CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Kate knocked on the door of Caroline Bennett’s home a third time. “FBI! Open up, or we will force entry!”
No answer. Kate shared a look with Marcus. “Can we force entry?” she asked.
He shook his head, not a denial, just uncertainty. “Shit. I don’t know. I don’t know if we have enough for probable cause. Everything we have is still circumstantial.”
“What about reasonable suspicion?” Kate asked. “Her ex-husband appears on records kept by at least four of our five victims. He’s a victim himself, along with his second wife. She has motive.”
"A lot of people have motive. Hence, the number of suspects we've had.
" He crossed his arms. "I don't know, Kate.
Our leash for bending the rules is short as a grain of rice right now.
It might be better to wait until we pick her up.
Then we can try to get enough info to justify a search and seizure. "
Kate pursed her lips. “Call Rivera. See if he’ll authorize it.”
Marcus frowned. “You want to put his career on the line?”
“I want to see if he thinks we have enough for entry. If he says no, then the answer’s no. I don’t want to break the rules, just follow them as loosely as we can.” She frowned. “No, that didn’t come out right.”
“I think it came out exactly right,” Marcus said. “But I agree with you. I’ll give him a call.”
Once again, his phone buzzed before he could dial the number. He looked at Kate, then answered the phone, putting it on speaker so Kate could hear. “Reid.”
“Thought you guys might enjoy this tidbit. We’re going through Maxwell’s records. First of all, he was shredding a lot of stuff. Don’t know what that’s about yet, but one thing he didn’t shred was records of a case he worked on behalf of Mrs. Caroline Bennett.”
Kate and Marcus shared a look. “That’s the connection to Maxwell,” Marcus said.
“It gets better,” Rivera said. “The records indicate that Mrs. Bennett hired Maxwell to spy on Greg after his affair started with Anne Collins.”
“And did he find proof?”
“According to these records, no.”
Marcus frowned. “No?”
“No. The file says he followed him for five days and saw no indication of impropriety.”
Kate pumped her fist. “That’s it. That’s our reasonable suspicion. We know that Mr. Bennett was cheating on his wife because he actually left Caroline for Anne.”
"So, Caroline gets upset and starts working her way down the list of people responsible, starting with the people who introduced Greg to Anne and ending with…" He frowned. "Actually, it would have made more sense to end with Diane Walker."
“That’s assuming she’s trying to tell the story start to finish,” Kate said. “She might have just been killing them when she had an opportunity.”
“I love this speculation, and I’d love to finish it over coffee,” Rivera interjected.
“I also heard the term reasonable suspicion, which suggests to me that Caroline Bennett is either not home or not answering the door. If you need a third opinion, I say force entry. We have some pretty damned reasonable suspicion considering what happened to her husband, the fact that he shows up on three different lists, and the fact that she hired Maxwell to spy on him. Get into that house and get proof. I’m putting an extra layer of urgency on this APB.
I don’t know if there’s anyone left to kill, but I’d rather not find out. ”
Kate and Marcus shared another look. “That works for me,” Marcus said.
Kate drew her handgun, just in case Caroline was waiting for them with the knives she’d used to kill her victims, then backed up so Marcus could kick the door in.
Instead, Marcus grabbed the knob, bunched his shoulders, and shoved downward.
The knob snapped off, and Marcus grinned at Kate. “Finesse.”
Kate gave a nervous chuckle, then stepped in front of the door, allowing herself room to avoid any lunges from knife-wielding killers. Marcus drew his own weapon, stepped to the side of the door, and with his left palm shoved it open.
Kate entered first, shouting, “FBI! Come out now!”
She looked around the living room, her practiced eyes taking in every detail in a fraction of a second.
The floor was hardwood, once a warm red oak, faded over the decades to drab desert tan.
The coffee table and TV stand were faded the same color, and the couch and easy chair that sat kiddie-corner to the coffee table were light gray cloth with comfortable depressions in the easy chair and the right cushion of the couch, the Bennetts' preferred seating locations.
She saw no sign of bloody clothing or a letter from Cox or anything else that might incriminate her, but that wasn’t surprising. Presumably Caroline would have made at least a token effort to hide it.
