Coletti walked around to her side of the desk and sat down in front of her. Then he reached out and stroked her hair with a gentleness that neither of them knew he possessed. “I never got a chance to thank you for all your help with the case,” he said.

“There’s no need to thank me,” she said, reaching up to guide his hand down to her face.

As he touched her, she looked up at him, and he was once again lost in her eyes, the same way he was the first time they met. Smithson smiled, knowing that Coletti was smitten. Then she stood up slowly until their faces were inches apart. While Coletti’s eyes searched hers and his breath came ever faster, she pressed her body against his and gave him a long, lingering kiss. The gesture was sweet. It was gentle. It was unexpected.

When she was finished, she pulled away slowly and looked into his eyes. “I didn’t know if I would have a chance to do that when this is all over,” she said with a wicked grin. “I figured I’d take my shot now.”

Coletti smiled. “I like a woman who knows what she wants.”

“That’s good,” she said, stroking his face with her hand. “Because I always finish what I start.”

“Well, you can’t finish in this office unless you wanna get me fired,” he said with a chuckle. “But I’ll take a rain check.”

Smithson sat down and looked up at him curiously. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Do you have any regrets about the Confessional Murders?”

Coletti leaned back and thought about it. “I wish I would’ve searched harder for the truth. Maybe then all these people wouldn’t have died.”

Smithson stood up and walked over to him. “Confessing your mistakes makes you stronger,” she said. “I guess that’s why they say confession is good for the soul.”

It was one o’clock, and the lineups from the drug raids weren’t yielding results, partly because James White’s withdrawal symptoms were worsening.

As sweat trickled down his face and his hands began to shake, he looked at the officer who’d beaten and arrested him on a street corner just hours before. He hated being so close to her, but in truth, he was willing to do almost anything to escape the world of heroin and murder that had all but destroyed him. Willingness alone wasn’t enough to fight the withdrawal, however, and as he and Sandy Jackson were viewing their third lineup, White doubled over in pain. He began shaking so violently that he fell and banged his head on the concrete floor before vomiting at Jackson’s feet.

Minutes later, White was taken to a nearby interrogation room, where a doctor was called in to evaluate him. The doctor checked his blood pressure and vital signs before turning to Jackson.