Part 16 (1/2)

Linda shook her head. ”Ten years and I swear she had a new guy every time I saw her. She broke more hearts than Elvis.”

”Good thing it's a big department,” Cameron added. ”I wonder why she never settled down. Seems like she could have picked her man.”

Hailey glanced at Jamie. She was looking over her shoulder again. Hailey cast a glance into the crowd. No one stood out. Sometimes when she stood in a crowd like this one, Hailey wondered how many of the people around her were criminals? How many had gotten away with it?

Men bellied up to the bar, displaying tatted skin or stupid golf-s.h.i.+rts. Most had a girl-usually younger-at their side. How many men in that room had raped a girl? More than two, she'd bet. Killed? One, maybe. Impossible to say. It would certainly make the job easier if they were branded like cattle.

Hailey considered her own mother, those relations.h.i.+ps that lasted only a week, sometimes just one night. What had made her mother run through men like that? Was that why Hailey couldn't love only one man? She sipped her margarita, let the salt burn her lips. G.o.d, it was complicated.

”Did you have to do the next-of-kin notification?” Linda asked.

Hailey nodded. ”I met her parents. And a brother.” She thought of Camilla and Ali, prayed she never had to hear that news. That they never had to hear it.

”Man, I hope it was a stranger killing,” Jess said.

Jamie shook her head. ”It wasn't.”

Hailey watched her, waited.

Jamie shrugged, ran her finger through the perspiration on her gla.s.s. ”This person had unforced s.e.x with her before she was killed. Not a stranger crime.”

Hailey nodded. ”It was someone she knew.”

”s.h.i.+t,” Jess said.

”You think it was an officer?” Linda asked.

Hailey shrugged. ”It doesn't seem smart to have s.e.x with a woman and then kill her, and the timing suggests that's how it went down. You'd think a cop would be smarter.”

”Unless it was a crime of pa.s.sion,” Cameron suggested.

Hailey nodded. ”And from what we know, he used something from the scene to kill her, so that would fit the crime of pa.s.sion theory. He gets angry, picks something up and smashed in her head.”

”From experience, I'd say it's much easier just to pull a gun and start shooting,” Jamie said, breaking into a rye smile.

The table erupted in laughter.

Jamie shook her head. ”Sorry. Bad form but I couldn't resist.”

Cameron turned to Hailey. ”You caught it, though, eh?”

She nodded. ”Lucky me.”

Jess shuddered. ”d.a.m.n, I hope you close it soon. Murdering a cop takes a s.h.i.+tload of b.a.l.l.s.”

The waitress came by and they ordered, exchanged stories. Jess ordered another beer. Hailey poured herself another half gla.s.s of margarita from a new pitcher. Dinner was arriving when Jamie jumped up from the table, her metal chair sc.r.a.ping across the floor. ”Holy c.r.a.p.”

Hailey turned to see her staring out the window, her expression frozen.

”What?”

Jamie pointed out into the rain.

Hailey followed her gaze, looked back. It wouldn't be the first time dinner had been interrupted by a crime in progress.

Soon, the whole table turned.

”It's Stephanie,” Linda said.

”And Scott Scanlan,” someone added.

”They're dating.”

A dark car was parked on the curb, the door open. Stephanie had one foot out. Scanlan could barely be seen in the shadow of the car.

Hailey saw his face appear as he leaned over to kiss Stephanie. As she moved, Hailey caught sight of something dangling between them.

Jamie bolted for the door, darting between tables. ”Don't you see it?” she shouted back.

”See what?” Adrenaline streamed in Hailey's belly. She jumped up to follow, the others behind her.

She reached the door, saw Scanlan step out of the far side of the car. He came around and opened the door for Stephanie.

Stephanie stepped out.

Hailey caught up. ”Can you see it?” Jamie asked.

”See what?” she returned.

”Scanlan,” Jamie shouted. ”Step to the curb.”

Scanlan didn't hear, or didn't look up.

Jamie called to him again.

A group of people had spilled from the restaurant to watch.

Stephanie stepped forward, tried to interject, but Hailey cut her off with a sharp stare. ”Stay out of this.”

Stephanie retreated, but the crowd continued to surge like a swelling storm. This was getting out of hand.

Scanlan turned toward them.

He stared at Jamie, his face set in the grimace of a scared teenager.

”Step away from the car,” Jamie repeated.