“Oh, my favorite kind of lawyer.”

  Gonzo laughed. “I can’t wait to watch you chew him up and spit him out.”

  “I shall look forward to making a meal out of him.”

  “I gotta go deal with him and his ass of a client.”

  “Good luck with that. Keep me posted.”

  “Will do.”

  After Gonzo ended the call, he gestured for Cruz to join him as they met with Tori and her lawyer.

  “Gird your loins,” Gonzo muttered.

  “Ew.”

  He snorted out a laugh and knocked on the door. “Time’s up.”

  “I was just about to come find you,” Kerr said with a big smile, as if they were meeting at a country club rather than a cop shop. “We’re ready for you.”

  Gonzo wished he was allowed to punch the smug look off his face, but alas, that sort of behavior was frowned upon. “It’s customary for the attorney to sit next to the client.”

  For fuck’s sake. How green was this guy?

  Kerr jumped up so quickly, he nearly knocked over the chair and the one next to it as Tori eyed him warily.

  Gonzo would be wary, too, if he were her. The guy was a boob.

  When Kerr was settled on Tori’s side of the table, Gonzo nodded to Freddie.

  He turned on the recorder and made mention of who was in the room.

  “I’d like to pick up where we left off previously,” Gonzo said. “After you harassed Rachel to the point where she had to change her phone number, how’d you get the new number?”

  “Objection,” Kerr said. “You can’t prove she harassed anyone.”

  It took everything Gonzo had not to laugh and roll his eyes. “Save your objections for court, Counselor.” He placed the printouts that showed the texts Rachel received from Tori, as well as the accompanying texts from Tori’s phone, on the table. “As you can see, we can easily tie the texts from Tori to Rachel.”

  Kerr leaned in for a closer look.

  “These are the texts that came from Tori’s phone to Rachel’s new number.” Gonzo put more pages on the table. “In addition, we’d like to know who you recently wrote a ten-thousand-dollar check to.”

  Tori looked up at them in shock. “How do you know that?”

  “We got a warrant for your financials. We’re waiting on another that will give us access to your canceled checks. Unless you’d like to fill us in. That’d save some time.”

  She looked at Kerr for guidance.

  He seemed uncertain of what to do, so Gonzo sat back in his chair and folded his arms to wait him out. Why should he make this easy for him?

  “I’d, uh, like a moment alone with my client.”

  Freddie pressed Pause on the recorder before they left the room.

  In the hallway, Gonzo glanced at his friend. “Can you believe this guy?”

  “Objection!”

  They cracked up laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Malone asked when he joined them.

  “Tori Stevens’s defense attorney is a Harvard-educated doofus.”

  “Oh jeez. Well, here are the canceled checks.”

  Gonzo took the pages from the captain and looked through them, landing on the one he was most interested in, made out to Randy Bryant. He passed the page to Cruz. “Let’s figure out who he is.”

  “On it.”

  While Cruz headed for the pit, Gonzo waited for Kerr to tell him he and Tori were ready for him to return.

  “What’re you thinking, Sarge?”

  “I’m thinking Tori Stevens hired someone to either eliminate her competition or help her do it and was so arrogant about the whole thing that she didn’t worry about leaving a paper trail.”

  Kerr opened the door. “We’re ready to continue.”

  Gonzo pushed off the wall and followed him into the room, reengaging the recorder. “So who’s Randy Bryant?”

  Tori gasped before she realized she needed to keep her cool. “I have no idea.”

  “Then why’d you write a check to him for ten thousand dollars ten days ago?”

  “I didn’t!”

  Gonzo sat across from them, keeping his pose as casual as he possibly could. What did he need to be tense about? He had her nailed to the wall. “Here’s a copy of the canceled check drawn from your account. Detective Cruz is working on figuring out who he is. We’ll find him within minutes, if it takes that long, so you may as well tell us who he is.”

  She again looked to her attorney to tell her what to do.

  Gonzo could tell that Kerr had no idea what to tell her.

