CHAPTER TWO
“Chaplain Hayes,” Faith explained. “He was assigned to my company in Iraq.”
She was sitting at the kitchen table, David’s arm around her. She’d spent just over an hour on the phone hearing her old Marine buddy Staff Sergeant Corinne Poulter tell her that Chaplain Hayes had been found murdered.
“He was a good man. Some chaplains, they’re just…
I don’t know how to say it. Going through the motions, I guess?
But Hayes wasn’t. He really believed in his faith, and he really did want to help people in need.
Usually, chaplains are just there. Available if you need them, but they don’t go out of their way to reach out to you.
Hayes actually cared. He actually went out of his way to get to know the people in our company. To get to know me.”
“Yeah,” David said, nodding as though he understood. “I’m glad you got to know him.”
He didn’t, of course, but he was smart enough to know that Faith needed support right now, and he was doing his best to give it. She loved him for that. David could be a dork sometimes, but he was a good husband. When he wasn’t off trying to get himself killed.
A crime of which you are wholly innocent, of course, she thought with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
She couldn’t find the energy to worry about the Sierra case right now, though. Chaplain Hayes had died, and while Faith hadn’t spoken to the man in over fifteen years, she still remembered him fondly. You never forgot the bonds forged in blood.
“Are you going to go see his family?” David asked.
Faith shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe.
It’s different, the military thing. Sometimes families want to be a part of that, and sometimes they want that part of their loved ones separate from their part.
Or they want their loved ones to themselves but tolerate the fact that the military will always be a big part of who they are.
I don’t know.” She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Boy, my head’s all over the place.”
“Take your time,” David said. “This is rough news. You don’t need to reconcile yourself to it all at once.”
“Yeah,” Faith said.
She looked into the living room. The Dog Whisperer had given way to a thirty-minute infomercial on some sort of gadget designed to freshen the inside of shoes while also keeping them organized and out of the way.
Turk was pretending to watch it while glancing at Faith every fifteen seconds to make sure she was okay.
He understood that sometimes Faith needed private time with David, but he spent that time on constant alert to any threat to his handler. Faith loved him so much.
“I guess he was murdered,” Faith said.
David’s eyes snapped open. “What?”
“Yeah. Corinne said he was found in Arlington National Cemetery kneeling in front of a gravestone as though he was praying. He had been strangled with a garrote, arranged in a prayer position, and injected with something that stiffened his muscles. They hung dog tags around his neck too. A lot of them. Like, thirty or forty according to the initial report.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah.”
They were quiet for a while. David finally asked the question Faith knew he wanted to ask. “Are you going to take it?”
Faith took a deep breath, and that was all the time she needed to admit that she’d made that decision the moment her former squad mate told her how Hayes had died.
“Yes. He was killed on federal property, which makes this a federal case. Normally, the FBI would let the locals handle this but considering how the body was staged and the fact that someone hung a ton of dog tags around his neck, I think I have a good argument for a highly organized ritualistic serial or spree killer, my specialty.”
“You don’t think the personal connection will disqualify you?”
Faith’s jaw tightened. The personal connection would absolutely disqualify her. That was probably why the Bureau hadn’t called her.
And there was a much bigger problem to consider.
“No, you know what? I can’t take it.” She rubbed her forehead. “I can’t leave you alone. Not that I don’t trust you to keep your promise, but I’d feel better if you were home with me and Turk, not alone.”
“It’s fine,” David said quickly. “I’ll call Jessica and have Tweedlebuff and Tweedlebuffer come back and watch me again.”
The buff men to whom David alluded were Special Agents Rogers and Hammerton, members of the Washington Field Office and friends of Jessica’s.
They were serving as David’s bodyguards but had been called away when they had a major break in a racketeering case they’d been working for months.
They were both devastated with guilt when David was hurt in their absence, and Faith knew they would immediately accept a request to watch him again.
“No, it’s okay,” Faith said. “If they’re with you, you won’t be able to take a shower without one of them holding the nozzle for you.”
