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When I reached the blind side of the target house, I quickly ducked into the yard and crouched down behind a row of bushes. The sound of a passing car sent my heart racing, and I stayed down a long minute just to be sure I was safe. Then I carefully scanned the bottom edge of the house and the underside of the bushes, searching for what I needed. When I found the right spots, guided by the internet’s infinite wisdom, I finished my task as quickly as possible, covered my tracks, and left no trace. Then I jogged back out of the yard.
Just as I came off the property, another car rounded the corner, heading right toward me. Adrenaline burst through me like I’d been hit by the darts of a taser. Had they only seen me running again on the pavement—or had they seen me near the side of the house?
I forced myself to keep my pace steady and my head down as the car approached me. I glanced up from under the edge of the hood. The driver and her passenger, a teenaged girl, seemed to be engaged in some sort of argument, paying no attention to me. They passed without slowing, and turned again at the next corner.
I slowed my pace slightly and tried to recapture my breath. That was exactly the sort of unpredictable situation I couldn’t plan for, and that would take me down if I wasn’t careful—if the mother and daughter hadn’t been fighting, they’d have seen me, and remembered me. They might have even stopped to ask what I was doing.
Far too close for comfort.
I picked up the pace again, giving myself a pep talk. Everything I’d accomplished would be for nothing if I screwed it up now. I had to put the fear aside, dig down deep, and stay steady for just a while longer.
On to my next target.
CHAPTERFORTY-NINE
Jo exploded through the door into Marzillo and Lopez’s section of the lab. “How am I supposed to do my job if she’s throwing up walls every time I turn around?”
“Whoa, pony.” Lopez jumped up from her chair. “Catch me up. Walk me through it.”
Jo paced as she explained. “I realize she wants me gone, but is she really willing to put someone’s life on the line to get that?”
“She’s not wrong, though. We can’t risk putting surveillance on Ossokov and his mother.” Lopez grabbed a can of Starbucks’ Nitro Cold Brew out of her mini fridge and tossed it to Jo. “Drink this.”
“Very smart to dump caffeine on top of that adrenaline,” Arnett said, glancing at the can. “And what happened to your Rockstars?”
“Nothing.” Lopez pointed at the open Rockstar on her desk. “A good hostess is always prepared for a variety of needs. And never, ever underestimate the power of caffeine, especially when some killer is trying to take members of the team out.” She turned to Jo, who was glaring at her. “You know I’d rather stab myself in the eye with a whale harpoon than agree with Upstate Ursula, but her number-one priority right now has to be making sure we don’t hand Ossokov both a free-ride-for-life and get-away-with-multiple-murder card by the end of this.”
“But—” Jo started.
“No buts.” Lopez waved an index finger up and down in Jo’s direction. “This here, it’s not anger at Hayes. It’s frustration and helplessness because some crazy dude and/or his mother want to unalive your partner, and you feel it’s your responsibility to protect him. I’m right there with you. So push the panic aside and let’s figure out what we can do within the boundaries that reality has inflicted upon us.”
Jo’s anger deflated. Lopez was right—during her own brief stint as lieutenant, what would she have done? Would she have thrown caution to the wind and endangered her unit by sending out a surveillance team in such a sensitive situation? No.
But the limitations set by the priorities of that leadership were a big part of why she’d resigned the position.
She snatched over an empty chair across from Lopez’s desk, cracked open the Nitro Cold Brew, and took a long pull.
“Right,” she said after she swallowed and winced at the cold coffee. “What’s that quote you love, Christine? That the Mandarin word for ‘crisis’ is a combination of the symbols for ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’ and how that means we should turn obstacles into possibilities?”
Lopez grimaced sheepishly. “Yeah, so, turns out that’s not a thing. Tony called me on it and when I checked it out, ‘crisis’ is a combination of ‘danger’ and ‘crucial point.’ Not really the same message at all.”
Jo squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her brow. “So much for that particular pep talk. But the principle is still sound. We need to find a way to turn this situation to our advantage.”
“Agreed. So how?” Lopez asked.
“Easy.” Arnett pulled open the mini-fridge and grabbed his own can of Nitro Cold Brew. “We use me as bait. Because Hayes was right about another thing, too. I’m an Oakhurst County SPDU detective, not a kindergartener. I’m paid to catch killers, not hide from them.”
Jo took another sip of the coffee. “As much as I hate it, it makes sense.”
“Neither Ossokov nor his mother are stupid. If you have surveillance on Arnett, they’ll spot it a mile away and bail,” Lopez said.
“So we’ll have to be subtle.” Arnett cracked open his can. “Or appear to create an opportunity for them. Do something that seems to leave me vulnerable.”
Arnett’s words pinballed around Jo’s mind, pulling together something she’d been trying to make sense of. “No, that’s exactly wrong.”
“Why?” Arnett asked.
She held up an index finger asking for a moment to complete her thought, then pounded the rest of her Nitro Cold Brew to help it come together. “Sakurai loved birdwatching. Deena Scott was a gym rat. Murphy was—Murphy liked to drink. Our killer isn’t hanging out waiting for random opportunities. They’re watching, closely, for ways to exploit the victim’s schedules.”
