David’s eyes snapped open.“What?”
“Yeah.Corinne said he was found in Arlington National Cemetery kneeling in front of a gravestone as though he was praying.He had been strangled with a garrote, arranged in a prayer position, and injected with something that stiffened his muscles.They hung dog tags around his neck too.A lot of them.Like, thirty or forty according to the initial report.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah.”
They were quiet for a while.David finally asked the question Faith knew he wanted to ask.“Are you going to take it?”
Faith took a deep breath, and that was all the time she needed to admit that she’d made that decision the moment her former squad mate told her how Hayes had died.“Yes.He was killed on federal property, which makes this a federal case.Normally, the FBI would let the locals handle this but considering how the body was staged and the fact that someone hung a ton of dog tags around his neck, I think I have a good argument for a highly organized ritualistic serial or spree killer, my specialty.”
“You don’t think the personal connection will disqualify you?”
Faith’s jaw tightened.The personal connection would absolutely disqualify her.That was probably why the Bureau hadn’t called her.
And there was a much bigger problem to consider.
“No, you know what?I can’t take it.”She rubbed her forehead.“I can’t leave you alone.Not that I don’t trust you to keep your promise, but I’d feel better if you were home with me and Turk, not alone.”
“It’s fine,” David said quickly.“I’ll call Jessica and have Tweedlebuff and Tweedlebuffer come back and watch me again.”
The buff men to whom David alluded were Special Agents Rogers and Hammerton, members of the Washington Field Office and friends of Jessica’s.They were serving as David’s bodyguards but had been called away when they had a major break in a racketeering case they’d been working for months.They were both devastated with guilt when David was hurt in their absence, and Faith knew they would immediately accept a request to watch him again.
“No, it’s okay,” Faith said.“If they’re with you, you won’t be able to take a shower without one of them holding the nozzle for you.”
“Yeah, probably not,” David said with a rueful smile.“But I kinda deserve it.”
“You absolutely do,” Faith agreed.“But you’re right.The personal connection will disqualify me.”
David looked at her.“I think you should take it.You won’t forgive yourself if you don’t.You know you won’t.”
Faith sighed and rolled her eyes.“Damn it.Can we go back to not knowing each other so well?”
David shrugged.“We could leave anytime we wanted, but we haven’t.I guess we love each other.”
She smiled and slapped his shoulder playfully, but her smile faded right after that.“He lived in Arlington.Forty-five minutes away, and I never went to visit him.”
David laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.“Go.Find the prick who did this.Call the Barbell Brothers and tell them they can put me in a box and ensure I never leave it.I’ll meekly accept my fate.”
Faith chuckled and placed her hand over his.“You promise you’ll behave?”
“I promise,” he said.“Cross my heart and hope to never piss you off again.”
She laughed once more, then kissed his fingers.“Okay.I love you.”
“I love you too.”
***
Faith felt good about her choice right up until she exited the Beltway into Washington.Then she nearly turned around and headed straight home to take care of her husband where she belonged.
She compromised by calling Michael.During their partnership, Michael developed a skill for talking Faith down from rash decisions or reaffirming decisions that seemed rash but weren’t.Hopefully, he would help her gain perspective on her situation now.
“You’re sure it’s fine?”she asked after explaining the situation.
“It’s not just fine; it’s mandatory,” he said.“Well, this particular case isn’t mandatory, I guess, but it’s mandatory that you behave normally, just as you would if you weren’t investigating the CIA or concerned that someone was trying to kill your husband.Remember, the official story is that he ran off the road accidentally.They never found the other guy’s body or the truck.”
Faith tensed slightly at that reminder.The wreck of David’s car had been discovered the morning after the attack, but the military truck that had run him off the road was gone along with the body of his attacker.There were no witnesses to the confrontation, and no one had come forward to challenge the State Police ruling that David had suffered an ordinary, if severe and rather spectacular, traffic accident.
