As for Special Agent Lucy Farinelli, she has enjoyed a successful career only because the ever influential chief medical examiner, Dr. Scarpetta, her aunt, has covered up her niece’s mistakes and transgressions for years. When Lucy and I were both at Quantico, it was she who came on to me, not the other way around as it would most certainly be alleged in court. While it is true that we were lovers for a while, this was all manipulation on her part to get me to cover for her when she screwed up CAIN time and time again. Then she went on to take credit for work she’d never done. I’m telling you this is the God’s truth. I swear it. And I’m asking you to please print this letter for all to see. I don’t want to stay in hiding the rest of my life, convicted by society for terrible deeds I did not do. My only hope for freedom and justice is for people to see the truth and do something about it.
Have Mercy, Carrie Grethen
Marino quietly smoked until I was finished reading, then he said, “This person knows too much. I got no doubt the bitch wrote it.”
“She writes me a letter that seems the work of someone deranged and then follows it with this, something that seems completely rational?” I said, and I was so upset I felt sick. “How does that make sense, Marino?”
He shrugged as the first drops of rain began to fall.
“I’ll tell you what I think,” he said. “She was sending you a signal. She wants you to know she’s jerking everybody around. It wouldn’t be fun for her if she couldn’t piss you off and ruin your day.”
“Does Benton know about this?”
“Not yet.”
“And you really think the paper’s going to print it,” I asked again, hoping his answer would be different this time.
“You know how it goes.”
He dropped the cigarette butt and it glowed to the ground and scattered in sparks.
“The story will be that this notorious psychopathic killer has contacted them while half of law enforcement is out there looking for the bitch,” he said. “And the other bad news is that there’s nothing to say she hasn’t sent the same letter other places, too.”
“Poor Lucy,” I muttered.
“Yeah, well, poor everybody,” Marino said.