved ones no matter what I do,” Faith insisted. “It’s like you said, he’s obsessing over me. Having me lay low won’t help.”
“Faith,” the Boss said, still softly but very seriously. “You are off the case. Discussion over.”
Faith didn’t reply. She sighed and hung her head, irritated but not surprised to find tears in her eyes.
“Go on home,” the Boss said gently. “Both of you. I’ll make arrangements for Gordon. It’s my duty as his superior. I’ll see you two on Monday.”
Faith spun on her heel and left without another word. Turk followed her, gazing anxiously up at her as she headed toward the exit. Desrouleaux—Gordon’s former partner—and Chavez—the youngest agent at the field office and Desrouleaux’s new partner/protégé—approached, presumably to commiserate with her, but they stopped when they saw her expression and allowed her to leave.
It was happening again. It was happening all over again. Just when she thought she was safe and that she could leave Trammell and the trauma he’d put her through in the past, the new Donkey Killer had rewarded her lapse in attention by murdering her friend and mentor and one of the finest men she’d ever known.
And he’d threatened Michael, Ellie and David. Her loved ones were in danger, and it was all her fault. She should never have pulled away from the case. She should never have let it go. Dr. West had suggested it was best for her mental health that she drop the case, but Dr. West was wrong. This was her responsibility and she had forfeited it and now Gordon was dead, and her friends were next.
And the Boss didn’t believe her. Now, he was taking the case from her and giving it to strangers who had no idea what this man was capable of.
