“Listen and listen up good. What I do is for Willow. I’ll take out anyone who tries to hurt her, includin’ you.” I’m not messing around, and I don’t give a shit that she’s a cop.
“I know, Haze. I get it. You’re a good guy,” she says. “I don’t doubt what you do is for Willow. I’ve witnessed how you are withher, and I’d never do anything to put her in jeopardy, or anyone else for that matter. I just wanted to help.”
“So what did you do specifically with the lab?”
“I heard Cameron saying he still didn’t trust everyone at the NOPD. I can’t say I blame him after the media coverage of corruption over the last few years. That being said, I was double checking that the forensics team weren’t trying to purposely leave anything out?—”
“And were they?”
“I don’t think so. They had no idea the letters were meant for Willow. I didn’t know that when I went into the lab that night. First, I needed to make sure this wasn’t coming from within the station.”
“And you don’t think it is?”
She shakes her head. “Nope. So at least that’s one thing we can tick off the list.” She pauses. “Notwe,I just meant me, really.”
“And you’d have no reason to be involved in any of this, would you?”
Even from this angle, I can see her eyes growing wide. “Me?” she sputters. “Seriously?”
“Stranger things have happened.”
“I’m not involved. I’m in enough trouble for arresting Max,” she sighs. “I know I was just doing my job and all, but that’s still not cool, and kinda awkward. I was trying to redeem myself a little, and I overstepped the mark. Now I’m in even deeper trouble.”
Hally is overzealous, and trying to gain brownie points, I get that. But I like her, I decide. She’s a good cop, still a little wet behind the ears, but she’s young. And she’s willing to put her career on the line by helping behind the scenes, and that says a lot. Now I can rule her out once and for all as a suspect.
“How so?”
She takes a deep breath. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this.”
“Well, metaphorically, imagine I have a gun to your head.”
“Not helping, Haze.”
I shrug. “Just keepin’ it real.”
“Well, I know this is gonna sound nuts, but hear me out, okay?”
“Trust me, I’m all ears.”
“Well, you know I’ve been working on the Rooftop Killer case? I mean, kind of… I’m really just observing because this is my first year as a detective and all, they don’t really let the rookies get ahead of themselves.”
I’m not so sure if I like where this is going. “What about it?”
“I found some similarities with some of the stuff sent to Willow, but I don’t know if it’s a copycat.”
I frown. “How so? The letters?”
“Not letters as such, but something similar. A calling card. The killer breaks into highrise apartments, we’ve established that already hence the nickname, but they always leave behind letters meticulously stuck on the body in all kinds of weird magazine cutouts.”
An icy chill runs down my spine. “No shit?”
“Don’t worry, you won’t hear about that on the news because they can’t discuss the case details. I wanted to go to Willow about it, but then she’d know I’d been snooping around. I also had no clue if she even knew at this point about the letters, or if you and her father were still keeping her in the dark.”
“Wait, how did you know I knew?”
She gives me a pointed look. “Seriously? I smelled a rat a mile away. Plus, Sinclair has been poking around cold cases, pretending to do some police work while he’s been sifting through information, trying to get a lead on this thing.”
“Does he know about the Rooftop Killer’s calling card?”
