Page 25 of So Wicked

“Special Agent Faith Bold,” Faith said, taking a seat in front of him. “Now you know me. That means you’ll tell me the truth now, right?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Jack insisted. “Damn it, I was just in my own home filling out an application for another service dog.I don’twantto replace Shooter, but…” He tried to run his hands through his hair, but the shackles prevented him. “I can’t do this alone. The nightmares…”

He shivered. Faith felt a touch of sympathy for him. She suffered from nightmares herself. Oddly enough, none of her nightmares were about her combat experience, but she understood how difficult it was for many warfighters. Those memories lingered.

Still, that wasn’t an excuse to murder a vet, even if shehadmade a grave mistake like Dr. Patel. “I’ll be honest with you, Jack. You’re going to be honest with me, so I’ll return the favor. We’re investigating you for the murders of Dr. Rachel Summers and Dr. Lisa Patel.”

Jack started. “Patel’s dead?”

“Yes. She was killed last night.”

Jack tried to pump his fist but was once more prevented by the shackles. “Yes! Fuck that bitch!”

Faith and Slade shared a look. “Real broken up about the vicious murder of an innocent person, huh,” Slade commented.

“Oh, go to Hell. She wasn’t innocent. She killed my dog.”

“Yes, we heard there was an unfortunate incident when your previous therapy dog was in surgery,” Faith said.

“His name was Shooter, and he was my best friend. Myonlyfriend.”

He looked at Turk and smiled wistfully. Turk cocked his head at the odd expression. Most people he’d bitten didn’t look at him like that. “He a good dog?” Jack asked Faith.

“He is. A great dog.”

Jack nodded. “Then you know. You know what you’d want for anyone who hurt him.”

“Yes,” Faith agreed. “I would. And as long as we’re being honest with each other, I’ll admit that I wouldn’t mind doing it myself if I had to.”

“I see where you’re going with that,” Jack said, “but I didn’t kill anyone.”

"We'll see about that," Slade said. "See, the thing that makes it hard for me is that you were trespassed from the business after two violent encounters with security. During those encounters, you made criminal threats to Dr. Lisa Patel. Then you came back anyway and made threatening comments to Dr. Patel again. I looked up your records. You were arrested and ordered to complete a diversion program, or you would be sentenced for those charges. Did you complete that program?"

Jack’s shoulders slumped. “No.”

"I'm so glad you answered that honestly," Slade replied. "Because I already knew you didn't. That's good because that makes me want to trust you. Trustmewhen I say it’s a good thing if I trust you.”

Jack sniffed but didn’t reply otherwise.

“What exactly were the threats you made, Jack?” Faith asked.

Jack paled slightly. “Just… you know, ordinary stuff.”

“Threatening to kill someone isn’t ordinary,” Faith replied. “Are you telling me you didn’t threaten to kill her?”

He sighed. “Yes, I did, but… I didn’t mean it.”

“Really? If I was face to face with the person who killed my dog, I’d mean it when I said I wanted to kill them.”

In fact, Faith had seen Turk hurt before. Dr. West had hurt Turk and once nearly killed him. Had Faith not already been incapacitated, she would absolutely have killed West.

“Yeah, Iwantedto kill her, but I wouldn’t have done it,” Jack insisted.

“That’s a bit of a thin excuse for us, Jack,” Faith said softly.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” he said glumly. “I didn’t kill her.”

“You still haven’t told us exactly what you said to her,” Slade pressed.

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