CHAPTER ONE
Special Agent Faith Bold of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office approached Special Agent Julia Chavez of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office and gave the younger agent a smile. Chavez blanched, and Faith resisted the urge to roll her eyes. For God’s sake, why was Chavez so afraid of her?
“Hey, Julia,” she said. “I’m heading to the Hoagie Hub for a cheesesteak. You want one?”
“Uh, uh… Yeah. Sure.” Chavez blinked and managed a smile herself. She seemed a little embarrassed at her initial reaction. “Yeah, I could go for a sandwich. I’ll see if Des wants to come.”
Faith frowned. “Des?”
Chavez reddened. “Special Agent Desrouleaux.”
“Oh, right.”
It was well known at the office that Chavez had a massive crush on her partner. It was equally well-known that Desrouleaux was aware of the crush and wasn’t interested but was too chicken to tell her. Faith thought the whole thing was rather silly. Just admit your feelings and move on.
Like you’re one to talk .
Faith grimaced inwardly. She was planning on breaking up with her boyfriend, David, because she wasn’t ready for the future he wanted. But she hadn’t. Instead, she had used her need to keep a low profile for a while as an excuse for moving an hour away to Allentown instead of moving in with him.
Then there was the little thing about her unresolved feelings for her own partner.
“Hey, Des,” Chavez said. “Faith and I are going for sandwiches. You want to come?”
She paled again. “Des” must have said no. Meaning Chavez was going to be alone with Faith.
“Um… maybe I’ll just order to go and bring one back for you?” Chavez said hopefully.
No dice. She paled further and said, “Yeah, sure. I’ll… I’ll do that.”
She hung up and sighed heavily, then gave Faith a forced smile and said too brightly. “Okay! Let’s go get some lunch!”
Do the other agents tell ghost stories about me around the campfire or something? “Let’s do it,” she replied, matching Chavez’s bubbliness.
They started out of the building, and Faith struggled not to laugh at Chavez’s stiff posture. Chavez looked around and frowned. “Where’s Turk?”
“He’s got the day off,” Faith said. “Well, from work, anyway. It’s time for his semiannual checkup, and I let David keep him for the day.”
Chavez’s demeanor softened. “You’re so lucky to have David. I’m so glad things are working out for you guys. I wish I had something like that.”
Faith stiffened a little and hoped that didn’t show on her face. “Thank you. So none of the boys are having any luck with you?”
Chavez laughed. “It’s not for want of trying. But no, I mean… None of them are my type.”
No, you like old, cranky Louisiana boys. Aloud, she said, “Well, you should let yourself have some fun.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
They fell silent until they left the building. Hoagie Hub was across the street, very wisely choosing to open near a place where they were guaranteed a steady stream of very hungry law enforcement agents and analysts who were willing to spend twenty percent more to have their sandwich within walking distance of their desks. But hey, Faith was one of them. Who was she to judge?
Besides, today’s lunch had a purpose. That was why when they entered, Faith immediately said, “It’s on me.”
To Chavez's credit, she was a good enough agent to realize that Faith's out-of-the-blue offer of lunch came with an ulterior motive. Her eyes narrowed, and the pallor in her skin disappeared. She was in work mode now, and it didn't matter that Faith intimidated the hell out of her.
Faith grudgingly admired that even as she realized that Chavez was likely to be guarded. Faith needed her not to be guarded so she could get the information she wanted.
She’d have to be patient. She’d have to work her way into Chavez’s trust. She might even have to take her out for lunch regularly in order to soften her up enough to discuss the Messenger, the latest in a series of psychopathic serial killers who had developed an obsession with Faith.
Faith was not good at being patient.
So, once they got their sandwiches, she sighed and said, “Okay, Chavez. You figured it out already, I’m sure, but this isn’t just a social call.”
“Really?” Chavez replied drily. “You ask me to lunch for the first time in the two years we’ve worked in the same office, and it’s not just because you want some girl bonding time?”
Wow. Work-mode Chavez was very unintimidated. Faith folded her hands on the table and said, “I need to know what’s going on with this case, Chavez. This person is trying to kill me.”
“We don’t think so,” Chavez countered. “We think he’s trying to get your attention.”
“Well, he’s got it. He brutally killed a sweet old woman who liked feeding Turk treats. Then he posed her body in front of my doorway. So yeah, he’s got my attention.”
“And you need to take it off of him,” Chavez said. “Seriously. The more attention you show, the more he’s going to escalate.”
“I don’t think so,” Faith argued. “I think he’s upset because I’m not paying attention. He’s trying to get my attention, and I’m not giving it to him. He’s going to keep escalating until he gets what he wants.”
“So what? Once you start looking into the case, he’ll stop?”
Faith opened her mouth, then closed it.
“Exactly.” Chavez sighed. “I’m not going to pretend that I understand what you’re going through. I sympathize with you. I can imagine that it’s difficult to be in your situation. I won’t claim to know how difficult. But I also know that you’re probably the best agent in the Bureau right now. So as a less experienced agent to a more experienced agent: if our positions were reversed, what would you tell me?”
Faith frowned and looked over Chavez’s shoulder. She recognized a massive black SUV pulling into the parking lot. The SUV belonged to her partner, Special Agent Michael Prince.
