Page 45 of So Bleak

“And that’s terrible, but I’m not going to kill someone because they slighted my employer.” He gestured to the wine he had set on the counter. “Come on. Do you really think I care enough about Paul Revere Vineyards to kill someone over them?”

Faith shrugged. “Not a bad point. But not enough to—”

“Shit!”

Faith snapped her eyes to Michael. Turk leapt to attention, looking back and forth between Alex and Michael.

“What is it?” Faith asked. “What’s wrong.”

Michael sighed and rubbed his temples. “Okay. We’re on our way.”

Faith’s heart sank. “Damn it.”

“What is it?” Alex asked hopefully. “Is something wrong?”

Michael glared at him. “You’re damned lucky that we have more important things to worry about than a common thief right now. Put those bottles back where they belong. And shape up. You’re what, forty years old?”

“Forty-one,” Alex replied softly.

“Yeah. Come on. Be an adult for Christ’s sake.”

He stormed toward the elevator, and Faith and Turk followed him. Faith waited until the elevator doors closed before asking, "Another victim?"

“Yeah. Steakhouse near Chestnut Hill.”

Faith’s heart dropped. “When?”

“Last night. I want to give them hell about not telling us until now, but I figured we can save that for when we arrive.”

Faith could only manage a nod. Less than two hours ago, the Boss had told her to solve this case before anyone else died, but it was already too late by the time they talked. Their killer had struck and left his victim behind and possibly Faith’s career with it.

Turk whined, and Faith reached down to pat his head. "It's okay, boy. We'll get him. You just wait."

If only she could feel as confident as she pretended to be.

CHAPTER TWENTY

As promised, Michael did indeed give Detective Howard hell when they arrived. The three agents stormed into the Prime Cut Steakhouse and headed directly for the cordoned off area where Howard stood talking to a uniform.

“Why the hell are we just hearing about this now?” he shouted. “It’s been fourteen hours since he died! We should have been on the scene last night!”

Howard said something to the uniform, and the officer nodded and walked away. Then Howard turned to Michael. “The chief wanted to avoid a media circus, so he said not to tell you until we’d cased the scene and gotten the witnesses to sign NDAs. I didn’t expect it to work, to be honest, but the fact that it’s not all over the news says it did, so there’s that.”

“Do we look like the media?” Michael thundered.

Howard lifted his hands placatingly. “Look, this wasn’t my call, okay? It came right from headquarters. It’s…” he shifted his gaze to Faith, and her jaw tightened.

“Because I’m in the media, the city didn’t want the cameras on me?”

“It’s not a credit thing. We don’t care who makes the collar. A psycho out poisoning people in public is a bad look for us too. We just didn’t want this to turn into a zoo if reporters got wind that you were here and showed up asking questions.”

Faith’s frown deepened. She hadn’t considered that before. It hadn’t ever really been an issue in her career. For a little while with West, the media wanted press conferences and interviews, but after the initial circus following his arrest, things had died down again.

But not anymore. She was a celebrity now. Wherever she went, the media would want to know what she was doing so they could have their analysts pick it apart on national TV.

She could understand why the Bureau wanted her out of the field now. Howard was right. She wouldn’t be able to work if everyone was following her every footstep.

Michael understood it, too. He pressed his lips together and let the argument drop. “Where’s the body?”

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