Page 61 of So Wicked

“Yep,” Tabitha said curtly, taking another puff on her cigarette. “There it is. You’ll notice I’m still here and not in Philadelphia.”

"Yes, ma'am. I assume you knew that I was going to disregard your instructions."

“I knew. I was going to catch you in the act and have you suspended indefinitely without pay until I could have you dismissed. Obviously, that didn’t work out. Technically, I could still do that since you worked while suspended due to a failed psych exam, but that would be bad press, and the FBI sorely needs good press right now.”

“In other words, ma’am, you got what you wanted, and I got what I wanted. We prevented further murders, and the world isn’t demanding to burn the FBI to the ground. Funny how that works.”

“As I said, well done. And I suppose you’ve earned your little bit of sarcasm. Now here’s the risk you’ve taken.”

She took another puff and said, “Are you sure you don’t want a cigarette? I have a feeling you’ll need one when you hear what I have to say.”

“I’m all right, thank you, ma’am.”

Tabitha shrugged. “All right. Because you ignored my instructions, Franklin West might go free.”

Faith’s jaw went slack as a wave of dizziness washed over her. “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

“You investigated a case after failing a psychological evaluation. Retroactive to your discovery of Dr. Patel’s body, youofficiallyinvestigated a case after failing a psychological evaluation. I realize that court isn’t your thing, but I’m sure you’re aware of how damaging such a breach of protocol can be to a prosecution.”

Faith’s mind scrambled for purchase. “But… that’s okay. It’s okay. Meredith Sawyer isn’t evil, she’s unwell. She’ll be in a mental institution regardless. And this has nothing to do with West.”

“At least until his defense attorneys catch wind of it and call into question your handling of his case and by extension the entire FBI’s.”

“I was cleared for duty at the time.”

“But you werenotcleared to investigate West’s case. You weren’t, for example, cleared to track him down twice, by yourself, and attempt to arrest him without backup and without telling the FBI where he was. You weren’t cleared to break into Jared Greenwood’s house and assault him. And then there’s that little issue with your K9 attacking a foreign citizen in a subway.”

Turk growled softly, but Tabitha didn’t react. “The point of everything I’m saying, Special Agent, is that it would beveryeasy to paint you as violent and unstable and claim—no,prove—that your handling of the West case was severely unethical. And when that happens, the defense is going to move to have the case dismissed.”

“But they can’t do that!”

"Oh yes, they can. I seem to recall a very famous case of murder where a certain football star was acquitted of a crime everyone knew he committed because the police mishandled evidence. I can't imagine that being an FBI agent will absolve you of your own personal responsibility."

Faith’s legs felt weak. “But… you can’t do that. You can’t tell them I failed my psych. Youcan’tput West back on the street.”

“I won’t. I don’t want that psychopath on the street any more than you do. So here’s what happened. We threw your psych eval out. We shredded all the documents, wiped all of the emails and called Dr. Perth to let her know to purge everything on her end.”

“Did she?”

"She says she did. But she was very angry. She said"— Tabitha pulled out a piece of paper and read—"'two wrongs make a right this one time, but I am extremely disappointed in the Bureau for ignoring my recommendation. Special Agent Bold's recovery has been set back by possibly years, and the danger she poses working in her current state of mind is unconscionable. Were it any killer other than Franklin West, Iwould immediately report this action. But I grudgingly admit that he is even more dangerous than she. I resign as Bold's therapist immediately and strongly urge you to remove her from duty at once—and I'm doing that, by the way—' or she will present a very real danger to the innocent people around her.'"

A knife twisted in Faith’s gut. She didn’t believe that Dr. Perth was her friend, but she thought the doctor respected her more than that. To suggest that she was dangerous to others… that West was only just worse than she was… that was wrong. For Heaven’s sake, she was sad about the Boss’s death, she wasn’t a crazed psychopath.

“To be clear,” Tabitha continued. “The FBI’s position is that you should be kept on administrative leave and eventually brought back into the fold as a field agent. Like I told you before, youarea damned good detective. Possibly the best since Elliot Ness and possibly even better. But youhaveto learn to follow the rules. Very, very bad things happen when you don’t. I don’t know how to make this any clearer.”

She took another puff. “We think we put a lid on this before it got out of hand. We don’t think anyone knows that you failed your psych. Against all odds, it actually looks like we’re going to get away with this.” She met Faith’s eyes. “But please, for the sake of everyone, get yourself under control.”

She dropped her cigarette on the ground and crushed it with her heel, then stooped to pick it up and toss it in the trash can nearby. “They really need to bring back ashtrays in front of buildings.” She gave Faith one more look. “Walk the line, Special Agent. You’ve absolutely run out of room to do anything else.”

So saying, she left, her heels scraping rather than clacking over the icy ground. Faith stayed with Turk until her heartbeat calmed. Then she took a deep breath and rejoined the others. She managed to put a smile on her face and share in the celebration, but in the back of her mind, she could see West’scontemptuous leer and hear him promise as he had so many times before.

I will break you.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

“Where are you gonna go?” Jacob asked.

Faith zipped her suitcase and said, “I called my cousin in Missouri. He’s got a guest house I can stay in for a while.”

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