“You have us all figured out.”

  “Am I wrong?”

  “Not at all. Does it make me mean to admit that when I heard there were others, I was glad it wasn’t just me he came after?”

  “I think that makes you human.”

  “I feel terrible for everyone who ever tangled with him and lost.”

  “A shrink would have a field day with a guy who had trouble getting along with people on and off the job—you have to assume he had the same issues off the job, including with women—turning out to be such a prolific criminal.”

  “I need to talk to Dr. Trulo about that. I want to try to understand this.”

  “You’ll never fully understand it. Tell me you know that.”

  “I do, but I still want some insight into how this happens.”

  “Can you let it go for the time being so you can enjoy your vacation?”

  “Absolutely, but there’s apt to be more calls like that one.”

  “I’m sure I’ll get a few calls, too.”

  Sam laughed at the absurd understatement. “I’m sure you will.”

  * * *

  When Gonzo and Cruz walked into the interrogation room, Gordon Reilly was halfway lying on the table, his head on his arms as his shoulders shook with sobs. The face of the man who looked up at them when they entered was ravaged with grief.

  “What happened to her? To Rachel?”

  “We don’t know yet.”

  Freddie turned on the recorder and noted the three people in the room.

  “How can she be dead? I saw her in class on Monday. She was fine. What could’ve happened?”

  “Did you speak to her when you saw her Monday?”

  He shook his head. “She asked me to stay away from her until I resolved the situation with Tori. I’ve been trying to work that out, but…”

  “Did Tori know you were seeing someone else?” Gonzo asked.

  “Not specifically, but we agreed to see other people when we went to college.”

  “Whose idea was that?” Cruz asked. “Yours or hers?”

  He wiped away tears that streamed down his face. “Mine, but she agreed to it. It was fine for the first two years. I mean, I hung out with other women, but it was nothing special until I met Rachel. Everything about her was different from the start.” He looked crushed as he seemed to once again recall that she was dead. “She’s the sweetest, kindest person I’ve ever met.”

  Gonzo sat across from him. “How much did you tell Tori about her?”

  “Not much of anything.”

  “You never mentioned Rachel to her by name?”

  “Not specifically, no. I mean… She’s had a lot of struggles since we’ve been apart. She hasn’t made many friends at Georgia, so that’s been tough, and she said she didn’t date anyone else. I, uh, I think she tried to transfer up here, but she didn’t get in because her grades at Georgia haven’t been that good.”

  “Would Tori have noticed you pulling away from her since you’ve been seeing Rachel?”

  “I, uh, I don’t think so.”

  Gonzo gave him a skeptical look. Of course she’d noticed. “Did you visit her in Georgia?”

  “Not this year, but I’ve been there a couple of times the past two years.”

  “Other than this week, did she visit you here?”

  “A few times freshman and sophomore year, but only this once this year. I saw her when we were home at Christmas, too.”

  “Where’s home?”

  “Milwaukee area. We went to high school in Franklin.”

  “Is there any chance that Tori could’ve harmed Rachel?” Gonzo asked.

  He sat up straight, his face registering shock. “No! She didn’t even know about her!”

  “And you’re sure of that?” Gonzo asked.

  “I’m positive. I never mentioned Rachel’s name to Tori.”

  “Is she in touch with any of your friends here?” Cruz asked.

  “Not really.”

  “If she checked your social media or Rachel’s or one of your friends, for example, would Tori have seen photos of you with her?” Cruz asked.

  Gordon thought about that, seeming a bit stunned by the possibility. “I don’t think so. Rachel and I mostly hung out by ourselves and not in groups.”

  “Did you ever socialize with others?” Cruz asked.

  “I, uh, I don’t think—” After a few seconds passed, he said, “There was a party before Christmas break. My friend Jeff had everyone over. Rachel went with me.”

  “Had Tori met Jeff before?”

  “Maybe on one of the times she was here freshman or sophomore year? I’m not sure.”