  “This check you’re referring to was written by my client?”

  Gonzo stared at him for a second and then pointed to the printout. “Yes, it was written by your client, or I wouldn’t have mentioned it.”

  Kerr looked to Tori. “Did you write this check?”

  She crossed her arms and gave them a defiant look. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Gonzo laughed. “That’s not how this works, Tori. Did you hire Randy to hurt Rachel?”

  The question obviously shocked her. Where in the hell had she thought this was headed?

  “I have no idea who she even is!”

  “Then why did you text her hundreds of times on two different numbers?”

  “That wasn’t me.”

  He glanced at the lawyer. “Will you please tell your client that we can prove she texted Rachel and wrote the check to Randy? Will you tell her that when we get Randy in here, he’ll tell us everything to save himself?”

  “He won’t say a word,” Tori hissed.

  “Be quiet, Tori,” Kerr said sternly.

  Gonzo was glad the guy seemed to have at least a basic idea of how much trouble his client was in. He stood. “Welp, I guess we’ll wait to hear what Randy has to say.” He was reaching for the recorder to shut it off when Tori spoke up.

  “Wait.”

  “Tori…”

  Kerr seemed tense enough for everyone. Perhaps he’d paid just enough attention in law school to realize when shit was getting real.

  “If I tell you what Randy did, does that help me?”

  “Depends on what you had to do with what Randy did.”

  “Tori, don’t say anything else,” Kerr said.

  Gonzo took great satisfaction in the thin film of sweat forming on the lawyer’s upper lip.

  “I need to get out of here! If I tell them what Randy did, they’ll let me go.”

  Kerr’s gaze collided with Gonzo’s. “No, they won’t.”

  “But he just said that!”

  “That’s not what he said. If you know how or why Rachel was killed, you’re in big trouble. So keep your mouth shut.”

  “I want to go home,” she said tearfully. “I have homework to do.”

  “If you’d like to make a statement about what happened, I’ll be glad to tell the prosecutor that you cooperated in helping us figure out how Rachel was killed.”

  “What kind of time would she be looking at?”

  “As an accessory to murder? That’s a long stretch.”

  Tori’s gaze darted between them as she tried to keep up. “What does that mean? A long stretch?”

  “Tori, the evidence shows that you were involved in Rachel’s murder,” Gonzo said, “regardless of whether you were the one to press on her carotid artery or if you paid someone to do it for you.”

  All the color left her complexion as the reality of her situation seemed to sink in. “I didn’t touch her!”

  “But Randy did, didn’t he?”

  “I don’t know! I don’t know what he did!”

  “Did he do what you asked him to?” Gonzo asked.

  “I didn’t ask him to do anything!”

  “Why’d you pay him ten grand, then? Just for shits and grins?”

  “I…” She wiped away tears as she swallowed hard. “He… he was blackmailing me.”

  Gonzo wanted to laugh at the sheer madness of this situation. It would be hilarious if an innocent young woman wasn’t dead in the morgue because of Tori’s jealousy. “He was blackmailing you. Okay… Let’s start with how you met him.”

  She glanced at Kerr. “Do I have to tell him that?”

  Kerr rubbed at his jaw, looking as if he were the one who was about to get arrested for murder. He clearly had no idea what she ought to do.

  “Mr. Kerr, have you defended a client in a capital murder case before?”

  “Murder?” Tori screeched. “I didn’t murder anyone! I was with Gordon all night. Ask him! He’ll tell you.”

  “You told me you left for a time to go for a walk. Did you meet up with Randy then?”

  “I’ve never met him.”

  “How did you find him?”

  “I… I don’t think I should say anything else.”

  Gonzo gave her a minute to change her mind, but when it became apparent that she wouldn’t, he stood. “I’ll have someone escort you back downstairs.”

  “I can’t go back there,” she said, sobbing. To Kerr, she said, “Do something! You’re supposed to be helping me.”

