Page 43 of Girl, Reborn

‘Tucker? It's Ella. Listen up, we've got alead.’ She yanked open the driver's side door. ‘I need everything you can digup on a Lawrence Holbrook. Environmental activist, vocal opponent of the damproject. And put out an APB on his vehicle while you're at it.’

She listened for a moment as Tuckermentioned something about jurisdiction. Then she said, ‘To hell withjurisdiction. I want to meet this guy for myself.’

She ended the call with a vicious jab ofher thumb as Luca slid into the passenger seat.

‘So,’ he said, eyebrow raised. ‘I'mguessing we're not heading back to the station for coffee and donuts?’

Ella's lips twisted into something thatmight have been a smile on a less grim day. ‘Lawrence Holbrook. Environmentalcrusader who opposed this dam. He's got motive coming out of his ears. And thatkind of passion, that level of commitment to a cause? It can make people docrazy things.’

‘People have murdered for less.’

‘Exactly. So we need to find this LawrenceHolbrookguy before the dead in Liberty Grove outnumber the living.’

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Ella pointed the car back towardsLiberty Grove and floored the gas. This was the part of rural Virginia shemissed the most. Rolling hills, zero traffic, empty roads that didn't care ifyou broke the speed limit. Living in D.C. for the past, God knows how long,she'd forgotten the simple joy of covering five miles in five minutes.

But her Formula 1 roleplay was justa distraction from her swirling thoughts. The case, the killer, the goddamn drought.

And lurking beneath it all, like a sharkcircling in dark waters, was the thought of Mia.

She cursed under her breath as sheremembered Rafe Portillo, Mia's dog walker, hadn't called her back. Anotherloose end in a case that was rapidly unraveling like a cheap sweater. She madea mental note to ring him when she got a spare moment, which at this rate wouldbe sometime next century.

Luca cleared his throat, breaking into herbrooding like a wrecking ball through drywall.

‘You know, the more I think about it, themore this guy seems like a vigilante than your garden-variety psycho. He's notkilling for kicks; he's serving up some ice-cold revenge to the folks whoscrewed over Liberty Grove.’

The rookie had a point, much as she hatedto admit it. If she'd watched her hometown shrivel up and blow away while somesuit-and-tie brigade in Bristol got fat off the misery, she might've beentempted to dispense a little frontier justice herself. Hell, part of her – thepart that still longed for a less responsible life in Abingdon – almostunderstood the rage that could drive a man to murder.

But she'd sworn an oath, planted her flagon the side of law and order, and last she checked, it didn't come with asliding scale of acceptable homicide.

‘Murder's murder, Hawkins. Doesn’t matterif you're wearing a green hood or Armani. You kill someone, you pay the price.

Luca shifted in his seat. Uncomfortable.Like he was sitting on tacks. ‘But doesn't motive count for something? Thisguy, he's not killing for kicks. He's trying to right a wrong.’

‘Right a wrong? By creating more wrongs?’

‘I'm just saying, maybe it's not as blackand white as we think. These guys he killed, they weren't innocents. Theydestroyed lives. Whole communities.’

‘Where do we draw the line, huh? Who getsto decide which crimes deserve death? You? Me? Some eco-warrior with a grudge?’

Luca fell silent. Finally, he spoke. Soft.Thoughtful. ‘But still, doesn't it make you angry? What they did to LibertyGrove?’

‘Of course it does. This is my home. Theseare my people. But anger doesn't justify murder. Never has and never will. It’swhat separates us from the animals.’

‘What a minefield,’ Luca said.

‘Someone once told me that bulletssolve problems but create new ones. If you let every injustice in this job eatat you, you’ll have ulcers the size of Texas.’

Luca turned the air con up to themax then said, ‘Sorry for dipping into morality and ethics. I was justcurious.’

‘Those topics are best avoided.’

Just as Luca opened his mouth to speakagain, Ella's phone erupted in a violent buzz in the cup holder.

‘Let me,’ Luca said. He manhandled Ella’sphone, answered the call and turned it to loudspeaker. ‘Hawkins and Dark.’

‘We got him.’ Tucker's voice crackledthrough the speaker, triumph evident even through the static that made himsound like he was calling from the bottom of a well.

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