Page 43 of So Dark

“You don’t feel that this is an opportunity for transparency in the most sensational legal case in the nation’s history?”

She sighed again. “Have a nice day.”

She hung up and pressed her palms to her eyes with a groan. “Seriously? They’re going to start harassing me about West again?”

“Did they stop?”

She slumped. “No. I just usually let the calls go to voicemail and block the number.”

“Well, now you have another number to block.”

Her phone buzzed again. Another number she didn’t recognize. She decided to let this one go to voicemail, but no sooner had this call finished than another followed. And another. And another.

“What the hell is going on? Is today bug Faith day?”

“I guess they just made the announcement,” Michael said, looking up the story on his phone. “They’re ready to begin the trial portion of his case, and they were deliberating over whether it would be a public or a private trial. I guess West’s lawyers wanted a private one, but the state successfully lobbied for a public one.”

“Well, whoop-de-god-damned-do,” Faith snapped. “Lovely. Now I’m going to be storynumero unoonce again.”

Michael shifted in his seat. “Yeah, there’s something else.”

Her phone buzzed. With a huff, she declined the call, then shut her phone off.

“Faith…”

“Yes, what is it?” she said curtly.

“The other murders. The electronics store clerk and your neighbor. People are starting to talk about how there’s a new killer calling you out. That’s right up there with West’s case. Your name is in the news again. It looks like they tried to call the Boss, and he also declined comment.”

Faith imagined the Boss's phone ringing uncontrollably like hers was. She imagined him sitting at his desk, staring out the window of his office and thinking to himself that it was time for Faith to rest on her laurels. She'd done good work, but now she was bringing bad press to the Bureau.

“Damn it!” she swore. “He’s doing it!”

“Who is? Doing what?”

“Breaking me. West is breaking me. He said he would, and now he’s doing it. Just by being on trial, he’s putting my name out there and ruining my career. It’s bullshit!”

“Relax,” Michael said firmly. “West isn’t doing shit. He’s grabbing at every last ounce of attention he can have before he gets put in a concrete box and the world forgets about him.”

“Yeah, and in the process, he’s turning me into a liability. He might not have driven me insane, but he’s taking me off the battlefield. He can’t kill anyone, and I can’t save anyone. The little prick!”

“Faith! Enough!”

Faith pressed her lips together and looked out the window. Her shoulders were bunched up by her ears, and her mouth was curled into a frown. Michael didn’t say anything for a while. It hit Faith that her little outburst came right before the tantrum she’d just thrown about being an unwilling media darling. She lowered her eyes and said, “I’m sorry,” in a voice barely above a whisper.

“Don’t be sorry,” Michael replied. “Let’s just focus on this case, yeah? Then we can deal with… everything else… later.”

Her shoulders slumped. She knew that everything else included more than just the attention she was receiving in the media. Damn it, why did she have to open her big fat mouth?

“Yeah,” she replied. “Good idea.”

Turk whined softly, and Faith scratched him behind the ears. “I’m all right, boy. Just… a lot on my mind.”

They sat quietly for a moment. Then Michael said. “I’m going to run to the general store for some dinner. You want anything?”

“Whatever you want.”

“All right.”

---