The Sleeping Doll (Kathryn Dance 1)

"The most powerful handgun known to man," TJ recited, then fell silent under his boss's withering glance.

"Look into it?" Dance asked, her voice incredulous. "We're talking questionable deaths--fake suicides, Amy. Oh, please. It's a vendetta. Pure and simple. Jesus, even Pell was above revenge. And who knows what else Kellogg's done."

"Kathryn," her boss warned.

The FBI agent said, "The fact is he's a federal agent investigating crimes in which the perps are particularly dangerous and smart. In some instances they've been killed resisting. Happens all the time."

"Pell wasn't resisting. I can testify to that--as an expert witness. He was murdered."

Overby was tapping a pencil on his immaculate blotter. The man was a knotted ball of stress.

"Kellogg has arrested--he has arrested, you know--a lot of dangerous individuals. A few have been killed."

"Fine, Amy, we can go on and on about this for hours. My concern isn't anything other than presenting a single homicide case to Sandy Sandoval, whether Washington likes it or not."

"Federalism at work," TJ said.

Tap, tap . . . The pencil bounced and Overby cleared his throat.

"It's not even a great case," the SAC pointed out. She'd apparently read all the details on the trip to the Peninsula.

"It doesn't have to be a slam dunk. Sandy can still win it."

Grabe put the coffee down. She turned her placid face to Overby and leveled hard eyes at him. "Charles, they've asked that you don't pursue it."

Dance wasn't going to let them dump the case. And, all right, some of her goddamn motive was because the man who'd asked her out, who'd won a bit of her heart, had betrayed her.

. . . afterward. How does that sound?

Overby's eyes took in more pictures and mementos on his desk. "It's a tough situation. . . . You know what Oliver Wendell Holmes said? He said that tough cases make bad law. Or maybe hard cases make bad law. I don't remember."

What does that mean? she wondered.

Grabe said in a soft tone, "Kathryn, Daniel Pell was a dangerous man. He killed law enforcers, he killed people you know and he killed innocents. You've done a great job in an impossible situation. You stopped a really bad doer. And Kellogg contributed to that. It's a gold star for everybody."

"Absolutely," Overby said. He set down the bouncing writing implement. "You know what this reminds me of, Amy? Jack Ruby killing Kennedy's assassin. Remember? I don't think anybody had a problem with what Ruby did, gunning Oswald down."

Dance's jaw closed, her teeth pressing together firmly. She flicked her thumb against her forefinger. Just as he'd "reassured" Grabe of Dance's innocence in contributing to Pell's escape, her boss was going to sell her out again. By declining to submit the case to Sandy Sandoval, Overby wasn't just covering his ass; he was as guilty of murder as Kellogg himself. Dance sat back, her shoulders slumping slightly. She saw TJ's grimace from the corner of her eye.

"Exactly," Grabe said. "So--"

Then Overby held up a hand. "But a funny

thing about that case."

"What case?" the FBI agent asked.

"The Ruby case. Texas arrested him for murder. And guess what? Jack Ruby got convicted and sent to jail." A shrug. "I'll have to say no, Amy. I'm submitting the Kellogg case to the Monterey County Prosecutor. I'm going to recommend indictment for murder. Lesser included offense'll be manslaughter. Oh, and aggravated assault on a CBI agent. Kellogg did take a shot at Kathryn, after all."

Dance felt her heart thud. Had she heard this right? TJ glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.

Overby was looking at Dance. He said, "And I think we should go for misuse of legal process too, and lying to an investigative agent. What do you think, Kathryn?"

Those hadn't occurred to her. "Excellent." She noticed TJ's thumb subtly point upward.

Grabe rubbed her cheek with a short, pink-polished nail. "Do you really think this is a good idea, Charles?"

"Oh, I do. Absolutely."