“You’re right,” she murmured, then answered her cell phone, knowing it was Abbott as soon as she heard the opening bars from “Bad to the Bone.” “Sutherland.”
“I need you two on this hanger case. We need to find one Cassandra Lee. She runs a phone sex operation called Siren Song.”
“We’re looking for Dustin Hanks,” she said. “DA needs him in court.”
“This is more important. Faye’s waiting with the addresses we have for this Lee.”
Olivia handed the phone to Kane. “It’s Faye. We’re being pulled into Webster’s hanger case. And try not to get onions in my phone.”
Monday, February 22, 6:45 p.m.
At least they hadn’t cuffed her again. Eve sat alone in the interview room at the precinct. It had been almost an hour. A cup of coffee sat untouched, its aroma taunting her churning stomach. All she could see in her mind was Christy Lewis. Hanging there.
Three women were dead. Somebody killed them. And they think I know who.
You have to tell them, Eve. You have to tell them everything.
Deliberately Eve turned her head and stared at what she knew was a two-way mirror. Her own eyes stared back, dark and angry. “Fine,” she muttered. “I will.”
“Excuse me?” The door opened and Webster came through it. Jack Phelps was right behind him. Jack had spoken. “We missed that.”
“You were watching me? All this time?”
“No. We came in just as you spoke.” Webster put a bag on the table. “A sandwich.”
She pushed it away. “I can’t eat. But thank you.”
Webster sat across the table. “We’ve been trying to get in touch with your boss.”
Eve kept her face expressionless, but her stomach turned over. Donner was going to shit a ring. When this had been about suicide, it had been possible a discipline committee would have taken her side over his. But it wasn’t about suicide or Martha’s state of mind. She was a lowly grad student who’d broken double-blind. I’m on my own.
The help she’d give the police would be at her own professional peril. “My boss.”
Webster’s eyes were steady as he studied her. Something had changed from when he’d first removed her cuffs and placed her in his car back at Christy’s house. He’d been disapproving then. Now, she saw gentleness. And concern. And compassion.
Dammit. He knew. She could always tell when they knew. No one in the bar ever asked, unless they were drunk, and Sal would kick their asses out of the place. But when they found out, they’d always look, and they’d whisper.
“Yes,” he said, “your boss. We need a personnel list.”
Eve frowned. “Why?”
“Because we need to know who’s in danger there.”
A personnel list? That didn’t make any sense. She was about to tell him so when the door opened and a well-dressed man in his mid-thirties entered.
“Don’t say a word,” he cautioned. It was Callie’s defense attorney date. “I’m Matthew Nillson. I’ve been retained as Eve’s attorney. May I speak with my client?”
“When did you call a lawyer?” Webster asked.
Eve shrugged, her eyes wide. “I didn’t.”
Matt shot her a warning look. “Make sure you turn the speaker off, Detective.” When they were gone, Matt sat. “Do you know the meaning of ‘Don’t say a word’?”
She ignored that, going for the obvious issue. “I can’t afford to pay you.”
“It’s okay. I do pro bono every so often. Callie called me. She drove to the scene, but the police said you’d been taken away. She was very upset.”
“I didn’t mean to scare her. Look, Matt, I really appreciate you coming, but I don’t think I need an attorney. After today I’ll need a new career, but not an attorney.”
“Callie said you’d say you didn’t need me. Did they let you keep your cell phone?”
Eve sighed. “No.”
He nodded, as if that were all the proof he needed. “Tell me your story, Eve. Let me decide if you need me or not.”
Eve considered it. “You’re my lawyer, right? So everything we say is privileged.”
He lifted his brows. “With a few exceptions.”
“I didn’t kill anybody. But, if you can secure anonymity for my testimony, that would be a big help. So. From the beginning. Two years ago I got into grad school…”
Monday, February 22, 7:00 p.m.
Abbott, Jack, and Noah stood at the mirror, watching Eve in the interview room with Matthew Nillson, the speaker turned off. “I want to know what she knows,” Abbott said. “Damn attorneys.”
“She’s probably worried she’s in trouble for being a phone sex provider,” Jack said. “We should have questioned her in the car.”
“Why didn’t you?” Abbott asked, annoyed.
“I wanted to,” Jack said. “Mr. White Knight here wouldn’t let me say a damn word.”
Noah glared at him before returning his attention to Eve. “I wanted to know what I was dealing with.” Now he did. And it was worse than he’d ever imagined.
Abbott blew out a breath. “Now she’s lawyered up.”
“I don’t think she killed any of these women, Bruce,” Noah said. “Do you?”
“I don’t want to. But until she tells us what she knows, she’s a suspect. Got it?”
Noah opened his mouth to protest, then closed it. “Got it.”
“So what are we dealing with?” Abbott asked.
Noah didn’t take his eyes off her face, not wanting to remember all the things he’d just read about Evelyn Jayne Wilson, knowing he’d never be able to forget. “She was assaulted, almost six years ago, left for dead. In fact she did die, twice, on the way to the hospital.” Bile burned his throat, thinking of what Eve had endured. Stabbed, strangled. Assaulted. “She recovered, some. Then two years later, she was kidnapped.”
Abbott’s eyes widened. “Same perp?”
“No, different one. She was working for a shelter aiding battered women escaping their abusers. Dangerous stuff. You remember that woman in Chicago a few years back? The one that kidnapped a deaf kid, then killed something like a dozen people?”
“Yeah,” Abbott said slowly and pointed to Eve. “You mean she…”
“Was kidnapped by this killer, too. The Chicago cops credit Eve with saving the kidnapped boy’s life. She didn’t kill these women, Bruce.”
Abbott sighed heavily. “But she knows who did.”
“She knows something. I think if she knew who did it, she would have already told us.”
“See if you can get her to talk about Siren Song, at least to tell us where we can find the owner, Cassandra Lee. I’ve got Sutherland and Kane looking for her.”
“And Sutherland and Kane found her.” Olivia Sutherland entered the observation room from the hall. “And lost her again. Faye said I’d find you here. Cassandra Lee lives in Uptown. By the time Kane and I got down there, she’d left. Her doorman said he hailed her a cab. He said he didn’t hear where she told the cab to go.”
“Did you believe him?” Noah asked.
Olivia shrugged. In her early thirties, she was blonde, graceful, and a damn good cop. Micki said Olivia was Eve’s family friend. Noah had questions, but he’d save them.
“No,” she said, “but we couldn’t prove he was lying. Kane’s pulling her credit cards to try to track her. We alerted area airports, bus stations, and rental car facilities.” She started, staring at the mirror. “What’s Eve Wilson doing here?”
“She found the last victim,” Noah said. “She called me.”
Olivia’s lips closed tightly.
“What?” Abbott demanded.
“She called me, too,” Olivia said. “Earlier this afternoon. She left a message on my phone at my desk. I was just about to call her back. How does she know the victim?”