“Yeah, probably not,” David said with a rueful smile. “But I kinda deserve it.”
“You absolutely do,” Faith agreed. “But you’re right. The personal connection will disqualify me.”
David looked at her. “I think you should take it. You won’t forgive yourself if you don’t. You know you won’t.”
Faith sighed and rolled her eyes. “Damn it. Can we go back to not knowing each other so well?”
David shrugged. “We could leave anytime we wanted, but we haven’t. I guess we love each other.”
She smiled and slapped his shoulder playfully, but her smile faded right after that. “He lived in Arlington. Forty-five minutes away, and I never went to visit him.”
David laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Go. Find the prick who did this. Call the Barbell Brothers and tell them they can put me in a box and ensure I never leave it. I’ll meekly accept my fate.”
Faith chuckled and placed her hand over his. “You promise you’ll behave?”
“I promise,” he said. “Cross my heart and hope to never piss you off again.”
She laughed once more, then kissed his fingers. “Okay. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
***
Faith felt good about her choice right up until she exited the Beltway into Washington. Then she nearly turned around and headed straight home to take care of her husband where she belonged.
She compromised by calling Michael. During their partnership, Michael developed a skill for talking Faith down from rash decisions or reaffirming decisions that seemed rash but weren’t. Hopefully, he would help her gain perspective on her situation now.
“You’re sure it’s fine?” she asked after explaining the situation.
“It’s not just fine; it’s mandatory,” he said.
“Well, this particular case isn’t mandatory, I guess, but it’s mandatory that you behave normally, just as you would if you weren’t investigating the CIA or concerned that someone was trying to kill your husband.
Remember, the official story is that he ran off the road accidentally.
They never found the other guy’s body or the truck. ”
Faith tensed slightly at that reminder. The wreck of David’s car had been discovered the morning after the attack, but the military truck that had run him off the road was gone along with the body of his attacker.
There were no witnesses to the confrontation, and no one had come forward to challenge the State Police ruling that David had suffered an ordinary, if severe and rather spectacular, traffic accident.
“Honestly, I was kind of hoping a case would come up in the near future,” Michael continued.
“I’m not happy that you lost an old friend, but I am very much in favor of you having case work to do.
Take this case. Work it like everything’s normal.
Don’t worry about David. I’ll call Rogers and Hammerton after this and lay some ground rules.
Home before dark, doors and windows locked, curtains drawn, no one allowed inside unless it’s you, me, or Jessica and we call them from the door instead of knocking or ringing the bell.
Which reminds me, make sure you call when you get home, so they don’t freak out when you unlock the door. ”
Faith smirked. “Will do. You’re sure it’s—”
“I will not repeat myself. You having a case is a good thing. We want the CIA to think that we don’t suspect anything, and David’s decided to stay away.
The bodyguards are understandable. The CIA won’t begrudge him that.
We’ll all act liked David just made some good friends, and we don’t realize their real purpose for being there. ”
Michael sounded confident. Faith wasn’t sure it was as easy as he was making it sound, but she understood why he wanted her to act normally. She bit her lip and asked, “Do you think… Do you think maybe they’ll leave him alone? If he really stays away?”
“I don’t think he’ll stay away,” Michael said quietly.
The corners of Faith’s mouth turned down. “No. Probably not.”
“Definitely not,” Michael said. “But we can make it look like he’s staying away.”
“What about you? You murdered a CIA agent. I mean, it wasn’t murder, but it’ll look like that to a prosecutor.”
“They don’t know it was me.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’m still alive and not incarcerated.”
Faith took a deep breath. “That’s encouraging.”
“It should be. It means the CIA isn’t omniscient.
Even if they were, I am one hundred percent certain that the CIA will do everything in its power not to attract anything that remotely resembles attention.
That includes prosecuting the death of an agent who isn’t supposed to be an agent who is also part of a project that isn’t supposed to exist. The last thing they want right now is publicity.
