Killing Fear

NINETEEN

Their meeting with the Fed had just broken up when Will’s cell phone rang. He was at first surprised to see Robin’s business number on his cell phone, then worried that something might have happened.

“Hooper.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that Theodore attacked a reporter?” Robin demanded.

“Trinity? I-”

She interrupted. “You didn’t tell me Glenn told Trinity about our relationship! Or that he’s telling everyone he didn’t kill Anna. I can’t believe you’d keep that from me!”

“Robin, calm down. I’ll come over and we can talk about this-”

“What’s there to talk about? You don’t believe him, do you?”

Will swallowed. He wasn’t certain what he believed, but he had to look at the facts and right now, Glenn just didn’t look good for Anna’s murder. Will wasn’t ready to declare him innocent of that death, but Causey had okayed him to quietly look into the case with Agent Vigo. Vigo was willing to take the heat if something went south on the case-including putting himself up to the media as the whipping boy-which placed him way up there on the good guy list for Will.

“You do. You believe him. How could you, Will?”

“We need to talk, Robin-”

She hung up.

Hans Vigo approached. “Everything okay?”

“That was Robin McKenna. She’s not ready to accept that Glenn might not have killed her roommate. Shit, why did Trinity go talk to her in the first place?”

“She’s searching for answers. Maybe she thinks Robin knows something important.”

“She doesn’t. She’s been traumatized enough.”

“We’re going to need to talk to Robin later. She might know something she doesn’t realize is important. If Glenn is truly not guilty of killing Anna Clark, we have a lot of work to do.”

“On the QT,” Will added.

“Absolutely.” Vigo paused. “What do you know about Jim Gage?”

“You don’t think-”

“If Glenn isn’t guilty, we need to look at people who have the access and knowledge of evidence collection-”

“I vouch for Jim. He dated my partner for three years. I just can’t see him as being capable of murder-he’s one of the most even-tempered people I know.”

“We’ll probably need to bring him in on this, but he can’t talk about it with anyone else. And you need to have a talk with that reporter,” Vigo added. “If she keeps flapping her mouth, she could be putting herself in the middle of a train wreck.”

“No argument there,” Will concurred. “But don’t discount that Glenn could just be playing with us.”

“I haven’t. But I don’t see what benefit he gets from it. You’re going to have to accept the fact that someone else might have killed Anna Clark, and the only person who would have known each detail of the crime would have been someone who worked at least one of the previous three crime scenes.”

Sara made Theodore breakfast. It was the best meal he’d had since being sent to San Quentin. She both looked and cooked better than the unappealing Jenny. He could get used to this.

He wondered if he could get Sara to dye her blonde hair red. Dark red.

“I’m going to lay low for the next day or so,” he told her.

“When are we leaving?”

“Why?”

“I just want to know. I have to pack-”

“I’ll tell you when you need to know. Right now we need my money.”

“It’s all taken care of.”

“Passports?”

She nodded. “They’re in a safe-deposit box along with the foreign account numbers you gave me.”

“Get the passports and account information. You have a computer, correct?”

“Yes, in the den downstairs.”

“While you’re doing that, I’ll start moving some money around and hide the trail. By the time the cops figure it out, we’ll be in South America.”

“But what if they find you down there?”

He bit back the urge to yell at her. Stupid woman. With forced calmness, he said, “Money buys a lot of freedom. I will take care of it.”

“Of course.”

“After you get the passports and account numbers, bring them to me, then I have another job for you. It’s important. I want you to deliver a letter. You can’t allow yourself to be captured on any security camera. Can you do that?”

She nodded without hesitation. “When and where?”

He stood, grinning, the anger at her earlier foolish question gone.

“Come here.”

She walked right into his arms.

He hadn’t decided whether to kill Sara or not. He had no compelling urge to slit her throat. If he killed her, it would simply be a means to an end. But he might let her live. He could read in the papers about her plight once the cops caught her aiding and abetting a convict. Might help pass the time while he traveled throughout South America, living comfortably on his wealth.

He most certainly wouldn’t take her with him, an albatross around his neck.

Theodore kissed her, hard, his hands on her breasts. He closed his eyes and pictured Robin with him. The smell of breakfast reminded him of the first time he saw Robin McKenna with William Hooper. In Hooper’s kitchen. His fist clenched, his breathing quickened.

Sara gasped beneath him, but he didn’t pay her any attention. It wasn’t Sara, it should never have been Sara here.

He pushed her onto the table, in the same position Robin had been in all those years ago. He took the role of her lover, and did exactly what William had done.

He watched from the beach, his binoculars trained on the open window. They were all over each other, their clothes only half removed but neither noticed. Robin pulled the cop down on top of her, falling back onto the table, a glass crashing to the floor.

Theodore knocked his coffee mug off the table, the ceramic shattering.

The cop went down on Robin, his mouth on her cunt, and she arched her back, her long hair spilling over the edge of the table.

Theodore lifted Sara’s dress, covering her face. He didn’t want to look at her, couldn’t look at her. It was Robin here for him, Robin who arched her back and begged him to send her over the edge.

Robin pulled him back up and guided him into her. Hard, fast, frantic. The table moved beneath them with each thrust.

Theodore guided the woman’s hands to his throbbing cock. She figured it out and pushed him in.

“Teddy!” Robin cried out.

He shook his head, looked down at the table. The dress had shifted and Robin’s face morphed into Sara’s. He closed his eyes, opened them, remembered where he was and who he was with. He withered inside.

“Oh, Teddy, I love you.” She climaxed around his limp dick.

He wanted to kill her. She’d destroyed his fantasy. He was antsy and unsatisfied.

He pushed off of her and walked to the doorway.

“Go do your job. And next time, keep your mouth shut while I fuck you.”