“But that doesn’t mean-”
“Same MO. Single females in their twenties, both slight of stature, both emotionally troubled and easy to take advantage of, both strangled and stabbed-very unusual-both in the evenings on a city street, no robbery…sound familiar? Both murdered just blocks from your office. Both had your business card on them. Both had your home number and cell in their address books. Both trusted you, Hailey Dean. They’d do whatever you told them, wouldn’t they? They never saw it coming, did they, Hailey…just walking along and the stab in the back. Too much of a coincidence for my taste.”
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be happening. The man was an imbecile. How could she be connected to violence, much less murder…and of her own patients?
“Oh, and nice touch, leaving that little message on Melissa Everett’s answer machine…as if you had no idea where she was when you knew she was lying stiff and cold in an alleyway. But nice touch. You’re a real pro, Dean. A jury’s gonna love that!”
“Kolker, you know this is impossible. Why are you doing this? I can’t believe it… Hayden’s been killed? What happened to her?”
“Don’t ask me. It’s up to headquarters if you get any more information up front. I’m sure your defense lawyer will file discovery and tell you anything you need to know about your patients. For now, that information’s off-limits to you. All you need to know is that they’re dead.” He eyed her as if she were a dangerous snake loose in the office. “Look, cut the crap. I know you lawyer types…anything we tell you, you’ll just use it against us in court. Isn’t that the game you lawyers play?”
Hailey hardly knew where to begin. “What in the hell are you talking about? What are you saying? I cared about Hayden and Melissa. They were both friends to me.”
He continued as if she hadn’t spoken a word.
“You handled serial murders, didn’t you? Never lost a case, did you, Dean? Always a winner, right? Well, you’re not a winner now. You lost this time. We’re on to you.”
Kolker was having a field day. He kept talking, hoping for a reaction, a statement, an outburst, maybe even an admission. Anything he could use against her in court. She knew this. Far in the back of her mind, the wheels started turning. Years and years of courtroom strategy were piercing through the shock.
“I’m actually a little disappointed in you. Should have tweaked the MO. Changed it up just a little bit. Hell, a smart ex-prosecutor like you can afford to be creative once in a while…right? Not make it so easy for us dumb cops to figure out.”
“What are you talking about?”
Kolker went on, unfazed. “But what I don’t get is…is it some sick sex thing for you? Because I just don’t seem to pick up on that particular vibe from you. Or did you just crack?”
“You moron!” She shrieked it. “You’re arresting me while a killer’s out there stalking my patients? You’re wasting time!”
“Hailey, Hailey, Hailey, temper, temper.” Kolker waggled an index finger at her like she’d been a bad schoolgirl.
That was it.
Hailey pulled back and gave Kolker what he asked for. Before he knew it was coming, her right elbow wound back and released with a force neither of them could have predicted, landing a right punch to his left chin. It landed with a loud thwack, slicing up to his nose, too, and blood immediately began gushing down the front of his shirt.
It happened so fast and was so unexpected, Kolker was caught completely off-guard.
Grabbing a bandanna out of his back pocket, he wiped his mouth and nose, furious and embarrassed at the same time over the fact she’d been able to land a hit square to his face. Now he’d be the punch line back at the station for this and he knew it. Maybe he’d just leave it out of his report.
“Oh, the jury’s gonna love this. A temper out of control. Fits right in with my scenario. Want to tell me all about it? I’ll listen. I’ll even make sure they go easy on you downtown. What happened? Get a little too involved in your cases back home, Hailey? Push yourself a little too far? You couldn’t take it anymore…”
She had committed a horrible tactical mistake-she showed anger. She actually punched a cop. She had to rein it in for her own sake. With immense self-control and a throbbing right hand, she now remained perfectly silent, taking in everything she could, gleaning every fact possible before he got wise and clammed up.
“That’s my theory…you cracked and left the law, didn’t you, Hailey Dean? I’ve read about you. We checked up on you, we did our homework on this one, don’t worry about that. You quit prosecuting after that last big-deal serial murder case you won. And now…your patients start dropping like flies, dead…just like them…just like the hookers in Atlanta.”
She lifted her head and looked him square in the face. Surely he couldn’t mean it.
“I mean, come on, these killings are copycat to the max…right down to the four-pronged stab wound. Can’t you come up with another plan?”
Four-pronged stab wound?
She knew there’d been a strangulation-stabbing…but this was the first she knew of a four-pronged wound. Her blood ran cold.
“What I don’t copy is what you get out of it all. No robbery…no previous hatred or animosity with the victims. Do you just want to be in the spotlight again? Somehow swoop in with vital evidence and make yourself the big star all over again? Is that it, Hailey? You know…to look so good, you’re one twisted chick.”
She finally answered.
“Shut up, you stupid son of a bitch. You know this is impossible. What’s the real deal, Kolker? You guys need to make yourselves look good with an arrest instead of admitting the truth…that you don’t have any remote idea who’s committing the murders?”
In the back of her mind she knew it was deadly to “chat” with police when you’re clearly a criminal target. Whatever you said was guaranteed to be misconstrued, but she went on anyway.
“For your information, I didn’t ‘crack.’ I just got sick of it…the bloody crime scenes, the murders, and the double-dealing in the courtroom. The cruelty…that’s what I quit. Don’t you ever think of it yourself, Kolker? What is it…do you like dead bodies?”
He looked pained. She kept going.
“Don’t you ever get tired of defense attorneys who beat the system, Kolker? And the morons who sit on the bench and call themselves judges? The witnesses who lie with a straight face? Ever wake up at night dreaming about the last victim…the last trial…the last investigation? Ever get worn down from just fighting the fight…finishing one case and forty more land on your desk? Or is it you just don’t have the guts to do anything else?”
At last, he rallied. “Save it, Counselor. Don’t fight me on this. I’ll end up taking you in anyway, so you might as well make it easy on yourself and not cause a scene. Remember this, Hailey Dean…I don’t need to figure it out. I don’t need a motive. All I need is a perp, and the perp is you. I’ve got you on motive and opportunity, plus, we’ve got forensics to back it up. I don’t have to untangle the snakes in that little blonde head of yours. I’ll leave that up to your court-appointed psych. Hell, you’ll need one to explain this to a jury. Nice going, Counselor.”
Forensics? How could that be? Forensics…blood, fluid, DNA? Linking her to the murders? Impossible!
Hailey clamped her mouth shut while he cuffed her, knowing at this point that anything she said could and would be held against her in court. Why her? What did they have? But she wasn’t getting any more out of Kolker, not right now, anyway.