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“Why would they think that?”
Red spots appeared on her cheeks, and she glanced away defensively. “You know he was in trouble before the murder. It wasn’t the first time. He was always—a different type of child.” She collapsed forward into her hands and shook her head vigorously. “If there was anyone other than me who was upset about what Cooper went through, I have no idea who it was.”
Jo’s mind flew back to Murphy’s justification for tampering with the evidence.He’s a menace, and the only tragedy here is that he’s out on the street again. She hadn’t paid much attention to the claim—no matter what Ossokov’s previous history, there was no justification for tampering with evidence. But something about it now pulled at her—
Her phone buzzed an incoming call. Lacey Bernard.
“Excuse me one moment,” she said to Rebecca, and pushed the box of tissues still closer to her. Once out in the hall, she tapped to connect.
Lacey Bernard’s voice tumbled out, high-pitched and trembling. “Jo? I got another text.”
“Just now? What does it say?”
“It says, ‘Your poster boy is dead. You’re next.’”
CHAPTERFIFTY-THREE
As Jo escorted Rebecca Ossokov out of the building, her mind kicked into high gear. She hurried to Hayes’ office, where Arnett, Coyne, and Goran waited to debrief the interrogation.
“She’s either lying or clueless,” Hayes said when Jo concluded. “Most likely lying.”
“Why would she kill her own son and pose him the same way as the other victims?” Goran asked.
“To throw us off. The shot in the leg tells us everything. They argued when he confronted her, and there was some sort of accident. Or she knows who did this, and is protecting them.” Hayes waved dismissively. “Either way, with Ossokov dead, I can assure Barbieri and the press that the killings will stop.”
Jo held up a hand. “Lacey Bernard just received a text that said, ‘Your poster boy is dead. You’re next.’”
“Before or after Ossokov was killed?”
“After. She just got it, about four this morning.”
Hayes nodded. “Then we know what their next step is. Tell her we’ll assign a team to her, and when this maniac shows up, we’ll nab them.”
Jo shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense that the killer would suddenly let us know what his next intentions were—”
“Ossokov’s death obviously changed things,” Hayes said.
“—and this doesn’t match up with the motive we’ve seen up until now. Lacey Bernard was on Cooper Ossokov’s side.”
Hayes’ eyes narrowed, and raked Jo’s face. “I think I’m finally starting to understand what your problem is. All of this, law enforcement, investigating crimes? For you, it’s all about your ego. You need to be the center of attention, the smart one, the golden child. You go off on your own without departmental permission searching out glory when we don’t hand you enough here, and if a case resolves itself without making you the hero in the process, you have to overcomplicate it so you can come out looking better. Our killer just gave you a gift, Fournier. The phrase you’re looking for is ‘thank you.’”
Jo blessed the years of training and experience that allowed her to keep her expression professionally neutral while feeling as though she’d just been kicked in the chest. From the corner of her eye she saw Arnett shift forward as if he were about to object—she lifted her right hand just below Hayes’ line of sight to let him know she was fine.
Goran, however, wasn’t versed in her signals. “Because we all know how well that gifted horse turned out for the Trojans.”
Hayes’ head whipped toward Goran, her mouth open and searching for words.
Jo hurried to distract her. “Sounds like we have a plan, then. Arnett and I will swap shifts with Goran and Coyne to keep watch on Lacey Bernard.” She stood, and crossed the room to the door.
“Not Arnett.” Hayes pulled a file from the top of a stack in front of her. “He’s hands off, remember?”
Jo repressed the desire to leap across the table and strangle her. “Why can’t he be around Bernard?”
“I know you’re smarter than that, Fournier. That lawyer is convincing Ossokov’s mother right now that one of us is responsible for her son’s death. Arnett can’t be a part of this investigation. He technically shouldn’t even be sitting here right now.”
“Even though we have good reason to believe the killer may be targeting him?”
Hayes leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “If the killer is targeting him, why would we want to serve them both up on the same platter?”