  “I, uh, need to confer with my senior partners about the best way forward.”

  “Maybe you could send one of them over here—someone who knows what the fuck they’re doing!”

  “Let’s go,” Gonzo said to her.

  “You can’t make me go back down to that dungeon! The other women are monsters!”

  Gonzo took her by the arm and all but dragged her from the room. In the hallway, he turned her over to the Patrol officer standing guard outside. “Take her back downstairs.”

  Tori screamed like a banshee the whole way to the stairs. She threatened lawsuits that would end their careers and yelled about police brutality.

  “I take it our friend Tori has realized she’s totally screwed,” Freddie said when Gonzo returned to the pit.

  “Yep, and her jackass of a lawyer has no idea what to do about it.” Gonzo rubbed at the back of his neck, which was aching. “What’ve you got on Randy?”

  “I’ve got an address for him three blocks from the GW campus.”

  “Have we heard anything from the lab on the pizza boxes yet?”

  “There were prints all over them.”

  “How much you want to bet they’re going to be our friend Randy’s?”

  “I’d bet the entire farm.”

  “Let’s go pay him a visit.”

  * * *

  Randy Bryant lived on the third floor of a townhouse on 22nd Street Northwest in Foggy Bottom, near the State Department complex. Since Freddie had found a photo of him online, they recognized him as their guy when he answered the door. As described by their eye-witness, he was a big guy with buzzed dark hair and a goatee. He wore a Clash T-shirt, jeans and red Vans sneakers. “Can I help you?”

  Gonzo and Freddie showed their badges. “Randy Bryant?”

  “Yeah? What the hell? What do you want?”

  “You’re under arrest for the murder of Rachel Fortier,” Freddie said. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.”

  The guy had barely registered that he was being arrested before Gonzo had him cuffed.

  “What the fuck? I didn’t murder anyone!”

  “That’s what they all say, isn’t it, Detective Cruz?”

  “Sure is, Sarge. We hear it all the time.”

  “What the hell is going on?” another guy asked from inside the apartment.

  “They’re arresting me. Call my parents. Tell them to send a lawyer.”

  The roommate moved toward the door. “What?”

  “Don’t come any closer,” Gonzo said to the roommate. “Or we’ll arrest you, too.”

  “Where are you taking him?”

  “Metro PD headquarters.” Gonzo handed him a card. “Tell the parents to send the attorney there. He’s going to need representation.”

  “What did he do?” the roommate asked.

  Gonzo ignored him and followed Cruz and Bryant down the stairs.

  “I don’t know what you guys think you’re doing, but I’ll have your badges for this.”

  “That’s another one we never hear, right, Cruz?”

  “Never.”

  They stuffed him into the back seat of Gonzo’s car and headed back to HQ.

  When they arrived, Freddie took Bryant to be processed.

  Gonzo returned to the pit and stopped short at the sight of Gordon Reilly sitting in a chair outside Sam’s office.

  He jumped up when he saw Gonzo. “They told me to wait for you here. Do you know who killed Rachel?”

  The poor guy barely resembled the person they’d first met. His hair was a mess, his eyes red and swollen and his entire disposition one of utter devastation.

  “We think we have an idea of what happened.”

  “Was it Tori?” he asked warily.

  “She was involved.”

  “Oh God. That can’t be true. She didn’t even know Rachel.”

  Gonzo unlocked the office. “Come in. Sit down.”

  “She didn’t know her,” Gordon said again when he was seated in one of Sam’s visitor chairs.

  “No, she didn’t, but she knew of her, and that was the problem. I’m sure Rachel must’ve mentioned that she was getting hostile texts from your ex.”

  “What? No, she never said anything about that to me.”

  “Really? Huh…”

  “She knew that the situation with Tori was very difficult for me.” He rested his chin on his hands, elbows propped on his knees. “I’d been with Tori since we were kids. I was really upset about how hard she took our separation and breakup. I was sick with guilt over it, which is probably why Rachel never told me that Tori was bothering her. Why didn’t she tell me? I could’ve made it stop.”

