Silent Confessions

Closing his eyes, he counted backward from ten, letting the efficient bustle of the crime-scene investigators wash over him. The gentle whoosh of the vacuum collecting telltale fibers, the click-whir of the camera documenting the room. New York’s finest were on the job. They’d catch the creep.

They had to.

Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and saw his partner, Tyler Donovan, waving him over from the doorway. Jack made his way across the sprawling bedroom, passing the note off on the way to be processed with the rest of the evidence.

“Give me some good news.”

“Dollar beer all week at Martini’s,” Donovan said with a shrug. “That’s about the best I can do. Here, we got nada.”

“Not what I wanted to hear.”

“No kidding. All I can tell you is that they don’t have a clue who’s doing this. But the wife’s pretty shook up.”

“Can’t say I blame her.” Over Donovan’s shoulder, Jack could see Caroline Crawley sitting unnaturally straight on an upholstered bench in the living room. Her husband, anchorman Carson Crawley, stood stone-faced behind her, his hand resting on her shoulder. Both had the shell-shocked expression of the violated. It was a look Jack knew well. That haunted, injured look had marred his cousin Angela’s face many years ago.

With only three months separating them in age and two blocks separating them in distance, he and Angie had been constant companions. At least until the summer of her sixteenth year.

The monster hadn’t even waited until after dark. He’d pulled Angie off her bike right after school as she’d ridden by the local gas station, dragged her into the putrid men’s room, and left her there when he was done with her. The gas station owner had found her hours later, unconscious and battered, her beautiful face disfigured and both arms broken. Her face and arms had healed; the rest of her hadn’t.

Sweet Angie took her own life exactly one year later.

Jack may have joined the force because he was a third-generation cop. But he’d clawed his way up the ranks to detective in the sex crimes division because it was personal.

Yes, Jack knew the expression on Caroline Crawley’s face. Knew it well. And it never failed to spark a rage that wouldn’t dim until the perp was dead or behind bars. Until then, nothing else mattered.

“Crawley’s shipping the kids off to his parents’,” Donovan said, pulling Jack from his memories. “Wants the wife to go, too, but she says no. And they’re gonna have the locks changed and the security system upgraded.” He shook his head. “How the hell did the bastard get in? We’re twenty floors up. This place has more security than Fort Knox.”

“I’m more concerned that he wanted in at all.” Jack fumbled in his jacket pocket for a cigarette, then remembered he’d quit a year ago. “Our Casanova’s turning dangerous.”

“No kidding. But it doesn’t make sense. For three weeks he’s been stuffing their mailbox with nudie postcards and pages ripped out of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Then suddenly he decides it’s time to sneak into her apartment and leave a little present on her pillow? Why now?”

Donovan was right. It didn’t make sense. And the real kick in the pants—the reason Jack had been spending twenty hours a day following dead-end leads—was that they weren’t any closer to finding their perp than they’d been three weeks ago.

He clenched his fist, fighting back rage. Damn it all to hell. What were they missing?

“And why Mrs. Crawley?” Donovan added. “We’ve been over her life with a fine-tooth comb and can’t find one person who’d do this to her.”

“Then we haven’t looked hard enough.”

Donovan opened his mouth as if to argue, but shut it quickly enough. After two years as partners, he’d learned when not to argue. Instead he nodded. “Okay. Maybe. But could be it’s just random. Carson Crawley’s face is all over the six o’clock news. Maybe our guy’s just fixated on the celebrity’s wife. Could be he’s just a weirdo.”

“Great. A celebrity stalker who has no fingerprints and leaves no trace.” Irritated, Jack ran his fingers through his hair and headed through the open front door and into the plush hallway. The scene was under control, and he thought better when he was walking. “What aren’t we seeing?”

“Hell if I know.” Donovan jammed the elevator button with his thumb. “But we’re not gonna figure it out tonight. It’s two in the morning. And I left a very naked, very willing woman in my bed.”

“That explains why you look so tired.” Since his divorce nine months ago, Donovan had pretty much joined the babe-of-the-month club.

“Not tired. Refreshed.” Donovan grinned. “She’s got a sister if you’re interested.”

The elevator opened and they stepped on. “They’ve all got sisters. Does your lady have a name?”

“Mindy, Cindy. Something like that.”

“You’re a sick man, Detective Donovan.”

“Not sick. Robust.”

Jack flashed his bad-cop scowl, the one he usually reserved for interrogation rooms.

“All right, all right,” said Donovan, his hands held up in surrender. “Her name’s Cindy, this is date number four, and she really does have a sister.”

He followed Jack off the elevator, and they stepped outside. Automatically, Jack reached for his tie and loosened the knot at his throat.

Donovan shoved a hand in his pocket, then pulled out a paperclip. “So how about it?” he asked, twisting the clip. “Let’s give her a buzz. Go grab breakfast somewhere.”

“Why would I want to go out with a woman so desperate she’d agree to a date at two in the morning?”

“She’s a nurse. End of shift. Cindy’ll call her, she’ll meet us, we’ll have a little party.”

“No.” Maybe the girl wasn’t a total loser, but no.

“You gotta take a break from the case sometime, man. It’ll still be there in the morning.”

Jack flashed Donovan a withering look. “And that pretty much goes to the heart of the problem.”

“There’s more to life than nailing the bad guys, Jack. You gotta nail some women, too.”

Groaning, Jack rolled his eyes. “You are one sick puppy.”

“Yeah, but at least I’m out there, not holed up behind a desk licking my wounds.”

Jack bristled. “You’re treading on thin ice, Donovan.”

“I’m just worried about you.”

“Nothing to worry about. I’m not licking any wounds. I’m the one who broke it off with Kelly, remember?”

“That’s my point. You broke it off with her so you could focus on your career.”

True enough. Kelly had wanted three things—a ring, Jack’s love and Jack’s time. But the truth was, all he was capable of giving her was the first one. Money could buy a ring. But he couldn’t manufacture love no matter how hard he tried. And he didn’t want to cut back on his job. Not for Kelly. Hell, maybe not for anybody.

“But you’re not a monk, man,” Donovan said, punctuating his point. “And twenty-hour days are going to kill you. You need to get laid.”

“Dr. Donovan’s prescription for success?”

“Shit, yeah.”

“I can find my own women,” Jack said. “I don’t need you pimping for me.”