Anatomy of Fear

54

I was attempting to weave the Mercedes through a snarl of traffic we’d just hit on the FDR.

“Done,” said Terri, snapping her cell shut. “NYPD has an APB out on Wright, Queens PD is sending a CS team to comb through his house, and I called the local PD and told them where to meet us.”

“Did they say when they could get there?”

“They’ll get there soon. It’ll be okay.”

I wanted to believe her, but couldn’t stop worrying. I lay on my horn, but there was nowhere to go. “How about calling to get us an escort with a siren?”

“They’d have to fight this traffic to find us, and we’re not far, are we?”

I noted the signs, the exit coming up. No, we weren’t far, but every minute felt like an hour. I swerved the Mercedes onto the shoulder, reached the exit, and took the ramp a lot faster than the suggested thirty miles per hour.

“I’ve got to call Collins,” said Terri. “It kills me to do it, but I’m not going to give the G cause to say I kept them out of this.”

“While you’re at it, remember to have them call the dogs off me.”

Terri made her call, then sat back and stared out the window. She had not yet told Rodriguez about Cold Case opening his father’s old murder book. Opening a Pandora’s box was more like it. She had never imagined it would cause him more trouble, give the PD and feds further reason to suspect him. She had thought she was doing him a favor, hoping to get him some closure when she went to Tutsel and Perkowski, but it hadn’t worked out that way.

She turned and looked at his profile, the square cut of his jaw set tighter than usual, the determined, almost frenzied, look in his eyes.

She’d been right about him. He’d broken the case for her.

And it was all going to be all right, wasn’t it?

Be quiet.”

He slaps the tape across her mouth, sick of her whimpering, unmoved by the tears on her face. “And don’t look at me!”

He cannot bear her stare, something about it unnerving. He would kill her right now if she were not so important.

He hears the footsteps above, the place filling up, empties his gym bag, and sets to work.