  “I don’t know that you could have, Gordon. Tori was relentless.”

  “Wait. Is this why Rachel’s phone number changed?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh my God. She never told me any of this.”

  Gonzo showed him the photo from his friend Jeff’s social media. “This is when Tori realized you’d met someone else.”

  Gordon’s face went flat with shock. “She… she saw that?”

  “We believe so. Rachel’s problems with her began shortly after that.”

  “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t gotten close to Rachel, she’d still be alive.” He looked at Gonzo with utter devastation. “How am I supposed to live with that?”

  Taking pity on the guy, Gonzo got up and went around the desk to sit next to him. “This is a horrible thing. I’m sorry it happened to you. But you didn’t kill her.”

  “Did Tori kill her when she left my room the other night?”

  “We think she paid someone to do it for her. She might’ve met up with him when she left your room to take a walk.”

  “What? Oh my God. It just gets worse. Who did she pay?”

  “We believe it was a guy named Randy Bryant.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “We’re still figuring out who he is and how they connected. She recently wrote a ten-thousand-dollar check to him as well as other smaller payments over the last few months. We believe she might’ve been paying him to keep eyes on you and Rachel.”

  He dropped his head into his hands again. “How could I have known this person for all these years and not known she was capable of such a thing?”

  Gonzo had no idea what to say to him.

  “My parents always said she was a spoiled rich girl, but I didn’t think that was true. She was oblivious sometimes, but never unkind.” He looked over at Gonzo again. “Will she go to prison?”

  “She’ll stand trial on solicitation of murder charges.”

  “I just can’t believe this.”

  Freddie came to the office door. “Uh, Sarge… Tori Stevens’s parents are here.”

  Gonzo and Gordon stood and turned toward the doorway.

  Tori’s mother let out a sharp cry and surged toward Gordon. “This is all your fault! You drove her to this!”

  Gonzo quickly got between them and stopped her from striking Gordon. He walked her backward out of the office as Cruz restrained the father. “Unless you want to be charged, I’d recommend you get control of yourselves.”

  “He did this to her!” the father cried. “He jerked her around and made promises he didn’t keep. How could you do that to her?”

  “Gordon, go on home.” Gonzo continued to restrain Tori’s mother. “We’ll be in touch.”

  Gordon hesitated. “I never promised her anything. I was eighteen years old. I wasn’t ready to commit to forever with anyone.”

  “Go, Gordon,” Gonzo said again, more firmly this time.

  After Gordon walked away, he loosened his hold on Mrs. Stevens. “Are you two able to comport yourselves properly, or do I need to take you into custody?”

  The two of them adjusted their expensive-looking clothing.

  “This is all his fault.” Mr. Stevens was tall, with salt-and-pepper hair and a tanned, youthful face. “If you knew the games he’s played with our daughter…”

  “It’s been a nightmare for her and us.” Mrs. Stevens was a bottle blonde with the same eyes as her daughter. Every inch of her was ruthlessly polished.

  “You know what’s been a nightmare?” Gonzo asked. “Rachel Fortier having to change her phone number because your daughter was harassing her so badly. Rachel Fortier had nothing to do with Gordon’s relationship with Tori, and yet, she’s the one who’s dead. We have evidence that your daughter paid someone to kill Rachel and eliminate the competition.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mr. Stevens said with a mean-looking sneer. “She’s a college student. What in the world does she know about murder? There’s no way you can prove this.”

  A uniformed officer came into the pit with a printout he handed to Gonzo. “The prints on the pizza boxes are a match for Bryant.”

  “What does that mean?” Mr. Stevens asked.

  “It means the man that Tori paid ten thousand dollars to can be tied to Rachel’s murder. We’re going to talk to him now. I won’t be surprised if he gives up Tori as the mastermind of the whole plan. I mean, if it’s a choice between spending the rest of his life in jail or turning on her, what do you think he’ll choose?”