  “Were pictures from the party posted online?”

  “I… I’m not sure. I don’t do much with social media. I have an old Facebook account, but I rarely check it.”

  “What’s Jeff’s last name?”

  “Montgomery.”

  Gonzo glanced at Freddie, who got up and left the room to have a look at Montgomery’s social media.

  “You… You don’t think Tori did something to her, do you?”

  “Do you?”

  “No! She wouldn’t do that.”

  Gonzo said nothing, hoping the young man might come around to believing it was possible on his own.

  “She couldn’t have. She was with me all night. Well, except for when she went for a walk last night. But how would she even know where Rachel was?”

  That was a question Gonzo would like an answer to as well.

  “Tori couldn’t have hurt her. She just couldn’t have. Yes, she was upset about our breakup, but that wasn’t about Rachel.”

  “What was it about?”

  “We’d grown apart. The long-distance relationship was hard to maintain when we were both meeting lots of new people.”

  “But you said Tori wasn’t really interested in new people.”

  “I encouraged her to get out there and enjoy herself. She said she couldn’t do that without me.”

  “I’m going to talk to her. Stay put.”

  Gonzo left the room and met Cruz in the hallway.

  “This is what I found. Took me all of three seconds.”

  He handed Gonzo a printout of a December post that showed friends gathered at a holiday party. In one of them, Gordon had an arm around Rachel, who smiled as she leaned into him.

  “There it is,” Gonzo said. “Let’s pull Tori’s financials and see what she’s been up to behind the scenes.”

  “I’ll take care of that.”

  “Has everyone else left?”

  “It’s six thirty.”

  “Oh shit.” He was supposed to have been at Stahl’s house hours ago. “You can go if you need to get home.”

  “I’ll stay until we’re done.”

  “Let me know what you find on the financials.”

  “I’ll do it right now.”

  “Great, thanks.”

  Gonzo nodded to the Patrol officer standing outside the other interrogation room. When he stepped inside, Tori shot to her feet.

  “You have to let me out of here.”

  “Have a seat.” He turned on the recorder and recited his name and hers.

  “I want to leave.”

  “I understand that, but you’re not leaving until you’re arraigned.”

  “For what?”

  “You kicked my partner. Assaulting a police officer is a crime.”

  “He scared me coming at me all hostile and shit when I had no idea what was going on.”

  “You can tell it to the judge. Hopefully, we’ll have someone here tomorrow. Otherwise, you’ll be our guest until Monday.”

  “I have class on Monday! I have to get back to Georgia.”

  Gonzo ignored that. “Tell me about your relationship with Gordon.”

  “Wh-what business is that of yours?”

  “Have you ever been anywhere near a homicide investigation?”

  Her eyes bugged. “A h-homicide investigation? No, I haven’t.”

  “Then you wouldn’t know that everything is my business when I’m investigating a potential murder.”

  “You think Rachel was murdered?”

  Gonzo found it interesting that she spoke of Rachel like she’d known her when Gordon had been so sure she didn’t. He’d get back to that.

  “About you and Gordon…”

  “We… I… We met in middle school… We were good friends until tenth grade when we started to date. Everything was fine… Everything was great, until it was time to leave for college. I wanted to go to the same school as him, but my parents were adamant that I not choose a college based on a boy.”

  Gonzo had to give the parents credit for having some sense.

  “I didn’t want to be away from Gordon. I love him.”

  “How did you feel when he suggested you two see other people while in college?”

  “I was devastated. I don’t want anyone but him, and hearing that he could want other girls… It broke me.”

  “But you agreed to it?”

  “I wanted to do whatever it took to get through school so we could be together again. That was my only goal.”

  Gonzo put the picture of Gordon and Rachel on the table between them. “Seeing this must’ve really upset you.”

  Her expression turned thunderous when she saw the photo. She immediately pushed it away.

  “Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “What did you think when you saw that photo online?”

