Page 26 of So Savage

Faith’s heartbeat quickened slightly.“Okay.Say goodbye, Turk.”

Turk barked goodbye, then trotted back to the window.Faith turned off the speaker and brought the phone to her ear.“Do you have news on the Messenger?”she asked quietly.

Michael sighed.“No.The lead turned out to be a dead end.”

Faith’s shoulders slumped.“Got it.Not a killer, just a freak, huh?”

"Pretty much.She told me her marriage was boring, so she fantasized about West dominating her."

“Okay, I don’t need the details,” Faith said.“But you’re sure she’s not our killer?”

“I’m sure.We confirmed her alibi for the Boss’s death.I suppose we could look for alibis for the other murders, but there’s no doubt this is a dead end.If she didn’t kill the Boss, then she’s not the messenger.”

Faith slumped further.“Yeah, you’re right.Crap.I really thought you had something.”

"I thought so, too.Now we're back to square one.All of that for nothing."

Faith sighed.Then she cocked her head.“It might not be nothing.I think you actually might be onto something.”

“I mean… I’m willing to hear you out, but I can’t think of where else to look right now.I guess we could do a general survey of the population, but I don’t see many people honestly answering the question, ‘Do you admire Franklin West enough to brutally kill multiple people to torment the FBI agent he hates the most?’.”

“No, but there might be another way to reach the general public and draw our specific baddie out into the open.”

“Oh?And how do you propose to do that?”

“We publish the letters.”

Michael was silent for a long moment.“Uh, if we do that, it’ll get a lot of people in a lot of trouble.Specifically me.”

“Not if we do it the right way.”

Faith got to her feet and began pacing.The gears in her head were whirring as she thought of a plan to lure the Messenger into the open.

“And what’s the right way?”Michael asked.

“You come clean with everyone.You tell Desrouleaux that you talked to West.When he starts flying off of the handle, you show him the evidence you found.You also call your warden friend and tell him that you’re going to publish the letters.”

“That’s another sticking point with me,” Michael said.“I promised him that I wouldn’t expose him.I know it wasn’t a legal promise, but I did give my word, and if we start breaking our promises to CIs, then we make a lot of things harder for ourselves and the Bureau.”

“You won’t have to expose him.Your guy's story will be that he came across the letters and learned that West was having a clandestine conversation with this woman.”

“Who we can’t name.”

“Who you won’t need to name.The Warden did the right thing and brought it to the attention of the FBI who chose to publish it to alert the public to the fact that there is an admirer of West out there who’s willing to kill to get his attention.”

“Yes, but they’re killing to getyourattention.”

“I know that, but this will do two things for us.First, it will make West look even worse, which will be really nice going into this trial.Second, when the Messenger learns that there are other admirers competing for West’s attention, he or she might make a mistake and reveal themselves.”

“Yes, by trying to kill you.”

“Let them try,” Faith said grimly.“I beat West when he tried to kill me.Let’s see if they can do better.”

“Yeah, I really hate that idea.But… it has its merits.I’ll talk to Desrouleaux.If we can get it out there, then maybe we’ll get lucky.In the meantime, please be careful and don’t try to go cowboy.We don’t want you to use yourself as bait.”

“The good news is that I’m halfway across the country.I can’t be bait, but the idea of me can.”

Michael chuckled.“Well, keep yourself and your ideas safe.I’ll get the ball rolling and let you know if anything comes out of the woodwork.”

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