Spenser stalked the streets of town, her mind spinning, unable to quell the fiery anger that flowed through her body. Without realizing how she’d even gotten there, Spenser found herself on the green in the town center. Save for one man playing his violin on the bandstand, the park was empty for a change. She sat down on the bench where she and Ryker had been enjoying their hot cocoa the other night when Kyra Foster showed up and ruined the evening, leaned back, and stared at the stars overhead as the gentle music washed over her.
Spenser closed her eyes and blew out a long breath, trying to ground and center herself again. The anger and wild, churning emotions bubbling in her belly weren’t doing her any favors. She needed a clear head. Now that she knew what Johansen’s plan of attack was, she needed to focus. She needed to be sharp. And she needed to find a way to combat his attacks.
It would be simple enough to blow their allegations out of the water and expose them as the frauds they were. All Spenser had to do was get her old supervisor in the New York field office, ASAC Clark Harris, to release the statements to her. But after he’d begged her to help them put Derrick away, and she’d told him to stuff it, Spenser didn’t think he’d be in the mood to do her any favors. He was a petty, vindictive man and would probably enjoy knowing it was her reputation and her career on the line.
“I’m so glad to finally get a chance to meet you. I’ve wanted to for so very long.”
The man’s voice came from behind her and made Spenser’s heart leap into her throat. She jumped to her feet and spun around, her hand automatically dropping to the Glock on her hip. Spenser found herself standing face to face with Alex Ricci, separated only by the bench that stood between them. Her body was taut, and though she managed to keep from pulling her weapon, she left her hand down on the butt, ready to go if needed. Alex’s eyes glittered, and a reptilian smile stretched across his thin lips.
“Easy, Sheriff. If you think the people in this backwater little town have turned against you now, just imagine how bad it’ll be if you gun down an unarmed man,” Alex said with an amused chuckle in his voice.
Alex held his jacket open and turned in place, letting her see that he was indeed unarmed. Spenser eased the tension out of her shoulders but left her hand resting on the butt of her weapon partly as a show of intimidation, partly because Alex was a former sicario and she didn’t know what he had in his bag of tricks. She’d already let him get behind her without her noticing, and Spenser would be damned if she let him get the drop on her again.
“I got your message,” Spenser said. “It was subtle.”
The smile that flitted across his lips told Spenser he caught her reference to the bullet he’d left sitting on her cabin porch.
“I must say I’m surprised at this shift in strategy.”
“A shift in strategy?”
“I figured you’d hide out in the shadows, waiting to jump out and shoot me when I least expected it,” she said. “You know, like you did back in New York.”
He chuckled low. “Are you still hung up on that? You know, they say that living in the past robs you of the beauty of the present,” he said. “And I must say, you have built quite a life for yourself here, Spenser. New job, new boyfriend—”
“What do you want, Alex?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
“Humor me.”
He slipped his hands into his pockets and looked away for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face. When he turned back to her, he had a cold, dead smile on his face.
“You know, I thought I wanted to kill you for everything you’ve done to my brother.”
“I didn’t do anything to your brother,” she said coldly. “Your brother is going to prison for crimes he committed—some of them because he was trying to protect you and some of them because he just got greedy.”
“No, he’s going to prison for murdering your husband, which you and I both know he did not do,” Alex corrected her.
“That has nothing to do with me.”
“You didn’t lift a finger to help him when you could have,” he snapped. “Derrick’s lawyer called and asked you to testify on his behalf—”
“Like I told you, your brother’s case has nothing to do with me. I wasn’t going to intervene on his behalf because he belongs in prison for the crimes he committed—”
“And yet, he’s going to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.”
“I didn’t testify for the prosecution either because I wasn’t going to be a party to that farce.”
“How noble of you.”
“What do you want from me, Alex? The US Attorney was going to prosecute him with or without me—as he’s obviously doing. There was nothing I could do to stop it.”
“But you didn’t even try.”
“You will never know what I did and didn’t do,” Spenser growled. “But make no mistake, this is on you. Not me. You could have stopped your brother from going to prison.”
“No. You could have stopped this, and you didn’t,” he said. “You’re so self-righteous and make a big show of being all about justice, doing the right thing, and having this strong moral compass. You’re nothing but a hypocrite, Spenser.”
“Again, what in the hell do you want from me?”
“For so long, I thought I wanted to kill you. I thought I wanted to peel the skin from your bones and listen to you scream,” he said. “But now? Now I want something else.”
“And what is that?”
“I know how much your badge means to you. I know your job is what you live for. So, I want to destroy you, Spenser. I want to take everything from you. I want the people of this town to cast you out. To exile you,” he said. “I want you to slink away with your reputation tarnished forever. I want to make you so toxic, nobody will ever give you a badge again. I want to strip you of all meaning in your life and leave you directionless with no prospects and no life.”
“Is that all?” she asked dryly.
“It’s why I’ve pulled together this loose association with Rafe and Kyra. Between the three of us, we should be able to make you a pariah in this town. When we’re done with you, you will be lucky if you can get hired on as a meter maid.”
Spenser stared at him, resisting the overwhelming urge to pull her Glock and shoot him in the face. That would most definitely be giving him what he ultimately wanted. He grinned at her with a sinister gleam in his eyes.
“Shattering your entire world will be a lot more fun and a hell of a lot more satisfying than putting you down,” he said. “This way, I’ll get to watch you suffer. For a long time. And when you’re at your lowest and have absolutely nothing left to live for, maybe, just maybe, I’ll show up and finally put that bullet in you and end your suffering. You could consider it an act of mercy.”
“You’re never going to get that chance because one of two things is going to happen,” Spenser countered. “I’m going to either have you in a cell for the rest of your life, or I’m going to put you down once and for all.”
“I do love your optimism.”