  “What do you think I thought? I was upset.”

  “Even though you’d agreed to see other people?”

  “I never agreed to that. It was what he wanted. Not me.”

  “So when you saw him in a photo with his arm around another girl, that must’ve made you angry as well as upset.”

  She shrugged. “I was devastated.”

  “Did you tell him you’d seen the photo?”

  “No, because we were home for the winter break, and I wanted to enjoy the time we had together.”

  “Even though you now knew he was seeing someone at school?”

  “I didn’t know that. I saw a picture of him with a girl. That’s all I knew.”

  “I’m going to put this right out there. I don’t believe that. I’ve known you two hours, and I have absolutely no doubt you did a deep dive on her the second you saw that photo. I’ll bet you had her birthday and possibly her Social Security number in a matter of minutes.”

  Tori shifted restlessly in her seat.

  Gonzo wouldn’t call it a squirm, per se, but it was close.

  “You also just referred to her by name as if you knew her.”

  “When did I do that?”

  “When you asked me if Rachel had been murdered. If you didn’t know of her, you might’ve said ‘that girl Gordon knew’ or something like that. Instead, you very specifically asked me if Rachel had been murdered. Interesting, wouldn’t you say?”

  “I didn’t know her!”

  “You know what I think, Tori? That you had motive and opportunity to kill Rachel in the time you were away from Gordon’s room last night.”

  “I didn’t kill her!”

  Freddie came into the room with a stack of pages with highlighted details.

  “No, but you harassed her for months with threatening messages about what would happen to her if she didn’t leave your boyfriend alone,” Freddie said, putting the pages in front of Gonzo.

  “Well, look at this,” Gonzo said. “‘Leave him alone, or I’ll fucking kill you.’”

  “That was before Rachel had to switch phone numbers to make it stop.” He handed Gonzo another stack of pages. “This is what happened once Tori got ahold of the new number. And how did you do that, anyway?”

  Tori had her arms crossed and a defiant expression on her face. “I want a lawyer.”

  Gonzo gathered the papers, turned off the recording and stood to leave.

  “Where’re you going?” she asked in a high-pitched screech.

  “I can’t speak to you any further until your lawyer is present. Let us know who you’d like us to call for you.”

  “How should I know? I don’t live here.”

  “Would you like us to call the public defender’s office for you?”

  “No, I want to call my parents. They’ll get me someone.”

  “Give me their number. I’ll make the call.”

  She seemed to hesitate, as if trying to decide if she should argue further with him before she recited the number. “Tell them I didn’t do anything.”

  “I’ll be sure to let them know.”

  Gonzo left the room, with Cruz following him. “What a fucking piece of work she is. I feel sorry for Rachel—and for Gordon—for having to deal with her.”

  “You think she killed Rachel?” Cruz asked.

  “I think she had a beef a mile wide with her, but until we know the results of the autopsy, we won’t know for sure if she was murdered.”

  “She was,” Lindsey said as she joined them in the pit. “It took me a bit to figure out how, but I found it.”

  Chapter Six

  After a dinner he’d barely touched, Cameron sat at his kitchen table with Gigi to finally read the full text of the lawsuit against them and the department, charging the wrongful deaths of Jaycee Patrick and her mother at the hands of Gigi and Fairfax County SWAT. The suit tracked both wrongful deaths back to Jaycee’s relationship with Cameron and how Gigi had shot Jaycee after Jaycee attacked Gigi in her home.

  He’d put it off for days because he couldn’t bear to look at it. But because it required a response within fourteen days, he’d run out of time to pretend it wasn’t happening.

  “This feels like a nightmare that refuses to end.” Cam sipped a beer as he tried to wrap his head around a ten-million-dollar lawsuit. If they both sold everything they owned, they wouldn’t be able to come up with a million, let alone ten, not to mention the attorney fees that could bankrupt them.