Michael was here. On his day off. That meant it wasn’t his day off anymore, which meant she wasn’t going to be in Philadelphia for much longer.
Which meant there was no point in lying to Chavez. “I would tell you that you’re not in the right frame of mind to be actively involved in this case. I would encourage you to let the agents assigned to the case handle it.”
“Okay, then.” Chavez smiled. Faith hated the pity in that smile. “If it makes you feel better, the killer’s gone quiet. There was a gap of a week in between the first two victims. It’s been a month since then, and there’s no more ‘messages.’”
“Don’t call them that,” Faith snapped. “They’re not messages.”
“Okay,” Chavez said. She paled a little as some of her fear of Faith returned. “Victims. No more victims. Local PD is reporting that the neighborhood watch programs are stepping up their vigilance, and they have more cops out on beat now, so maybe the guy’s in hiding. Or maybe he gave up because you weren’t giving him what he wanted.”
“Yeah,” Faith agreed. “Maybe. Do me a favor. Give my sub to Desrouleaux.”
She stood and stalked out of the shop, leaving a shocked Chavez behind at the table. She made it three steps before sighing and returning to the sub shop. “Chavez?”
The younger agent cast her a wary glance.
“I’m sorry. I’m… obviously not in the right frame of mind to discuss this case. You’re right. I need to let you and Desrouleaux handle it. It’s just upsetting to leave one serial killer behind and have another one on my ass right after him.”
Chavez smiled sympathetically. “I get it. I mean, I don’t , but I do.” She reddened. “What I’m trying to say is—”
She was saved from further embarrassment when Faith’s phone buzzed. It was Michael. “Hey, Faith, where are you?”
“Hey. I was grabbing lunch with Chavez.”
“Really? Awesome. Look at you being social. Damn it, I feel bad now.”
“About what?”
“The Boss called us in. Tell Chavez you’ll make it up to you.”
Faith was actually grateful for the chance to leave lunch. She wasn’t proud of being rude to Chavez, but she would have been irritable for the rest of the meal and Chavez had suffered enough of her grouchiness. “Sorry, Chavez. The Boss needs me for something.”
Chavez did a passable job of hiding her relief. “No worries. Catch you later.”
Faith left the sub shop and met Michael at the entrance to the field office.
. “Where’s Turk?” Michael asked.
“He’s with David at the animal hospital.”
“Is he all right?”
“He’s fine. He’s getting his semiannual checkup.”
“Ah. Well, that might be a problem.”
“It was the FBI’s idea to do these evaluations. Criminals tend not to follow our schedules.”
She was in the parking lot now, so she hung up her phone and closed the distance. Michael smiled at her, but his smile was awkward, as was the nod he gave her. Yet another thing in her life that was frustrating.
She had made the mistake of confessing to Michael that she was having feelings for him again. In hindsight, those feelings were a mixture of cold feet over the move with David, concern over the existence of this latest killer and the need to talk to someone who understood what it was like to hunt serial killers for a living.
But now things were awkward between them and probably would be for the rest of their lives. Michael was happily married, and his feet were nowhere near cold when it came to spending the rest of his life with his bride, Ellie. He was not happy to hear that his partner missed the one year they spent dating of the eleven and counting they had known each other.
It didn’t help that in one of Faith’s weaker moments, she had briefly suspected Ellie of being the Copycat Killer. By odd coincidence, she was actually not far off since the killer had turned out to be Ellie’s ex-husband Franklin West.
But yeah, that was her life right now. She was stringing along a man she wasn’t sure she wanted to live with but didn’t want to leave, she was boxed out of the case involving the latest serial killer who just needed to get under her skin, and her best friend didn’t want to look at her. Her next few therapy sessions were going to be fun.
“How soon can you get Turk?” Michael asked as they walked inside.
“Well, I hear they have a railroad to East Philly now, so if we hurry up here, we could make the afternoon train and get there by next Sunday.”
“Ha ha.”
“He’s at the animal hospital, Michael. It’s like twenty minutes away.”
He frowned at her. “Is there a reason you’re being pissy?”
Her jaw clenched. She hated when he said that. She hated even more when he had good reason to.
“I just had… well, sort of had lunch with Chavez.”
“And you asked about the Messenger, and she told you to back off.”
Faith sighed. “Yes.”
“And you’re upset because she’s not as terrified of you as you thought she was.”
“Oh, she’s afraid of me. She can just turn it off when it comes to protecting hers and Des’s case.”
“Des? Do people call him that?”
“Chavez does.”
Michael chuckled. “Poor kid. Rookie mistake falling in love with your partner like that.”
He caught himself and stiffened. “Shit, Faith. I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
“It’s fine,” she said curtly. “Just drop it.”
They rode the elevator in awkward silence. Faith’s cheeks flamed, and she hated that he could see her embarrassment. There was so much she hated these days. The only part of her life that was completely good right now was Turk. The FBI had allowed him to continue working past the mandatory retirement age, and he was still her assigned K9 unit.
She comforted herself with the fact that she would at least get to work with him soon. Something to take her mind off of all the crap.
She kept that in mind as the elevator opened, and they stepped out and headed toward the Boss’s office.