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“Because we can keep an eye on both of them that way,” Jo said.
“You’ll be compromised. Whoever’s watching Lacey Bernard needs to have their full focus on her.” She gestured to Arnett. “But I will authorize a second surveillance team for Arnett.”
* * *
“Well, we have that, at least,” Jo said to the other detectives once they’d convened around her desk, purposefully deflecting attention from Hayes’ personal attack on her. She pulled over two spare chairs for Goran and Coyne, and motioned to them to sit down as Arnett dropped into his. “I’m leery of us splitting our attention, but given the circumstances, it’s the best we can do.”
Coyne crossed one ankle over the other knee, and shook his head. “The way she was going, I’m stunned she authorized two teams.”
“Before we go any further here, because we’re walking a fine line with her, I need to hear everyone’s thoughts about who our killer might be. I’m not going to push something you all aren’t behind.”
“Hayes is right this is centered around Ossokov,” Arnett said. “But you’re also right—we’re missing something.”
“Jo hit the nail on the head,” Goran said. “Why would someone angry on Ossokov’s behalf also want Lacey Bernard dead? It makes no sense.”
“They’ve been texting her from the start, right?” Coyne tugged at his tie. “Why enlist her help, then suddenly threaten her? It’s hinkey.”
Jo nodded. “Since the killer never tipped us off before, this feels like a tactic to make us think she’s the next victim when she really isn’t.”
“So you think Arnett is the actual target?” Goran asked.
Jo tapped the arm of her chair. “He’s the only hands-on person left from the original investigation, and he’s named in the lawsuit.” Jo’s phone buzzed. “Hang on, guys. It’s Lopez.”
As soon as she connected the call, Lopez’s voice, uncharacteristically manic, poured over the line. “Hey, I’ve got news. You know how you asked me to start monitoring Ossokov’s phone for any contacts yesterday? I have been, but there was a brief time lapse between when I cloned the phone and when I started monitoring in real-time. I went back to check and a few hours after we finished executing the search warrant he got a text. It said, ‘The police are tailing you. That’s harassment.’”
Everyone leaned forward toward the phone, including Jo. “Wait. SomeonewarnedOssokov he was being watched? Who?”
“That’s just it. It was a burner phone. He texted back askingwho dis, but got no response. Of course I checked the number along with the one from Lacey’s call this morning. Both burners, both purchased at New England Walmarts, both no longer pinging.”
Jo’s head spun, and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Anything else we should know?”
“Nope. I’ll call you as soon as I have anything else.” Lopez hung up.
Goran jumped up from his chair. “Somebody’s playing us. If Ossokov had an accomplice they must have been using some established burners to communicate. There’d be no reason to contact him on his actual cell phone.”
“And he wasn’t expecting the contact, otherwise why text the person back asking who it was?” Arnett said.
“Somebody was watchinguswatchhim.” Jo’s hand flew to her necklace. “How?”
“We were careful to stay offhisradar, but we weren’t watching to see if anybody was tailingus,” Coyne said, fists clenched around his tie. “Son of abitch.”
“Why warn him and then kill him?” Goran asked.
“They couldn’t very well kill him when we had him under surveillance,” Jo said.
“But it makes no sense. Why kill Ossokov’s enemies, then kill Ossokov?”
Goran shook his head and dropped back into his chair. Coyne’s hands continued their clenching.
Jo pressed her fingers into her eyes. Itdidn’tmake sense. But if the explanation didn’t make sense, that meant she wasn’t thinking of it the right way. When she had the right theory, everything would click into place, so she had to start over again, think outside the assumptions they’d been making. Was there another explanation, one where all the victims, including Ossokov, made sense?
But the more she tried to find one, the more her mind snapped back to the undeniable unifying force—Ossokov. He was the thread that pulled everything together. He was the only one who’d been hurt by the wrongful conviction, other than justice for Zara Richards, of course, but that was an abstraction—
Jo gasped as the pieces clicked into place. “The rape victims.”
“The rape victims?” Arnett asked as Goran and Coyne exchanged confused looks.
“We’ve been thinking that because Ossokov is at the center of this, either he must be the killer or some person obsessed on his behalf was the killer. But what if Ossokovisat the center of it, but not the way we’ve been thinking? He’s not the only person who was hurt by the wrongful conviction. Zara Richards and her family were also hurt by it, because the real killer got away—”
