Gervase stared at them in disbelief. “Just like that. Boom. Lights out. I couldn’t believe it. She was dead.”
“Why the hell did you try to conceal it?” Kennedy asked.
Gervase’s eyes were still dark with horror. “My God. What was I supposed to do? You’ve seen her parents in action. I wouldn’t just have lost my job. They’d have taken me for everything I own. And I don’t own that much, not after a lifetime of public service. They would have destroyed my family. And it wouldn’t have stopped there. I’d have gone to jail. They’d have seen to that. A cop in jail. You know what happens to cops in jail? But they wouldn’t have cared. They could afford the best lawyers. I’d have lost everything because of a mouthy little brat.”
“Because you struck and killed her,” Kennedy said.
Awareness seemed to come back to Gervase’s face. He looked away. “Yeah,” he said thickly.
Jason said, “Why the hell did you drag Kennedy into this? Why involve the Bureau? You’d probably have got away with making it look like a sex crime or something if you hadn’t tried to make it look like the Huntsman was back.”
Gervase gave a strange laugh. “I know! I think I lost my mind there for a while. I’d seen you on the news the night before.” He was staring at Kennedy. “And I thought what a lucky sonofabitch you were. Everybody else does your grunt work, and you get to be the big hero who saves the day.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kennedy said.
“A governor called you out right there on TV, and you still walked away with your job. Anybody else would have been fired. Hell, you were getting credit for solving that case too!”
Jason repeated, “Why did you bring him in?”
“Because I couldn’t see how not to. I knew how to stage Rebecca’s body, make it look like maybe the Huntsman had a copycat, but then if we really did have a copycat, we’d bring in Kennedy. So how could I not bring him in? What would be my excuse?”
Maybe it was true. Jason thought there was more to the story. Resentment? Jealousy? Hatred? On the surface Gervase seemed like a decent, well-balanced guy. As sane as they came. But to harbor such bitter feelings for so many years? Was this because of how good Kennedy was at his job? Or because he didn’t bother to pretend he wasn’t that good?
Maybe Kennedy felt the same thing, because he rose and walked away from the little ring of light created by their flashlights.
“How did it happen that nobody saw you with Rebecca?” Jason asked, watching Kennedy’s straight, motionless silhouette.
“She was on her way into the house when I pulled up. She walked out to meet me. It took…no more than a couple of minutes.”
“You goddamned fool.” Kennedy’s voice was a growl from the darkness. “You should have reported it immediately.”
“That’s easy to say. You weren’t there. You’ll never be there because you don’t have anything to lose. This is your life.”
Kennedy didn’t answer.
Jason said, “What about the mermaid charm found with Rebecca? Where did that one come from?”
Gervase groaned. “I found it years ago where Ginny’s body was discovered. I go out there sometimes, into the woods where we found each of the girls. And one day I spotted it lying there in the grass. Right where we’d searched a dozen times. I carried it on my own keychain ever since because I never wanted to forget.”
The low and distant thwack-thwack-thwack of an approaching helicopter reached their ears then. Jason had spotted lights skimming the black tree tops, heading their way.
Chief Gervase’s light, pain-filled eyes followed Kennedy. “You don’t know what those murders did to us. We’re haunted to this day. Those ghosts will follow us until Kingsfield crumbles away like this town. It was just another case for you. Another big career triumph. Not for me. I knew those girls. Every one of them. I had to face their parents. I don’t ever get to forget. To walk away.”
Kennedy turned. His eyes glittered in the glare of the high beams. “You’re not walking away from this, that’s for sure.”
It was much later before Jason had a chance to speak to Kennedy on his own. Chief Gervase had been whisked away to Boston for surgery, and Rexford was crawling with state troopers while most of the deeply shocked and grieving members of Kingsfield PD looked on.
“You can head back to the motel now. In fact, you should head out for L.A. tomorrow,” Kennedy told Jason. “Assuming you can get the okay from SAC Manning. I’ll finish wrapping things up here.”
“You want me to leave?” Jason could have blushed after the startled words left his mouth. He just meant…well, actually he did kind of mean it the way it sounded.
Is that it?
Of course that was it. There wasn’t enough of a case left to require two special agents, especially when one of them was on loan from another and greatly understaffed unit. And as for the rest of it…
I follow the catch-and-release rule. By exigency and by inclination.
“You’re in a big hurry to get back to L.A. Correct?” Kennedy’s appraisal was as cool and direct as the day they’d met.