Roadside Crosses

We're close. We're really close.

But Tammy backed away. "No."

Dance did too. "Have you had any problems with people in your family?" This was a possibility. She'd checked. Her parents were divorced-after a tough courtroom battle-and her older brother lived away from home. An uncle had a domestic abuse charge.

But Tammy's eyes made it clear that relatives probably weren't behind the attack.

Dance continued to fish. "You have any trouble with anybody you've been e-mailing? Maybe somebody you know online, through Facebook or MySpace? That happens a lot nowadays."

"No, really. I'm not online that much." She was flicking fingernail against fingernail, the equivalent of wringing hands.

"I'm sorry to push, Tammy. It's just so important to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Then Dance saw something that struck her like a slap. In the girl's eyes was a recognition response-a faint lifting of the brows and lids. It meant that Tammy was afraid that this would happen again-but, since she'd have her police guard, the implication was that the attacker was a threat to others too.

The girl swallowed. She was clearly in the denial phase of stress reaction, which meant she was hunkered down, defenses raised high.

"It was somebody I didn't know. I swear to God."

A deception flag: "I swear." The deity reference too. It was as if she were shouting, I'm lying! I want to tell the truth but I'm afraid.

Dance said, "Okay, Tammy. I believe you."

"Look, I'm really, really tired. I think maybe I don't want to say anything else until my mom gets here."

Dance smiled. "Of course, Tammy." She rose and handed the girl one of her business cards. "If you could think about it a bit more and let us know anything that occurs to you."

"I'm sorry I'm, like, not all that helpful." Eyes down. Contrite. Dance could see that the girl had used pouting and insincere self-deprecation in the past. The technique, mixed with a bit of flirt, would work with boys and her father; women wouldn't let her get away with it.

Still, Dance played to her. "No, no, you've been very helpful. Gosh, honey, look at all you've been through. Get some rest. And put on some sitcoms." A nod at the TV. "They're good for the soul."

Walking out the door, Dance reflected: another few hours and she might have gotten the girl to tell the truth, though she wasn't sure; Tammy was clearly terrified. Besides, however talented the interrogator, sometimes subjects simply would not tell what they knew.

Not that it mattered. Kathryn Dance believed she'd learned all the information she needed.

A to B to X…

Chapter 6

In the lobby of the hospital Dance used a pay phone-no mobiles allowed-and called in a deputy to guard Tammy Foster's room. She then went to reception and had her mother paged.

Three minutes later Edie Dance surprised her daughter by approaching not from her station at Cardiac Care but from the intensive care wing.

"Hi, Mom."

"Katie," said the stocky woman with short gray hair and round glasses. Around her neck was an abalone and jade pendant that she'd made herself. "I heard about the attack-that girl in the car. She's upstairs."

"I know. I just interviewed her."

"She'll be okay, I think. That's the word. How did your meeting go this morning?"

Dance grimaced. "A setback, it looks like. The defense is trying to get the case dismissed on immunity."

"Doesn't surprise me" was the cold response. Edie Dance was never hesitant to state her opinions. She had met the suspect, and when she learned what he'd done, she'd grown furious-an emotion evident to Dance in the woman's calm visage and faint smile. Never raising her voice. But eyes of steel.

If looks could kill, Dance remembered thinking about her mother when she was young.

"But Ernie Seybold's a bulldog."

"How's Michael?" Edie Dance had always liked O'Neil.

"Fine. We're ru

"No, Katie! Leaving a cross before somebody dies? As a message?"

Dance nodded. But she noted that her mother's attention continued to be drawn outside. Her face was troubled.

"You'd think they'd have more important things to do. That reverend gave a speech the other day. Fire and brimstone. And the hatred in their faces. It's vile."

"Have you seen Juan's parents?"

Edie Dance had spent some time comforting the burned officer's family, his mother in particular. She had known that Juan Millar probably wouldn't survive, but she'd done everything she could to make the shocked and bewildered couple understand that he was getting the best care possible. Edie had told her daughter that the woman's emotional pain was as great as her son's physical agony.

"No, they haven't been back. Julio has. He was here this morning."

"He was? Why?"

"Maybe collecting his brother's personal effects. I don't know…" Her voice faded. "He was just staring at the room where Juan died."

"Has there been an inquiry?"

"Our board of ethics was looking into it. And a few policemen have been here. Some county deputies. But when they look at the report-and see the pictures of his injuries-nobody's actually that upset that he died. It really was merciful."

"Did Julio say anything to you when he was here today?"

"No, he didn't talk to anybody. You ask me, he's a bit scary. And I couldn't help but remember what he did to you."

"He was temporarily insane," Dance said.

"Well, that's no excuse for attacking my daughter," Edie said with a staunch smile. Then her eyes slipped out the glass doors and examined the protesters once more. A dark look. She said, "I better get back to my station."

"If it's okay, could Dad bring Wes and Maggie over here later? He's got a meeting at the aquarium. I'll pick them up."

"Of course, honey. I'll park 'em in the kids' play area."

Edie Dance headed off once more, glancing outside. Her visage was angry and troubled. It seemed to say: You've got no business being here, disrupting our work.

Dance left the hospital with a glance toward Reverend R. Samuel Fisk and his bodyguard or whoever the big man was. They'd joined several other protesters, clasped hands and lowered their heads in prayer.

"TAMMY'S COMPUTER," DANCE said to Michael O'Neil.

He lifted an eyebrow.

"It's got the answer. Well, maybe not the answer. But an answer. To who attacked her."

They were sipping coffee as they sat outside at Whole Foods in Del Monte Center, an outdoor plaza anchored by Macy's. She once calculated that she'd bought at least fifty pairs of shoes here-footwear, her tranquilizer. In fairness, though, that otherwise embarrassing number of purchases had taken place over a few years. Often, but not always, on sale.

"Online stalker?" O'Neil asked. The food they ate wasn't poached eggs with delicate hollandaise sauce and parsley garnish, but a shared raisin bagel with low-fat cream cheese in a little foil envelope.

"Maybe. Or a former boyfriend who threatened her, or somebody she met on a social networking site. But I'm sure she knows his identity, if not him personally. I'm leaning toward somebody from her school. Stevenson."

"She wouldn't say, though?"

"Nope, claimed it was a Latino gangbanger."

O'Neil laughed. A lot of fake insurance claims started with, "A Hispanic in a mask broke into my jewelry store." Or "Two African-Americans wearing masks pulled guns and stole my Rolex."

"No description, but I think he was wearing a sweatshirt, a hoodie. She gave a different negation response when I mentioned that."

"Her computer," O'Neil mused, hefting his heavy briefcase onto the table and opening it. He consulted a printout. "The good news: We've got it in evidence. A laptop. It was in the backseat of her car."