“Is that what Hunter would want you to do?”Faith asked.
Caldwell flinched, pulling a muffled squeak from Patricia.He stared at Faith, eyes as wild as Patricia’s, though with insanity in his case.
“My name’s Faith,” Faith called, stepping in front of the car door.
“Stop there,” Oliver whispered, “Otherwise, you’re in our way.”
Faith stopped and lifted her hands to show she was unarmed.“Can we talk?”
Caldwell blinked, hesitating.“I… What… Who are you?”
“Special Agent Faith Bold.”She pointed at her vest.“FBI.”
“How do you know about Hunter?”
“We looked you up,” Faith replied.“We know what happened with him.”
“You mean you know that this bitch and her friends murdered him.”
“I know,” Faith said.
Patricia whimpered, but Caldwell shifted his grip so his fingers tightened around her throat.She gasped, and her eyes bulged from her head.
“You don’t want to do that,” Faith said.“If she dies, these officers will kill you.”
Caldwell relaxed his grip on Patricia, who gasped and shuddered, then burst into tears.
“Let’s just talk,” Faith said.“No one’s going to hurt you, and you don’t need to hurt anyone.Okay?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Faith saw one of the officers sidestep softly to join Jessica.She kept her focus on Caldwell and asked, “Tell me why you’re doing this, James.”
She knew exactly why he was doing this, but she needed to keep him talking until Jessica got into position.Turk switched his tail back and forth but remained where he was lest he provoke Caldwell.Faith kicked herself.She should have sent him with Jessica.Too late now.
“They killed Hunter,” Caldwell explained.“He was a good dog.He just needed help.You know, it sucks being in combat.You see a lot of shit.You kill.You get hurt.It’s not something you can just get over.”
“I know,” Faith replied.“All too well.I was a Marine.”She grinned apologetically.“Hope that’s not a problem.”
Caldwell blinked at her, confused by her friendliness.That was fine with Faith.As long as he was trying to figure her out, he wasn’t pointing a gun at Patricia Houston.“Okay, then you know that sometimes people need help.Dogs too.Killing them is just… It’s wrong.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Faith said.“And yes, they shouldn’t have killed Hunter, but they weren’t being mean-spirited.They did the best they could.”
Caldwell chuckled.“Oh yeah.It’s okay that they killed my dog because they really tried.”
Yeah, that was a stupid thing for Faith to say.“Killing them won’t bring Hunter back, James.”
Caldwell released another shrill laugh.“Nothingwill bring him back.But I’ll be pretty damned happy knowing his murderers are dead.You know a family wanted to adopt Hunter, but Sarah Garrett denied them?Because she was afraid Hunter would bite the kid?Never ever have I ever seen Hunter bite a human being he wasn’t ordered to bite.”
Records from both Dallas Doghouse and the Plano Animal Shelter reported Hunter biting staff multiple times, but that wasn’t the argument she wanted to have with Caldwell.“What do you hope to gain from this?You know it won’t make you happy for long.Hunter will still be gone, and you’ll be spending the rest of your life in prison.”
“I’m going to prison anyway,” Caldwell reminded her.
Shit.Another stupid thing for her to say.“Yes, you are.But if you let Dr.Houston go now, it’s going to look very good when the judge sentences you.You might be able to avoid the death penalty.”
Caldwell laughed again.“Yeah, sounds awesome.”
“Trust me,” Faith replied.“If you’re staring down that long hallway, you’ll wish that you had taken this deal.”
“I don’t care anymore.I don’t care about anything.Everything I cared about died three years ago.”
