Page 57 of So Wicked

“Hate what? Oh myGod!”

Faith twisted the wheel and feathered the brakes, drifting down the ramp. Snow and dust plumed behind the cruiser as she spun the tires, using the centrifugal force of the drift to propel them forward when they exited the ramp.

The Hospice facility was three miles up the road. Even driving at this pace, it would take five minutes to cover that distance. She wasn’t comfortable driving faster than this.

Slade wasn’t comfortable either. His eyes were closed, and his hands trembled as he gripped the handle and mouthed words that Faith guessed were prayers. It was a good thing she had chosen to drive. He wouldn’t be brave enough to do it himself.

The minutes passed with aching slowness. Faith watched the road drift lazily by and wished to hell this was summer when she could have burnt rubber and reached the hospital in no time. When she finally pulled into the parking lot, she didn’t bother trying to park in a space or on a curb. She just let the cruiser stop where it wanted to and set the brake.

She switched on the lights, and the three of them got out of the car and rushed into the hospital. Turk began to bark immediately when the door opened. He jetted ahead, Faith and Slade close behind, weapons drawn.

“Dr. Carpenter!” Faith shouted. “Amanda Carpenter!”

She heard a cry from the room ahead just before Turk burst through the door. The two human investigators sprinted forward.

Faith entered the room to see Turk standing in front of a terrified looking woman in a white lab coat. A pint of ice cream and a bottle of white wine sat on an end table next to a sofa. A fifty-inch television hanging from the wall was playing a movie about a woman who left her husband for a childhood sweetheart.

“What the hell?” the woman cried out. “What is going on?”

Turk whined and looked around, dipping his head from side to side. He fixed on the doctor and barked in alarm.

A hand shot out from behind Carpenter, seemingly out of nowhere. Faith shouted for Carpenter to move, but she knew it was too late. She was about to watch Carpenter die right in front of her.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Then Turk hit Dr. Carpenter, planting all four paws on her chest and sending her sprawling to the ground. The needle passed harmlessly over her head and only a fraction of an inch over Turk’s nose.

The figure revealed when Dr. Carpenter was kicked out of the way stared at the investigators in shock. Faith’s eyes widened. The killer was a woman!

Slade recovered from the shock—if he had felt any shock at all—first. “Drop the syringe! Drop it now!”

He aimed his weapon at the woman and approached slowly. The killer was about five-foot-seven and a sturdy one hundred forty pounds or so. She looked to be in her early forties and had a few stray grays in her nutbrown hair.

Her eyes were wild, and her lips moved soundlessly as she muttered something under her breath. More importantly, she kept the syringe raised.

“Oh my God!” Dr. Carpenter shrieked. “Oh, God!”

She crawled backwards on her hands and knees, putting distance between herself and the killer. Turk bunched his shoulders, ready to pounce, but Faith called him off. “Turk! No! Go to the vet! Protect, Turk!”

Turk obediently ran to his place in front of Dr. Carpenter and turned around, teeth bared, ready to give his life to protect her if necessary. The killer’s eyes flicked toward the two of them, and Faith quickly ran to put herself in between them.

“Drop the syringe,” Faith said. “It’s over.”

“We know you’re trying to help,” Slade said, stopping well out of range of the syringe, “but it’s over now.”

The killer paused. Her lips stilled. She blinked, then smiled and said, “Hello. I’m Meredith Sawyer.”

Her voice was pleasant and soft. She looked at Slade and said, “You must be Officer Slade. Or no, you’re not wearing a uniform. Detective Slade, then.”

“I am.” Slade frowned. “Do you know me?”

“No. But you know me because you’re a detective. You detect. You detected that I was here. Good job. You’re a good detective. That must be why the police made you a detective.”

She inflected her words with an almost childlike innocence. Maybe they could reason with her, and this situation could end without anyone else getting hurt.

“I’m Special Agent Faith Bold,” Faith called.

The killer turned to her. “Faith Bold. Two good character traits. Faith in God. Boldness to do what is right. This is right. Rescuing people is right. Saving people is right.”

---