Chasing The Dead

Chapter Twenty-Five

Alex knew all about the autonomic nervous system, knew that it was the part of the peripheral nervous system that accounted for involuntary functions like heart rate, perspiration, and pupil dilation, and knew that it was better than any lie detector. She’d seen it in action whenever she caught a witness lying on cross-examination. They’d twitch or tic or their eyes would bug out or they’d look away or down or they’d burn bright red or they’d erupt in flop sweat. One way or another, their bodies would give them away and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Only the best liars and poker players could suppress the involuntary reactions and facial movements that gave away the truth. She’d learned to do that when it came to Dwayne Reed, but Rossi had caught her off guard, her evolutionary flight-or-fight impulses overwhelming her, sending her heart rate soaring, dampening her armpits, and stretching her eyes as wide as silver dollars. She couldn’t have felt more exposed if she were naked.

“Jared Bell,” she said.

“That’s my case.”

“I know that,” Alex said, willing her voice to remain in its normal octave and not stammer. “You act like you didn’t know I was handling it.”

“I didn’t.”

Alex was relieved as her heart rate began to slow and her facial muscles to relax, hoping without faith that Rossi hadn’t noticed her mini-meltdown. If he was telling the truth, something she never assumed, he couldn’t have been involved in getting Jared’s file to Robin, but she wanted to be certain.

“How could you not know?”

“I never know who’s defending one of my cases until the prosecutor needs me. And why would I care about Bell? The guy admitted to having sex with the victim and we found the crucifix she was wearing at the time she was killed in the back pocket of the shorts he had on when he says he found her body. And he confessed. The case couldn’t be any tighter. Whether you or somebody else pleads him out makes no difference to me. But I’ll tell you what I do care about.”

“What’s that?”

“Why did you practically shit your pants when I asked you what was the last case Robin Norris assigned to you? And what does Jared Bell have to do with all of this?”

Alex deflected his question, using what she’d learned from the homeless woman in Liberty Park to put Rossi on the defensive.

“Do you know the victim’s name?”

“What’s that got to do with this?”

“Just answer my question. Do you even know that her first name is Joanie?”

Rossi narrowed his eyes at her. “Who have you been talking to? Her name hasn’t been released.”

“Then you do know her name. Joanie.”

“Yeah. Joanie Sutherland. Who leaked that information to you? Was it that assistant prosecutor, Kalena. . whatever her last name is?”

“It’s Kalena Greene, and no, she keeps everything in her vault. I got it the old-fashioned way, by investigating my client’s case. And your case isn’t as tight as you think.”

Rossi thought for a moment. “So you found a witness who knew the victim’s name?”

“Just her first name. You gave me her last name,” Alex said.

Rossi ducked his chin, pursing his lips. “Okay, score one for the defense. Now answer my question. Why did you pinch a loaf when I asked you about the last case Robin assigned to you?”

Alex had had time to regroup. She couldn’t tell him about her deal with Judge West, but she had to give him something that was plausible.

“I’m trying to save the life of a client accused of a capital offense while also trying to deal with my boss’s death when you drag me out here to tell me that not only was Robin murdered but that her death might have something to do with my client’s case. So, yeah, that knocked the pins out from under me for a minute, but my panties are clean. Score one for you if that’s what you call rounding the bases.”

Rossi stared at her, waiting for any hint of a tell that would give her away, but she was steady, her face flat and cool, her arms at her sides, her hands soft and open.

“Here’s the way it is,” he said. “Someone murdered Robin Norris, and my bet is that the last thing she ever did on this earth was try to tell you the identity of her killer because she was scared he would come after you next. Now, if you want to blow that off, pretend that I’m playing games with you, there’s nothing I can do about it. But be sure you tell your girlfriend so when she goes to the morgue to identify your body, she’ll blame you and not me.”

Alex felt the heat rise in her neck and cheeks again, not because Rossi had caught her flat-footed, but because he’d played the Bonnie card.

“Leave Bonnie out of this. You’ve been sticking your nose in our relationship too much as it is.”

Rossi shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“And I’m just saying maybe Robin wasn’t trying to warn me but maybe she was trying to tell me who was chasing her so that I would make sure the bastard was caught and put away. Maybe she called me instead of 911 because she trusted me more than she trusted the cops.”

“Either way, it doesn’t matter.”

“How’s that?”

“Either the killer is coming after you anyway or once he thinks Robin told you who he is, he’ll definitely come after you and you’ll be just as dead.”

The first drops of rain splattered on the road, hissing. Alex turned her face skyward, wishing the rain would wash all of this away, knowing that it couldn’t possibly rain that hard. She let the water run off her face, running her fingers through her hair and shaking her head, then taking a deep breath.

“So what do we do?”

“Help each other. Do you think we can do that?”

Before Alex could respond, Rossi’s phone rang. He answered and listened.

“Okay. I’m about fifteen minutes out,” he said and clicked off. “You know someone named Mathew Woodrell?”

“Sort of. I met him yesterday at the courthouse. Why?”

“He just tried to kill Jared Bell.”