A Thin Dark Line

"That hurts a hell of a lot more than losing someone who isn't a part of you," he pressed on. "Better to keep everyone at arm's length."

"I want more than an arm's length away from you right now, A.J.," A

"Why didn't you tell me you saw Fourcade earlier that night?" he asked.

"What difference does it make?"

"What difference does it make? I'm supposed to be your best friend! We had a date that night. You dumped me and went to see Fourcade-"

"That was not a date," she argued. "We had di

"You don't get it, do you?" he said, incredulous. "This is about trust-"

"Whose trust?" she demanded. "You're giving me the goddamn third degree! One minute you claim to be my best friend and the next you're wondering why I didn't give you something you can use in court. You tell me we can separate who we are from what we do, but only when it's convenient for you. I've had it, A.J. I don't need this bullshit and I sure as hell don't need you taking potshots at my psyche!"

"A

He reached for her arm as she started for the door and she jerked away from him. The secretaries in the outer office watched with owl eyes as she stormed past.

The outer hall was dark and cool. Voices floated down from the third floor. The last of the day's court skirmishes had been fought, and the last of the warriors lingered in the hall, swapping stories and making deals. A

"Deputy Broussard. This is serendipitous, I must say."

A

"Are you all right?" A

Kudrow tried to smile as he straightened. "No, my dear, I am dying, but I won't be doing it here if that's what concerns you. I'm not quite ready to go just yet. There are still injustices to be corrected. You know all about that, don't you?"

"I'm not in the mood for your word games, lawyer. If you have something to say to me, then say it. I've got better things to do."

"Like searching for Marcus's alibi witness? Marcus has told me you've taken an interest in his plight. How fascinating. This falls outside the scope of your duties, doesn't it?"

How much damage could he do with that knowledge? Sweat pooled between her shoulder blades and trickled down the valley of her spine. "I'm looking into a couple of things out of curiosity, that's all."

"A thirst for the truth. Too bad no one else in your department seems to share that quality. There's no evidence anyone is so much as looking into last night's shooting incident at the Renard home."

"Maybe there's nothing to find."

"Two people have openly tried to do Marcus harm in a week's time. Numerous others have threatened him. The list of suspects could read like the phone book, yet to my knowledge no one has been questioned."

"The detectives are very busy these days, Mr. Kudrow."

"They'll have another homicide on their hands if they let this go," he warned. "This community is wound tighter than a watch spring. I can feel the air thickening with anger, with fear, with hate. That kind of pressure can only be contained to a point, then it explodes."

A tight, rattling cough shook him and he leaned against the vending machine again, his energy spent, his eyes growing dull; an ill spectre of doom.

A

Three women had been attacked in a span of a week. Cops were acting like criminals, and a suspected murderer had gone free. People were terrified.

A

Someone had to make it stop.

Myron welcomed her back to the records office with a pointed stare he directed from A

"This gentleman from Allied Insurance needs a number of accident reports," he said, nodding to a round mound of sweating flesh in rumpled seersucker on the opposite side of the counter. "You will get him whatever he needs."

On that order he took up his Wall Street Journal and marched off to the men's room.

"That's the best dang thing I've heard all day!" the insurance man chortled. He stuck out a hand that looked like a small balloon animal. "Tom O'Co

A

He pulled a crumpled list from his coat pocket and handed it to her. "Hey, aren't you cute in that uniform! You look like a little lady deputy."

"I am a deputy."

His eyes popped and he let loose another volley of chuckles. "Well, shoot me dead!"

"Don't tempt me," A

She looked up to heaven as she took the list to the file cabinets. "Purgatory is a clerical department, isn't it?"

As she sent Tom O'Co

She watched the sheets roll into the tray, plucking them up one at a time. Preliminary lab results on the meager physical evidence collected at Lindsay Faulkner's crime scene and from Lindsay Faulkner's person. Negative. Nothing from the rape kit-no semen, no hair, no skin from under her nails, though they knew she'd put up a fight. Blood samples from the carpet ru

Just as Stokes had predicted, they had nothing, just as they had nothing from the Je

She looked back through the transmission for mention of the feather, finding none. There should have been a note, at least.

A