Page 11 of So Insane

“When that doesn’t work, he’ll grow more flagrant. A lot of people are going to start dying, Boss. A lot faster and very badly.”

The Boss sighed and slumped back in his chair. “Jesus H. Christ the Third,” he said, chuckling bitterly. “You two are just the perfect couple, aren’t you?”

Once more, his words wounded Faith, but she was used to being wounded by now and barely even flinched. “He seems to think so. Boss, I acknowledge that my actions were wrong and that much of this situation we find ourselves in is my doing. But a lot of it isn't. A lot of it has to do with West's obsession with beating the agent that Trammell couldn't beat."

“So why isn’t he going after Prince? Prince killed Trammell, who, sorry to remind you, had pretty badly beaten you when you went after him.”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Maybe it’s because I found Trammell, so he sees me as more of a challenge than Michael.” The Boss’s lips curled up in disgust, and she said, “I’m not being arrogant, Boss, I’m just offering my opinion as a detective.”

“Next, you’re going to tell me that he’s attracted to you,” the Boss said.

“No,” she replied. “He’s not. I don’t think he’s sexually attracted to anyone. I think it’s as simple as he said it is. He just wants to prove he can break me mentally and emotionally.”

“So wouldn’t that mean he’ll retire? You leave field work and go fly a desk in Quantico, he rests on his laurels and until we break his door down—and we will find him eventually—he grins at your picture and thinks ‘what a good boy I am for breaking agent superstar.’ Sorry to be an asshole, Bold, but that sounds like a fair trade to me.”

“That’s not what he’ll do,” she said, “He doesn't want to win. He wants to play the game. Oh, he wants to win eventually, but not yet. He wants me to suffer more first. That's why he didn't stop the first time I walked away."

The Boss frowned. Faith could tell that he saw her point and hated that he did.

“That’s why he killed Gordon,” she said, the realization dawning on her. “That’s why he left me that note. He was angry at me for walking away from the case, and he made it personal so that I would have to keep hunting him. Boss, it’s all about me. It always has been.”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised to hear you say that,” he replied.

The insult was half-hearted this time, and Faith knew that the Boss was close to giving in. He was seeing things from her side, possibly for the first time.

She pressed her advantage. “You need me on this case because you need him to know that I haven’t given up. You need him to know that I’m still fighting, or he’ll come out of hiding in the worst way possible just to get my attention.”

He averted his eyes and frowned as he considered her words. She continued to press. “If you transfer me, I have to protest it through every channel I can, if for no reason other than to delay the day when West learns that I’m out of his life and decides to end other lives until I come back in. Please. Don’t do this.”

A third long silence settled over them. It ended when the Boss leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “I don’t know what’s worse, Bold. The thought that you might care so little about your colleagues that you’d use them as bargaining chips in a bid to save your own career or the thought that you intrigue a serial killer so much you have to have a career just to keep him from murdering people. All right. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to release a statement welcoming you back to the department and explaining briefly that you returned from a leave after nearly apprehending the Copycat Killer. That should keep your name in his mind for now. You, however, are going to be nowhere near that case. You are going to be in this office filing paperwork and restocking office supplies.”

Turk barked in protest, and Faith interrupted. "Boss, I need to be in the field. Please. I can't be cooped up anymore. Even if you don't want me looking for West, put me on something. Anything.”

“So you can be out of my sight and free to hunt West again?”

“Michael can keep an eye on me.”

“Michael doesn’t want anything to do with you.”

Those words bit straight through Faith’s emotional defenses. She leaned back in her chair, shoulders slumping, jaw going slack. He had assured her that he would only get a new partner while she was on leave. It occurred to her now that he was hoping that her leave wouldn’t end, that his temporary partner could be his permanent one.

“He asked for a new partner?” she asked tonelessly.

“He assumed he would be getting one,” the Boss said. “At the time, I assumed the same thing. So I asked him how he felt about it. I won’t tell you exactly what he said. That’s his business. I will tell you that if you want any chance at all at being in the field, you need to convince Prince to come with you. Otherwise, I will chain you to a damned desk personally and bolt that desk to the foundation of this building. Clear?”

Faith managed a soft, “clear.”

“Good. Now get out of my office.”

Faith felt numb. She stood and saluted the Boss, a gesture he didn’t return, and left the office. She made it outside and slumped onto a bench. Turk sat next to her and rested his head on her lap.

She looked down at him, expecting his usual sympathetic gaze. What she got instead was a look of pure steel. Turk barked firmly, not a comforting bark but a bark that said feel sorry for yourself later. We have a job to do.

She smiled down at him. “I love you, Turk. You know that?”

CHAPTER FIVE

Michael felt good. The morning felt peaceful and effortless. It felt comfortable sitting at the kitchen table with Ellie. She had made French toast with butter and cinnamon and served it with clotted cream, something that looked and tasted to Michael like a cross between buttermilk and sour cream but that somehow complemented the toast perfectly. The short robe she wore hugged her curves in all the right ways, and she blushed as she caught his gaze. The sun streamed in from the window, casting a warm light across her face, and he smiled, remembering the night before.

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