Marcus entered behind her, moving to the kitchen.
He moved with feline grace, showcasing the peculiar softness that seemed so incongruous with his large frame.
She could easily imagine him in battle fatigues or matte black body armor carrying an assault rifle instead of a handgun.
His past in the military was something he still hadn’t shared with her in detail.
She respected his desire to keep that part of his life separate, and at times like these, she could see why.
Marcus wasn’t a murderer, but he was trained to kill.
She had no doubt that weighed heavily on him.
“Clear,” Marcus said, pulling her back to the task at hand.
“Clear,” she replied.
She moved on to the bedroom while Marcus checked the garage.
The bedroom was similar to the living room: homely, sparsely decorated, filled with lived-in furniture and the modest trappings of an ordinary middle-class life.
It occurred to her for the first time to wonder how Gregory Bennett could afford a boat.
Or maybe it was Anne’s boat. Maybe she brought money to the relationship.
That could have been part of the allure.
All questions you can answer later. Look for proof of Cox’s involvement.
“Clear!” she called. She wasn’t sure if Marcus could hear her, but a moment later, her radio crackled, and he said, “Copy. Garage is clear too. Shall we begin the search in earnest?”
Kate nodded. She holstered her weapon, then remembered that Marcus couldn’t see her nod. “Yeah, start looking. Be thorough. In fact, call Rivera and tell him to send a team over here. We need to find something tangible that connects her to these murders.”
“Will do,” Marcus said. “I mean, she’s got to be the killer, right? It all points to her.”
That’s what Marcus had said about Maxwell, and that turned out to be a red herring. Kate was beginning to worry—not overmuch but a little—that Caroline Bennett would turn out to be another.
“Our suspicion sure is reasonable,” she replied. “But just in case, try not to break—”
The front door creaked. Kate stiffened. “We have entry,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, I heard it. On my way now.”
Kate closed the connection and drew her weapon. On her way down the hallway to the living room, she called, “FBI! Hands where we can see them now!”
Marcus came in through the garage door on the opposite hallway. They made brief eye contact before Marcus bellowed a repeat of Kate’s command.
“You have no need to fear, agents,” a soft, feminine voice replied. “I have placed my weapons on the coffee table, and I’ll keep my hands in the air.”
Kate exited the hallway and saw a woman standing a generous distance away from the coffee table.
The weapons in question—a Ka-Bar combat knife and a thin, ivory-handled stiletto—sat parallel to each other in the center of the coffee table, their blades pointing toward the easy chair, where Kate presumed Mr. Bennett would have sat.
She regarded the woman who had entered. She was beautiful.
Breathtaking, even. She was in her early forties with long, flowing copper hair, deep blue eyes, high cheekbones, and full lips that seemed to part sensuously even when they were closed.
Her body had the hourglass figure that so many men prized, but there were generous curves on her chest and her hips that hinted strongly at what lay underneath her modest, long-sleeved turtleneck and ankle-length skirt.
A pair of polished black pumps covered her feet.
Kate’s first thought was to wonder why on Earth Greg Bennett would have ever left this woman.
“Caroline Bennett?” Marcus asked.
Kate glanced at him and saw the same amazement in his eyes. No desire, but a healthy appreciation for what he was seeing. It disturbed her a little that they were both fixating on that, but some people were just that beautiful.
Caroline’s lips turned up in a wry smirk. Clearly, she was used to this reaction. “That’s right.”
“You’re under arrest for the murders of Gregory Bennett, Anne Collins, Richard—”
“Yes, I confess,” Caroline interrupted. “I confess to all of it.”
Kate blinked. “All right. Turn around and place your hands on the top of your head.”
Caroline complied. Kate stepped forward and cuffed her while Marcus kept his weapon trained on their killer, just in case this was some sort of ruse.
Caroline didn’t resist. When the cuffs were cinched, she said, “We can proceed straight to the station if you’d like. My work is complete.”
Kate frowned at Marcus. His eyes were narrowed distrustfully. “To be clear, Miss Bennett, you’re confessing to seven murders. Is that correct?”
