The 9th Judgment (Women's Murder Club 9)

Chapter 56

“I TOLD HER nothing,” Conklin said to me.

“Whatever,” I said back. My mind was splitting, I think, literally. Hello Kitty. Lipstick Killer.

Lipstick Killer trumped everything.

“I didn’t even mention the Morleys to Cindy.”

“I believe you. It’s over. She’s going to run the story about Kitty being female, and the phone lines are going to burn up all over again.”

“Cindy got a tip from one of the Morleys’ friends. She did it all herself.”

“Can we please move on?”

I didn’t want to believe Conklin hadn’t spilled the new info to Cindy, but I did. I do. He’s honest. We’ve been partners for more than a year and, in that time, I’ve put my life in his hands more than once—and he’s put his in mine. Crap. Images of the two of us working through bombings and firestorms and covering each other while trading shots with homicidal punks washed over me.

We had a bone-deep connection as partners, and then there was what Claire called the “other thing.”

There was still a lot of spark in our relationship that had never been fully resolved. I remembered us grappling half naked on a hotel bed, an action that I’d stopped before it was too late. I recalled confessions of feelings. Promises to never discuss them again, that we had to keep our relationship professional, that it was the best and only way.

And now Rich was head over heels in amour with Cindy. That had to be why I was being a bitch. Had to be that, because I love Joe. I love him a lot—and Cindy and Rich are perfect together.

I took apart my stack of doughnuts and gave the chocolate one to Conklin.

“Wow. The chocolate one. For me?”

“I’m sorry. I’m hormonal. All the time.”

“Just take it easy on yourself, okay, Linds?”

“I’m trying.”

Conklin got up from his seat, came over to my side of our abutting desks, and sat in the chair Cindy had just vacated.

“Are you sure about Joe?” he asked me.

I was mesmerized for half a second. Conklin’s good looks have that effect on me, and there’s also something about the way he smells. Whatever the heck soap he uses.

“I’m sure,” I said, looking away.

“He’s the one?”

I nodded and said, “He’s the one.”

I felt Conklin’s lips on my cheek, right there in the squad room, a decidedly unpartnerlike gesture, but I didn’t care if anyone saw it.

“Okay, then,” he said.

He went back to his chair and put his feet on the desk.

“If Hello Kitty’s a female, what changes? Why would she shoot Casey Dowling?”

Chapter 57

IT WAS THEIR lunch break, and Sarah had left the building first. Now Heidi entered the diner and saw Sarah at a booth near the window.

Heidi broke into a smile, waved, and slid across the red leatherette banquette so she could sit next to Sarah and hold her hand. She kissed Sarah q