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“Anywhere else,” Kristi said, and for the first time the hostess smiled. “No love lost?”
“None,” Kristi said, and told herself to get through this.
“And you use your maiden name. Is that right?”
“Yes, I kept it for the purpose of writing.”
“Okay, got that.”
“Twenty seconds,” a voice from behind the cameras shouted.
“Okay. I’ll introduce you and then we’ll get into it,” Renee-Claire said as she sat arrow straight in the chair.
The segment was counted down and then Renee-Claire was smiling into the camera. “Our next guest is New Orleans’s premier crime writer who has encountered more than one serial killer herself. She’s the author ofThe Rosary KillerandThe God Complex and Murder.Please welcome author Kristi Bentz.”
The camera zeroed in on Kristi.
“You can do this,”Jay’s voice was so loud she nearly looked to see if he was behind her, then she settled in to the interview.
“So, you’ve always been around crime,” the hostess said, “as your father is a detective. Is that why you were interested in writing these kinds of books?”
“Yes,” she replied, and answered a few more simple questions about living in New Orleans and writing true crime, feeling more comfortable on the set. Then the interview took a darker turn.
“Recently you survived a horrendous attack that put you in the hospital and took your husband’s life. Can you tell our viewers about that? Some people are saying that the attacker could be like the reincarnation of a serial killer who dressed up as a priest and murdered his victims. Can you confirm that?”
She dodged the question. “The police are investigating. That’s all I can say right now.”
“But you were there! The killer tried to take your life!”
“Yes.”
“And, as I understand it, your husband saved you.”
“That’s right,” Kristi said, reliving those last horrid moments of Jay’s life and the reason he’d come looking for her, that they’d had one of the worst fights of their marriage. She remembered running out to the car, her final words to him ringing through her ears: “I don’t know why I ever married you!”
“Ms. Bentz?” a voice asked, and Kristi blinked back to the present.
“I asked you if you’re planning to write a follow-up book toThe Rosary Killer.”
“I’m not sure yet,” Kristi said, recovering. “I’m discussing it now with my agent.”
“I’m sure it would be another best seller! Just like both the original book andThe God Complex and Murder, the story about Dr. Hamilton Cooke, our last guest. These best sellers can be viewed through our sister station or by streaming. You won’t want to miss either one!” Again both book covers showed on the screen. “Thank you, Kristi Bentz,” the hostess said as the camera focused on her again. “You all will want to stick around because coming up we have one of New Orleans’s premier saxophone players, Tom Bigelow, here to play his most recent jazz composition, and later on I’ll interview Dana Metcalf, president of a local cat breeders club, and her prizewinning Persian cat, Mr. Precious. They are here to tell us all about the upcoming cat show this weekend, which would be the perfect outing for the whole family!”
The program cut to commercial and Kristi’s microphone was unhooked by Jen, who then motioned Bigelow onto the set.
Less than five minutes later, Kristi stepped into the parking lot and spied a black BMW idling at the exit to the lot. Hamilton Cooke was behind the wheel. He cast Kristi a look replete with hatred. As she stared at him, he raised his hand, pointed his finger like a gun and pretended to fire directly at Kristi. Then he trod hard on the accelerator and his Beemer roared into traffic.
Kristi noticed that his wife wasn’t in the passenger seat. Instead Reggie Cooke was stepping out of the interior of a sleek, red Mercedes parked just two slots from Kristi’s Subaru.
Reggie’s expression said it all: she was pissed. “We need to talk,” she said as Kristi approached.
“Okay.”
“I don’t like what happened in there.” She gestured to the building housing the television station.
“Neither do I.”
“You set it up.”
