Page 15 of Girl, Empty
‘Sir, I can’t do that.I’d be leaving the prison in handcuffs.’
Edis lowered his voice.‘Let’s say Creed saw you, remembered you, suddenly got violent.One bullet later and no more of your friends will die.And believe me, nobody is going to bat an eyelid if a notorious killer dies in prison, and there isn’t a judge in the world that would convict you.Like I said, I’ve got your back.’
The prospect of looming retirement must have impaired Edis’s cognitive function, because never in a million years would she have expected something like this from the director.‘Sir, I appreciate this, but are you sure you’re-’
‘Yes Miss Dark, I’m thinking straight.I know this seems out of left field, but I’ve always prided myself on learning from the past.About 30 years ago, back when I was with Chicago PD, there was a girl.An informant.Her security got sloppy, and a predator we were circling found her first.We had the chance to stop him before that, but didn’t act on it.I had a chance to bend the rules to protect her, and I didn’t, so I vowed that day that if I ever got the chance to behead the snake again, I would.’
Ella stared at the paper on the liquor cabinet.One signature.One conversation with Austin Creed.One moment of violence to potentially end it all, because while they might not have caught the parasite, they could still kill the host.
One murder to prevent a dozen more.
She’d been gifted a death warrant.
And a part of her wanted to use it.
CHAPTER SIX
If you didn’t count the businessman who’d passed out the moment he’d sat down, which Ella didn’t, she and Ripley had the business class section to themselves.
Now about thirty-thousand feet above D.C.– or probably Pennsylvania now – Ella pressed her forehead to the window and watched the clouds roll by.An old tutor had once told her that you could see your subconscious manifestations in clouds, like a Rorschach test in the sky.She remembered thinking that it was pretentious garbage back then, and looking out at the shapeless white balls now, still did.
‘Earth to Dark,’ Ripley kicked her across the aisle.‘Are you alive?’
Ella snapped back to reality.‘Yeah.’
‘What’s on your mind?’
‘I was just thinking about… clouds.Weird, aren’t they?’
‘It’s where we keep the rain.Now tell me what’s really on your mind.Did Edis poison you back there?’
‘No.He just…’ Ella trailed off.Edis had told her not to mention it to anyone, even Ripley.Given the lengths Edis had gone for her, the least she could do was oblige him.But then again, she’d lied to Ripley before and it didn’t turn out well.‘He asked me not to tell anyone.’
‘Well, why don’t you just show me whatever’s in your pocket?You can tell Edis I found it myself.’
‘What?’Ella patted herself down.‘How did you…?’
‘Ever since I whacked that broad with a shovel back in Florida, my skills have been sharper than ever.You’ve been caressing your pocket with your palm since we sat down.’Ripley mimed the action on her own jacket.‘I used to do the same when I kept cigarettes in there.’
Ella should have known better.That was the problem with hanging around the Bureau’s best profiler for a living.You couldn’t keep anything under wraps, no matter how personal.
She decided to just lay it out there.Maybe Ripley could lay out some common sense, because Ella had forgotten what that was like.
‘Here.Look.’She pulled out the paper and slid it across the table.Ripley snatched it up.
‘Shit,’ Ripley said as she scanned the page.‘This is an affidavit to see Creed.’
‘Yup.’
‘Edis gave you this?’
‘Yeah.He hid it in those roses.’
‘Devious bastard.There’s no agent name on this, though.’
‘That’s for me to fill in.Edis wants me to visit Creed and…’
Ripley laughed.‘Don’t tell me.The old get-into-a-fight, shoot-him-in-self-defense trick, right?’
