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Kara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It probably wasn’t fair to the cop—it was a small town, and she was friendly. Maybe she didn’t have anyone to run with, and Kara fit the bill.
“Why did you need information on Justin Jeffries?” Catherine asked.
“To follow up on my conversation with the widow and get Justin’s take on the marriage and pregnancy. Already heard from the other two kids. He’s supposed to be in town tomorrow.”
“I think we should reassess how we approach the Jeffries family,” said Catherine.
Kara leaned back in the chair, balanced on the back two legs, which helped her control her building tension. “Oh?” she asked casually.
“We can’t dismiss Madelyn Jeffries simply because she charmed you.”
It took all of Kara’s self-control tonotjump down Catherine’s throat. “I wouldn’t use that word.”
With an eyebrow raised, Catherine spoke slowly, as if Kara was an idiot. “My job is to analyze behavior and psychology and determine whether someone is a viable suspect. I haven’t ruled out Madelyn Jeffries, and on paper she has a solid motive.”
Kara leaned forward, her chair dropping to the floor louder than she intended. “My job,” she said, equally slowly, “is to find out who blew up nine people, and Madelyn Jeffries was not involved.”
“You cannot know that.”
“You analyze behavior and personality? So do I. I spent more than an hour with her and she’s not guilty.” Now Kara was going out on a limb, because she rarely made a definitive statement like that.
She also knew in her gut that she was right. And she wasn’t going to let some shrink make her feel incompetent or stupid because she disagreed.
“With all due respect, Detective,” Catherine said dismissively, “it’s not your job to determine who is and is not a suspect. I understand that you’re used to working alone, but you’re now part of a team of highly trained and experienced investigators. I’ll take your opinion under advisement.”
Kara stood up and walked out. She needed five minutes to get her head on straight or she was going to explode.
She wanted to take Dr. Catherine Jones down a peg or three.Damn, was she angry.
She strode out of the building. The warm salt air wrapped around her and she breathed in deeply. Anger wasn’t going to do her any good. It wasn’t going to solve this case or get her off this team.
Kara didn’t know if she fit in here. She didn’t know if this was what she was meant to do.
And what are you going to do, Kara? You can’t go back to Los Angeles and work undercover. Your cover was blown. You can’t even go to LA and besafe. You have people gunning for you. Literally and figuratively.
She’d never fit in anywhere.
Well, that wasn’t true now, was it?
She turned away from the sheriff’s station, not looking back, and in that moment she didn’t know if she wanted to go back.
The truth was, while she always felt like anoutsider, she alwaysfit in. Because she changed who she was—who she had to be—tofit in. Being an undercover cop meant she could be anyone. It had been a game for a long time, a challenge, and she was good at it. It had also been her job. But now, fitting in on this task force job meant ignoring her instincts and being treated like a rookie cop?
Nope, not going to do that. Shecouldn’tdo that.
She stopped walking when she hit the shoreline. She’d walked six blocks and should probably double-time it back to the station for Matt’s debriefing. Instead, she stared at the water and sailboats, soaking in the sun, and thinking this might be the last case she worked with the Mobile Response Team.
10
Ashley Dunlap called out to her sister that she was taking their dog, Dakota, for a walk. She hustled the husky out the door before her sister came downstairs to join her.
Walking briskly down the street and around the corner, she steered Dakota into the small park where Bobby Martin was waiting for her.
Dakota greeted Bobby with a vigorous hand-licking; Ashley greeted him with a kiss.
“You’re shaking,” he said.
“Did you talk to your brother?”