“Don’t worry about me and don’t worry about David. David is a thorn in their side, but a thorn is not a good reason to stab yourself.”
Faith smirked again. “I’m not sure about your metaphor there.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m right.”
She laughed. “Okay, then Special Agent-in-Charge Prince.” Her voice softened. “Thank you for talking me down. I appreciate it.”
“Yeah, yeah.” His own voice softened. “Try not to worry, Faith. I know that’s an impossible ask, but really, do your best. We’ve got the right idea on how to handle this. We can get through it.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Sounds good. I’ll talk to you soon. Drive safe and text me when you get home. Tell Elle and Honey I said hi.”
“I will. Maybe I’ll bring Honey down to visit this weekend. She’d love seeing Turk again.”
Honey was an elderly golden retriever that Faith had met while investigating her owner’s murder. She had talked Michael into taking her when she realized that Honey was probably going to die in an animal shelter.
“Yeah, do that,” Faith said. “Maybe bring Elle too.”
“Elle’s with her parents this weekend, but maybe the week after.”
“Sounds good.”
“Okay, kid. I’ll talk to you later. Chin up, okay?”
“Okay.”
He hung up, and Faith took a deep breath and released it in a rush. “Okay. We’ll be okay. We can do this.”
Turk barked supportively, and Faith reached over to scratch him behind his ears.
She believed they were okay, really, she did, but silence was a breeding ground for the worst possible thoughts, so she called Jessica a minute later.
Her partner answered with only the vaguest irritation.
“Hey, Faith. I’m here already. I know you’ve got a way to go, but I figure I’ll be four cups of coffee into the meal and maybe able to keep my eyes open when you talk to me. ”
“I really appreciate this, Jessica. Thank you for helping me.”
Jessica’s tone changed when she heard Faith’s. “Yeah, of course. Anytime. What’s going on? Did you know the victim?”
“Yes. He was the chaplain of my company when I was in the Marine Corps.”
“Oh my God! I didn’t realize! Oh, Faith, I’m so sorry!”
Faith smiled. “It’s all right. I wasn’t that close with him. But I knew him, and I respected him, and…” And I never went to visit him, never even bothered to find out that he lived less than an hour away from me. “And I want to make sure he receives justice.”
“Hell yeah. I’m with you all the way. By the way, Rogers and Hammerton want me to tell you that they will not let David more than three feet away from them this time.”
Faith smiled. “David wants me to tell them that he will meekly allow them to remain within three feet of him this time.”
“Good. They’re not kidding. They like him, but they’re kind of like uncles who told their nephew not to go out with the hoodlums and now they have to bail him out of jail.”
Faith laughed. “Good. Maybe it will kill any bad thoughts David might have before they have a chance to take root.”
“Fingers crossed. I’ll see you soon, babe.”
She hung up, and Faith took another deep breath and smiled at Turk’s repeated affirming bark. A lot of her worries were addressed now that she had talked to Michael and Jessica. She called David and felt more relief when the deep basso voice of Special Agent Hammerton answered instead.
“Oh good. Just making sure you two got there.”
“We’re here. Rogers is right now gently and respectfully explaining to David what the wrath of God is and how it will fall on him if he tries to do anything sneaky again.”
Faith laughed, and Turl barked appreciation for the not-quite-joke. “Good. Well, when he’s finished, tell him I love him, but I support you two fully.”
“I will. Good luck, Faith.”
Faith hung up and scratched Turk behind his ears. “See boy? Nothing to worry about. We have a higher power looking out for us.”
That pulled her thoughts back to Hayes, murdered and staged in a mockery of his faith. Her smile faded as she began to focus on the case ahead of her. David had people looking out for him, but Hayes had died all alone. This killer, like most of the killers Faith had faced, preyed on the weak.
Then again, he now had Faith Bold and Turk to deal with. So maybe Hayes had someone looking out for him after all.
“We’ll get him, Turk,” she said. “We’re gonna catch this bad guy.”