Angie folded her arms over her chest. “I called you yesterday. Didn’t you get my message?”
“King didn’t give me the message until late. After your boyfriend paid me a visit. ”
Angie frowned. “Connor came by?”
“Oh, yeah, and he was full of questions. Why’d you rat me out to him?”
“I didn’t. I didn’t know who he was at first. He said he was in town on business.”
“Yeah, he was in town on business, all right. The business of writing a story on the Cross family.”
Angie’s face tightened with hurt and anger. “Like I said, he lied to me. We’d just seen each other and I was hurt. I said my sister and I had had a fight. That’s all I said.”
The tightness in Angie’s voice said more than her words. Donovan had hurt and humiliated her. And in that moment the bluster she’d been chewing on since last night vanished. “Did you tell him where I worked?”
Angie thought for a moment. “Yes. Shit. Eva, I am sorry. I wouldn’t have said anything to him if I’d known what he was after.”
An awkward silence hung between them but neither could cut through their own emotions to speak for a moment.
Eva shifted her stance. “Donovan came by the pub last night. He pretended to be a customer.”
“He’s a dick.”
That nearly coaxed a smile. “Why’d you get tangled up with him?”
Dark circles hung under Angie’s eyes. “Momentary lapse in judgment.”
“You didn’t sleep with him, did you?”
“Like I said. Bad judgment, all around. Won’t happen again.”
Eva suddenly felt angry for her sister who’d been betrayed by a man she’d taken to her bed. “We’ve all had those moments. The trick is to get smarter and savvier so it doesn’t happen again.”
“Let’s hope.” Angie frowned. “Getting a hold of you yesterday was a bear. You should carry a cell.”
“I promise to get around to it.”
Angie moved toward her desk. “I have an extra one.”
“Thanks, but no. I’ve managed just fine so far.”
Angie opened the top desk drawer and pulled out a cell. “It’s a little large and clunky but it still works.”
“I don’t want your charity.”
“It’s not charity.”
“It’s free. You feel sorry for me.”
Angie crossed the room and held out the phone. “Eva, two women are dead. Two of those women you once knew. Take the damn phone until this nutcase is caught. ”
Eva didn’t budge. “I don’t need anyone to look after me.”
“We’re sisters,” Angie said softly. “I couldn’t help ten years ago, but I can help with this small thing now. The phone. Please.”
The “Please” is what got her. Eva reached out and took the phone. “Only until the killer is caught. And I’ll pay you for any calls.”
“You can try, but I won’t take your money. Just say thank you, and shut up.” She rattled off the phone’s number.
Ignoring the jab of emotion, Eva tried to inject a bit of smartass into her voice. “I can see you’re still as bossy as you used to be.”
“And you’re still as distrustful as you ever were.”
Eva smiled. “Maybe.” She held up the phone. “Thanks.”
“No sweat.”
“I’ve got to go.”
“Call me sometime. We can have lunch.”
“Let’s do lunch?”
“I mean that. I want us to at least try to be friends.”
“Okay.” No tearful reunion, but a start.
When Eva got back to the pub, King sat in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. He leaned over the morning paper, his brow furrowed. “You’re not going to like this.”
“What am I not going to like? ”
“This article on page two of the Post.”
“Please tell me that the byline is not by Connor Donovan.”
“How’d you know?”
“Remember, he was here last night.” She peered over his shoulder and read the headline. SERIAL KILLER LINKED TO SORORITY HOUSE MURDER. “Oh, God.”
“I knew what I was getting into when I hired you.” King glanced up at her. She braced for anger or recrimination. But she saw no traces of either. “Luke Fraser called. He says you’re fired.”
“Right.” Luke didn’t like attention, and now for her next Fifteen Minutes of Fame she’d be an attention magnet. “Are you canning me, too?”
“No. No, I’m not.”
“Why not? ”
He shrugged. “I like you. You’re a good kid. Knew it from the minute I saw you at that halfway house arguing with the attendant about clean water. Besides, how the hell am I gonna run that fancy computer system you installed if you don’t stay?” His voice had softened and lost a good bit of bluster.
“You’d figure it out.”
“Maybe, but I don’t want to.”
Her throat tightened with the sting of emotion. Twice today people had reached out to her. “But we have a bigger problem.”
King cleared his throat. “Bobby.”
“Social Services might have an issue with my background.”
“You served your time, Eva. You’re free and clear as far as the law is concerned.”
“Still, they can be funny about that kind of thing.”
“I’ll handle them.”
She nodded. “Reporters will be snooping around. My story was huge back in the day.” A heavy weight settled on her shoulders. “I can call Social Services.”
“No. Let them call us. I like the kid and won’t give him up without a fight. ”
Macy sauntered into Garrison’s office and tossed a file on his desk. “Whoever did the investigation on your fire was an idiot. ”
He lifted his gaze, immediately intrigued. “Tell me.”
She sat in the chair across from his desk. “It makes no sense to me.”
“Explain.”
“I looked at the pictures and I read the report. They don’t match.” She leaned forward and opened the file and pointed to an image of a burned-out structure. All that remained was a charred brick foundation. “See that black smudge in the corner of the foundation.”
“Sure.”
“That’s the fire’s point of origin.”
He studied the image. “The investigator said the point of origin was the fireplace on the first floor.”
“No. This fire started in the back of the house by the back door. Those black scorch marks indicate intense flames.”
“Like the shelter fire.”
“Exactly. Someone tossed accelerant by the back door and set the place on fire.”
“Witnesses said that Eva hit Josiah and then used the burning logs in the fireplace to set the blaze.”
Macy shrugged. “Unless she ran outside, set the blaze and then ran back inside, she did not set that fire.”
“Which means she may not have killed Josiah.”
“That, my friend, is for you to figure out.”
The homicide team assembled less than a half hour later in the conference room. Garrison sat at the head of the table. Malcolm sat on his right, Rokov on his left. Sinclair had been summoned and promised to show as soon as she could.
Rokov folded large arms over his chest. “I get why Danvers is up there. He likely saw the killer, but why the other stabbing victim? She had no brand or apparent connection to the other cases.”
Garrison sat back in his chair studying the image of Eliza Martinez. “Her wounds are too similar to Danvers. Four stab wounds to the chest.”
“So why no brands?” Malcolm said.
“Like Danvers, Eliza Martinez was in the way. Her killing, in the killer’s mind, wasn’t personal,” Garrison said.
Malcolm snorted. “We did a full background check on Martinez after she died. Nothing came up.”