Chapter 34

I run some water in the sink. Splash some on my face and take a cold, hard look at myself in the mirror.

I don’t recognize the guy looking back at me.

Who are you, MacGhee? Who the hell are you, really? Where does all this madness go? Where does it end? And why? Why is this shit happening now? And what does it mean for me?

No answers…not yet…

I dry off with a couple of paper towels, brush my hair back, take a deep breath, and head back for the conference room. Chris is looking at me, determinedly, like he’s searching for answers, too—a different kind, no doubt—and I’m wondering if he thinks he sees a look of betrayal on my face.

“Tim. What can we do?” It’s Mo again.

Before I can come up with anything, I see Detective Quinn and his partner through the glass wall, quick-stepping it past Mo’s desk, headed for a conference room where Paul is waiting.

That didn’t take long.

Then Paul sticks his head in and, despite our conversation just twenty minutes ago, asks me to join them. I follow him over to the conference room.

My friend Pete doesn’t look quite as friendly anymore, standing there, straight as an arrow, arms folded.

“Detective,” I nod. He nods back, expressionless, like a stranger. Like he was trained to be.

“This is so awful, so sad. So impossible to even believe, much less deal with,” Paul says.

“Tragic,” I say. “Absolutely tragic. Ramon was bad enough. And Tiffany. But Bonnie Jo Hopkins? The brightest light in this agency. An inspiration to everyone. What a terrible, terrible loss.…”

“And what a wicked coincidence, isn’t it?” Quinn says. “Three people murdered, all of whom had a relationship with this advertising agency. We sure are missing something here, that’s a damned definite.”

I have to sit down.

“I know you guys will get to the bottom of this,” I tell them.

Surely they can see the devastation written all over my face.

“Count on it,” he says, leaving no doubt he’ll be talking to me again.

“Understand, Detective, absolutely. But you need to know something that Paul and I have just discussed. I am leaving the agency as of today, at my own initiative, and going to work with Linda Kaplan over at Kaplan-Thaler. Great opportunity. Due to start Monday. But of course you can contact me there, and you have my cell and e-mail info.”

“Understand,” says Quinn, looking down at the floor, and then back up at me. “We’ve got a lot more talking to do with people here, too, so we’re going to get back at it. But before I go there’s something you both should know, and it’s based on the input we just got from MacGhee: Chris Berardo has been seen carrying a weapon, a pistol, inside the office—we don’t know for how long—so we’re taking him in for questioning.”

“Are you serious, Detective?” It’s Paul, in an extended state of disbelief.