“Yes. Seven for violating the Seventh Commandment. That was my task, and I’ve completed it.”
“Who gave you this task?” Kate asked.
“The Lawgiver.”
Kate sucked in breath. She knew from the beginning that Cox was behind this, but it still hit her like a battering ram to hear it said out loud.
“How?” she asked. “When did he contact you?”
“Before his current incarceration,” Caroline replied.
“He commanded me to correct those who led others to break the seventh commandment but asked that I wait. I asked him how long, and he told me I would know when the time was right.” She smiled at Kate.
“He said I would know when the Scapegoat arrived that it was time for me to complete my mission.”
Kate’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t speak quite yet. She wasn’t sure she trusted herself to do that yet.
“He also said he was proud of you. That you’d come so far. That you’d be a great and shining example for the people of the world.”
“Maybe we have the rest of this conversation at the field office,” Marcus suggested. “Where Miss Bennett can get more comfortable.”
Caroline’s eyes flashed, but she kept her voice calm. “Tell me, Special Agent Reid. Who led you to disrespect your own marriage vows?”
Marcus stiffened. His face blanched. The blood drained from Kate’s own face as she realized that there was only one way Caroline could know that.
“You,” Marcus said hoarsely. “You’ve been spying on us. On me and Kate.”
“How?” Kate asked. “That’s not possible. We would have found out that you were following us when we looked you up.”
Caroline smiled, her teeth even and white, impossibly beautiful like the rest of her.
“I spent some time following you under a different name. You wouldn’t have found Caroline Bennett.
Had you looked for Michal Sallers, you might have found me.
I thought the name appropriate. The name of King David’s wife, the one he betrayed with Bathsheba. ”
Marcus moved so quickly that Kate didn’t register it until he had spun Caroline Bennett around and lifted her off the floor. “Did you hurt her? Did you hurt Cheryl?”
Kate hated the way it made her feel to hear Marcus say that. She hated the jealousy that coursed through her like venom at the sound of his wife’s name. She hated it because she knew that Cheryl had almost certainly felt the same way whenever she heard Kate’s name.
But Marcus had a good reason to ask. It wasn’t just the two agents Caroline had spied on.
“Of course not,” Caroline replied, seeming genuinely surprised by the idea. “You hurt Cheryl. You cheated on her.”
“We never…”
Marcus clamped his lips shut, but it was too late.
Caroline’s lips twisted cruelly. “‘But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ Tell me, Special Agent Reid, have you lusted after Kate Valentine? Have you looked at her and imagined what it would be like to feel her legs wrapped around you, hear her soft moans in your ear?”
Marcus dropped her and flinched backwards as though he’d been struck. Kate decided to follow his earlier advice. “That’s enough out of you,” she told Caroline. “It’s time to go.”
Kate’s phone rang. She pressed her lips together. Caroline laughed. “You should get that.”
“You should shut the hell up,” Kate snapped.
But she pulled her phone from her pocket and checked the number. Rivera. Probably following up on the team they had requested.
She answered, stepping away so she wouldn’t have Caroline’s cackling in her ear. “Hey, Rivera. Bennett’s here. She just confessed to the murders. Also, to criminal harassment, but that’s kind of pointless considering the multiple murders.”
“Kate, you need to listen to me.”
His tone was soft, urgent. The hairs on the back of Kate’s neck prickled. She swallowed with a throat that was suddenly tight. “O—okay. Um… What’s up?”
“Elijah Cox broke out of prison twenty minutes ago.”
The world shifted under Kate’s feet. She stumbled and reached out reflexively to the easy chair for balance.
“Kate?” Marcus asked. “What is it? Kate, talk to me!”
Kate swallowed. She tried to speak, but her airway was clamped tightly shut. Spots formed in her vision as she processed the impossibility she had just been told.
Behind her, Caroline Bennett laughed. There was nothing beautiful about the witch’s cackle that escaped her throat. “The Lawgiver is not finished with you, Kate Valentine!”
Marcus whirled on her. “You shut up!” He turned back to his partner. “Kate. Kate, talk to me. What happened?”
Kate swallowed again. Numbly, she managed to release, “He’s out.”