The Sleeping Doll

Dance made her case. "He's an active duty agent killing these people, Amy. He lied to us. He staged a dynamic entry when there was no need to. He nearly got a dozen people hurt. Some could've been killed."

Overby's pen bounced like a drumstick, and TJ's kinesics read: Okay, now, this is an awkward moment.

Grabe's eyes, beneath perfect brows, sca

"They-Ninth Street?"

She nodded. "And higher. Kellogg's a star. Great collar record. Saved hundreds of people from these cults. And he's going to be taking on fundamentalist cases. I mean terrorists. Now, if it makes you feel any better, I talked to them, and they'll have an inquiry. Look into the takedowns, see if he used excessive force."

"The most powerful handgun known to man," TJ recited, then fell silent under his boss's withering glance.

"Look into it?" Dance asked, her voice incredulous. "We're talking questionable deaths-fake suicides, Amy. Oh, please. It's a vendetta. Pure and simple. Jesus, even Pell was above revenge. And who knows what else Kellogg's done."

"Kathryn," her boss warned.

The FBI agent said, "The fact is he's a federal agent investigating crimes in which the perps are particularly dangerous and smart. In some instances they've been killed resisting. Happens all the time."

"Pell wasn't resisting. I can testify to that-as an expert witness. He was murdered."

Overby was tapping a pencil on his immaculate blotter. The man was a knotted ball of stress.

"Kellogg has arrested-he has arrested, you know-a lot of dangerous individuals. A few have been killed."

"Fine, Amy, we can go on and on about this for hours. My concern isn't anything other than presenting a single homicide case to Sandy Sandoval, whether Washington likes it or not."

"Federalism at work," TJ said.

Tap, tap… The pencil bounced and Overby cleared his throat.

"It's not even a great case," the SAC pointed out. She'd apparently read all the details on the trip to the Peninsula.

"It doesn't have to be a slam dunk. Sandy can still win it."

Grabe put the coffee down. She turned her placid face to Overby and leveled hard eyes at him. "Charles, they've asked that you don't pursue it."

Dance wasn't going to let them dump the case. And, all right, some of her goddamn motive was because the man who'd asked her out, who'd won a bit of her heart, had betrayed her.

…afterward. How does that sound?

Overby's eyes took in more pictures and mementos on his desk. "It's a tough situation… You know what Oliver Wendell Holmes said? He said that tough cases make bad law. Or maybe hard cases make bad law. I don't remember."

What does that mean? she wondered.

Grabe said in a soft tone, "Kathryn, Daniel Pell was a dangerous man. He killed law enforcers, he killed people you know and he killed i

"Absolutely," Overby said. He set down the bouncing writing implement. "You know what this reminds me of, Amy? Jack Ruby killing Ke

Dance's jaw closed, her teeth pressing together firmly. She flicked her thumb against her forefinger. Just as he'd "reassured" Grabe of Dance's i

"Exactly," Grabe said. "So-"

Then Overby held up a hand. "But a fu

"What case?" the FBI agent asked.

"The Ruby case. Texas arrested him for murder. And guess what? Jack Ruby got convicted and sent to jail." A shrug. "I'll have to say no, Amy. I'm submitting the Kellogg case to the Monterey County Prosecutor. I'm going to recommend indictment for murder. Lesser included offense'll be manslaughter. Oh, and aggravated assault on a CBI agent. Kellogg did take a shot at Kathryn, after all."

Dance felt her heart thud. Had she heard this right? TJ glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.

Overby was looking at Dance. He said, "And I think we should go for misuse of legal process too, and lying to an investigative agent. What do you think, Kathryn?"

Those hadn't occurred to her. "Excellent." She noticed TJ's thumb subtly point upward.

Grabe rubbed her cheek with a short, pink-polished nail. "Do you really think this is a good idea, Charles?"

"Oh, I do. Absolutely."

SATURDAY

Chapter 61

Tears pooling in her eyes, a woman lay on the bed of the cheap transient hotel off Del Monte, near Highway 1. Listening to the hiss of traffic, she was staring at the ceiling.

She wished she could stop crying.

But she couldn't.

Because he was dead.

Her Daniel was gone.

Je

Recalling how Daniel held the rock, turning it over and over.

"That's exactly what I was thinking, lovely. It looks just like a cat." Then he'd held her tighter and whispered, "I was watching the news."

"Oh, back at the motel?"

"That's right. Lovely, the police found out about you."

"About-"

"Your name. They know who you are."

"They do?" she whispered in horror.

"Yes."

"Oh, no…Daniel, sweetheart, I'm sorry…" She'd started shaking.

"You left something in the room, right?"

Then she remembered. The email. It was in her jeans. In a weak voice she said, "It was the first one where you said you loved me. I couldn't throw it out. You told me to, but I just couldn't. I'm so sorry. I-"

"It's okay, lovely. But now we have to talk."

"Sure, sweetheart," she'd said, resigned to the worst. She caressed her bumpy nose and no silent recitations of angel songs, angel songs were going to help.

He was going to leave her. Make her go away.

But things were more complicated than that. It seemed that one of the women in the Family was working with him. Rebecca. They were going to get another Family together and go to his mountaintop, live by themselves.

"You weren't supposed to be part of it, lovely, but when I got to know you I changed my mind. I knew I couldn't live without you. I'll talk to Rebecca. It'll take a little while. She's…difficult. But eventually she'll do what I say. You'll become friends."

"I don't know."

"You and me, lovely, we'll be the team. She and I never had that co

If he meant they just had sex, that was okay. Je

He'd continued, "But now we have to be careful. The police know you and they'll be able to find you easily. So you've got to disappear."

"Disappear?"

"For a while. A month or two. Oh, I don't like it either. I'll miss you."

And she could see that he would.

"Don't worry. Everything'll work out. I won't let you go."

"Really?"