Frost and Jess had a complicated relationship, and it had been that way since they met. Jess wasn’t anyone’s idea of drop-dead gorgeous, but she had heat, and Frost felt it. They’d known each other since before he was a cop. Jess Salceda had been the homicide inspector on Katie’s murder. She’d encouraged him to join the force because she saw something in how he looked at the world that she thought the police needed. When he did, she mentored him, sometimes ahead of older cops who didn’t like the special treatment he got. They thought there was something between them, and they weren’t entirely wrong.
Last spring, when Jess was splitting from her husband—a captain in special operations—she and Frost got drunk together and spent all night in bed in an airport motel. The next morning, they woke up to their mistake and swore off it, which lasted a month. Then they found themselves back at the same motel for another one-night stand.
Since then, they’d been sober with each other. Neither one of them wanted a relationship, but like alcoholics, they knew how good a drink could taste.
“I got a call from someone I was hoping I’d never have to talk to again,” Lieutenant Jess Salceda told Frost.
“Let me guess. Darren Newman.”
“Bingo,” Jess said.
“What’d Newman say?” Frost asked.
“He said you broke into his house, harassed him at gunpoint, and couldn’t take your eyes off his girlfriend’s tits.”
“That’s not totally inaccurate,” Frost admitted.
Jess snickered. “He wants me to keep you out of his face, or he’s going to sue the department.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, so stay in his face,” Jess snapped. “Do you think he’s the one doing this? Do you think he’s the Night Bird?”
“I don’t know. The puzzle pieces fit, but we don’t have a shred of real evidence against him yet.”
“Yeah, he’s clever,” Jess said.
“Herb still thinks he killed Merrilyn Somers.”
Jess had half a cigarette left, but she crushed it under her boot. “Yeah, Herb and his crew were all over me about Newman from the get-go. They put me in touch with other women who’d been involved with him. Guy was a nightmare. Abuse, assault, stalking, harassment. He always skated thanks to his parents. But the stories these women told me? Wow. One girl stood him up on a date because her boss made her work late. She came home and found all of her tropical fish pinned to her bedroom wall with a nail gun. Nice, huh? I mean, we’re talking about a guy with zero soul. There’s nothing inside.”
“And yet he keeps hooking up with new girlfriends. I met one of them last night. She knows all about his past, but she doesn’t care.”
“What can I tell you, Frost? Biology’s a bitch. I get it. I spent hours with Newman, and I knew what kind of a psycho he was. Doesn’t mean I was immune to his sex appeal.”
Frost knew she was right, but he didn’t pretend to understand.
“What about the Somers murder?” he asked.
“That case really got to me,” Jess said, shaking her head. “Here’s this pretty young black girl from Reno. Religious. Choir singer. Engaged to her high school sweetheart. Smart as a whip, already lining up jobs after college. Every kid should be like her, you know? And then some bastard rapes her and kills her in her apartment. That shit makes me crazy.”
“I know.”
“Herb’s right,” Jess told him. “Newman did it. I know he did it. And you know what? I don’t think Merrilyn was his first.”
“There were others?”
“Yeah, I did some digging. When Newman was eighteen years old, living near Green Bay, a college girl was found stabbed in a local park. Case was never solved. Three years later, there was a murder in Boulder, while Newman was going to school there. The dead girl had a class with Newman the previous semester, but he was never on their radar. A local sex offender got drunk and hung himself, and the police found the girl’s panties in his house. That was as good as a confession, but if you ask me, Newman was already figuring out how to cover his tracks. He likes using fall guys.”
“And then came Merrilyn?” Frost asked.
“Yeah, he was all over Merrilyn from the day she moved in. She told him she was engaged, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him.”
“Except the DNA pointed to somebody else.”
“Yeah, DNA don’t lie, right? But this time it did.”
“How?”
“Hell if I know,” Jess said, shaking her head. “I tried to figure out a way to prove that Newman planted the evidence. There was nothing. Leon Willis’s attorney knew he didn’t stand a chance with a jury, so he took a plea. Chief made me go and apologize to Newman, and all the time, the guy was laughing at me because we both knew he killed her. Not only that, but he must have planned it, too. At first, I figured it was a crime of passion, but the DNA matching Willis? No, he knew what he was going to do for weeks. Same thing was probably true in Wisconsin and Colorado. He’s smart. Merrilyn Somers didn’t stand a chance.”
“And we haven’t been able to touch the guy,” Frost said.
“That’s right. I don’t like it. If Newman is the Night Bird, he’s still laughing at us. It’s time to take this guy down.”
Frost took Lucy upstairs to check that her apartment was safe. She’d been excited to see him when he came to pick her up at the hospital, but by the time they were alone at her place, a shadow had replaced her smile. She sat on the bed and ran a hand over the dress she’d planned to wear to meet him at Alembic. Her knee bounced nervously. He knew the look of someone who had something important to say but was scared to say it.
“I’m sorry about last night,” she murmured.
“Don’t be.”
“I shouldn’t have run. It was stupid.”
“You were scared,” Frost said. “I get it.”
She got off the bed and stood in front of him. When she tilted her chin, their eyes met. He watched her swallow hard. “I guess you know that I like you. I’ve been pretty obvious about it.”
“I like you, too,” he said. “You’re sweet, and you’re special.”
She shook her head. “I never think of myself that way.”
“Well, you should. You don’t have to conquer the world to be a special person. You have a good heart. I knew that as soon as I met you.”
Lucy gave him a sad smile. “We’re talking about different things, though, huh? You don’t like me the way I like you.”
“If you mean romantically, then no. I’m sorry. I should have said something before now. I really do like you, Lucy. Being with you brings back a lot of memories for me. Memories of my sister.”
“Oh.”
“I know that’s not what you want to hear, but for me, it’s something really important.”
“Well, I never had a brother, so I don’t know what that’s like. I bet you were a good one to Katie.”
“We were very close when we weren’t driving each other crazy,” he told her, smiling.
“Is that why you look upset?” she asked. “Are you remembering Katie?”
“No, I’m upset because I’m worried about you. I want to make sure you stay safe.”
“I’m fine!” she assured him with a false lightness in her voice. She made a muscle with her bicep and giggled. “See? Me too strong for Night Bird.”
“This guy isn’t a joke, Lucy.”
“I know.”
“I wish you’d talk to Dr. Stein. Or another psychiatrist.”
“No. The last thing I want is someone else messing around in my head. Really, I’m okay.”
Frost thought she was trying to convince herself. He didn’t believe that she was fine, or that the Night Bird had failed, even if he didn’t know what had happened to her. He also knew that Lucy’s confidence was an act. Deep down, she was terrified.
He took her hand and led her to the apartment window. He pointed at a squad car parked outside on Haight behind his Suburban.
“That car’s not going anywhere,” Frost told her. “You’re going to have protection 24-7 until we find this guy.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Lucy told him.
“Yes, we do. If you want to go anywhere, talk to the cop in the car first, and she’ll go with you. Frankly, I’d feel better if you stayed home. And don’t put on any music or watch television, okay? I don’t want you taking any chances.”
Lucy stared at the floor and looked overwhelmed.
“Do you remember anything more from your missing day?” he asked her. “Did anything else come back to you?”
She shook her head, but her lip trembled. “I don’t think so.”