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“Faith…” David hesitated. He tapped his fingers on the table, and finally said, “Faith, I understand that you’re hurting a lot right now, and I understand that you’re scared. You’ve lost a friend, and—”
“David, this isn’t paranoia!” Faith interrupted, raising her voice in frustration. “For God’s sake, he left that note forme, David! He threatened my friends and loved ones. That’s you, David.”
“He leftanote,” David corrected. “Anote that didn’t mention my name. That’s not enough for me to run off and leave my life behind.”
God, she hated the gentleness in his voice, like he was talking to a child throwing a tantrum.
“He mentionedmyname, David,” she said. “He mentioned Bold. He said Gordon died like a Prince—that’s Michael’s last name—and he said that no veterinary doctor on earth could have saved Gordon. That’s you.”
“He said veterinary doctor specifically?”
“Yes! He said that ultimately, no veterinary doctor could save this bull—”
“This bull,” David interrupted. “Not Gordon.”
“Well, obviously, he was referring to Gordon!” Faith snapped. “Who the hell else would it be?”
“Okay,” David said, once more in that infuriatingly calm voice as he lifted a hand to calm her. “Okay. I can see how the note was worrisome, but that doesn’t mean that my life is in immediate danger.”
“He has to be,” Faith insisted. “There are too many things in there that can’t be explained by any other reason than that he knows me.”
“Well, you’ve put a lot of people behind bars,” David said. “If anything, I think you should be more concerned with yourself. Can you get protection if he comes after you?”
“He’s not coming after me,” Faith insisted. “Not now, anyway. He doesn’t want to kill me, he wants to break me. He’s going to kill the people I care about one by one until I have nothing left. Hell, he might not even kill me after that. He might just disappear and sit on a beach somewhere in Bali laughing about the crazed FBI agent who’s stuck spending the rest of her life in a futile hunt for the man who ruined her life.”
“Faith,” David said in that goddamned calm tone. “Listen to yourself. People in your profession die every day. They get murdered every day. I don’t mean to be brutal, but it seems to me like someone is just out for revenge against the FBI.”
“Then why name you?” Faith challenged. “Why threaten you?”
“They didn’t threaten me,” he retorted. “They told me I couldn’t stop them from killing Gordon, which makes no sense at all since I didn’t even know the man. It’s just tripe, Faith. They’re trying to scare you to throw you off the scent.”
“David, please,” Faith insisted. “Just take some time off.”
David sighed and tapped his fingers a moment. Finally, he said, “Faith, I absolutely sympathize with your feelings right now, and I will do anything and everything I can to make this easier for you, but I can’t just leave for… how long would I need to be gone anyway?”
“Until we catch him.”
He sighed again. “Faith, the answer’s no. I love you, but the answer’s no.”
Faith looked away from David, trying to keep tears from forming in her eyes. God, why did no one listen to her? Why did everyone assume she was just paranoid? She’d been right so many times! When were people going to stop treating her like a damned mental patient?
The uncomfortable recollection came to her that she’d been wrong a few times as well when it came to the Copycat Killer. That thought did nothing to ease her fear or her anger. The tears she fought so hard to stifle finally came.
“David, please,” she said, wiping her eyes angrily. “I love you. You’re the most important person in the world to me. I know you think I’m crazy, but—”
“Hey, hey,” he interrupted. “I don’t think you’re crazy.”
“Just listen!” she snapped. “I know you think I’m overreacting to this letter, but this is my job, David. It’s my job to investigate murders and figure out what the people who commit those murders are thinking. As a professional, I am telling you that he wrote that note for me and that he threatened you. This is no less paranoid than if you examined an animal and found cancer. I’m trained to analyze evidence the way you’re trained to analyze medical conditions. Please believe me and get somewhere safe before it’s too late.”
He looked at her, and she could see in his eyes that he still didn’t believe her. She pleaded silently for him to at least listen to her, to at least follow her advice.
Finally, he sighed. “All right. Look. I… I usually take two weeks off to visit my family for my birthday. I suppose I could take the two weeks early this year. My family lives in Nevada. Is that far enough?”
She ignored the jibe in his question and sighed with relief. “Yes. Thank you, David.”
He forced a smile, and it hurt her that he had to force it, but it hurt less than him remaining in danger would have hurt. He made the hurt even easier when he said, “I’ll leave tomorrow morning. You can spend the night so you can make sure I’m safe. Will that work?”
“Yes,” she said, going to him and wrapping him in her arms. He held her close, and she breathed him in again.