  “It’ll end eventually,” Gigi said, “but first we have to deal with it. It’s time to call Andy.”

  “I wanted to talk to you before I made the call to make sure you didn’t have someone else in mind.”

  “I don’t know too many lawyers except the criminal ones we encounter on the job.”

  They needed a top-rate civil defense attorney for the lawsuit.

  Cameron glanced at her warily. “I know I’ve said it a million times, but I’m so sorry to have brought this bullshit into your life.”

  She put her hand over his, her touch instantly calming him. “You didn’t. She did, and we’ll get through it together.”

  “At what point does it become too much?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My ex-girlfriend attacks you, assaults you in the most invasive way possible, leaves you fighting for your job and now your financial future. When will you decide that being with me isn’t worth it?”

  “Um, never? The only one blaming you for this is you, not me. Never me.”

  “You’re being sued, Gigi. Fucking sued.”

  “I have every confidence that we’ll prevail against this ridiculous lawsuit. She entered my home uninvited, held me hostage, assaulted me and forced me to defend myself. If the whole thing happened again, I wouldn’t do anything differently. What choice did I have? I’ll continue to share my truth with anyone who needs to hear it, from Internal Affairs at work to the Patrick family members suing us, until this whole thing goes away.”

  “Your courage astounds me. I’m like a quivering mess of anxiety over being sued, and you’re cool as can be.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I’m worried and stressed about the cost of defending against this, but I’m not at all concerned about whether we’ll win. We didn’t do anything wrong, and we know it.”

  “Keep reminding me of that, okay?”

  “Any time you need to hear it. Why don’t you call Andy and get his take on it? We might feel better when we have some solid legal advice.”

  Cameron checked the time and decided to text the attorney rather than calling after hours.

  Hi, Andy,

  My boss, Sam Holland, suggested I get in touch. I’m in need of an attorney after having been sued, along with my girlfriend and fellow detective, Gigi Dominguez, over a fatal incident involving my ex and a secondary fatal incident involving her mother. Would love to touch base to discuss representation with you or another attorney you might recommend. Needless to say, this is a first for us, and we’re unnerved by the prospect of being sued. Look forward to hearing from you. Det. Cameron Green

  He shared the text with Gigi. “Does that sound okay?”

  “Perfect.”

  Cam sent the text. Not even a minute later, his phone rang with a call from Andy. Cameron put the call on speaker. “Hi, Andy. Thanks so much for calling after hours.”

  “No such thing in my line of work, or yours, right?”

  Cameron liked him immediately. “That’s right.”

  “Fill me in on the details of what happened.”

  Gigi took hold of Cameron’s hand. “Let me.”

  She told Andy about Jaycee’s multiple attempts to undermine Cameron’s new relationship with Gigi, culminating with the attack in Gigi’s home, the details of Jaycee putting her fingers inside Gigi, saying she wanted to know what Cameron saw in her. Then, when the incident escalated and Gigi realized that Jaycee intended to kill her, how Gigi had used her service weapon to kill Jaycee. Cam was filled with revulsion over what Jaycee had done and awe for Gigi’s cool, unemotional recitation of events that had left her shattered.

  Cameron picked up the story with how Mrs. Patrick had taken their colleague, Deputy Chief Jeannie McBride, hostage in her home and was killed by Fairfax County SWAT. “The Patrick family is asserting that their deaths were my fault and Gigi’s, which is ludicrous.”

  “Certainly sounds that way. I assume you have these incidents fully documented?”

  “We do,” Gigi said. “We can get you copies of the official reports of everything with Jaycee and her mother. I should add I’m currently on paid leave until an Internal Affairs hearing this week.”

  “Have you secured representation for the hearing?” Andy asked.

  “Not yet. I was planning to fly solo, actually.”

  “I wouldn’t,” Andy said. “These things can go south quickly. I’d be happy to represent you there and to help try to make this lawsuit go away. I can offer you the friends-and-family rate since Sam recommended me.”