Free Under Cover of Darkness by James Grippando Page A

she looked him straight in the eye. "All I'm saying is be careful. Now more than ever, you can't afford to lose friends."
    She turned and headed out, letting the door close behind her.
    Gus took a deep breath. He'd seen her angry before, furious in fact. This was different. He wasn't quite sure how to handle it. All he knew was that he didn't need another problem to solve.
    He faced his computer. The cursor was blinking on the screen, still asking him to enter a new password--still waiting on his wedding anniversary date. He searched his memory, but the date didn't come. In his mind he heard Martha, his self-proclaimed soul mate, expounding on her own brand of marital infidelity. A tightness gripped his chest. For all his marital problems, the one thing he'd clung to was that he had never cheated on Beth. He never would. For the moment, however, he felt as though he had.
    He stared blankly at the screen, trying to remember the anniversary. It was hopeless. In a flurry of frustration he entered a new four-digit password.
    It was the date Beth had disappeared.
    Andie drove Victoria straight from the airport to the downtown police station. She had been invited by the locals, so it was only logical that the FBI would meet on their turf.
    They entered through the main entrance on Ninth Street. Andie shook the rain from her umbrella onto the green tile floor. A pair of detectives hurried in right behind them, their trench coats soaked from the cold morning drizzle. Cops in blue uniforms crisscrossed the lobby. A half dozen suspects were handcuffed and waiting on a bench along the far wall. The oldest one was an aging relic of the sixties with long, stringy gray hair. He had drie d v omit on his shoes and an annoying determination to sing Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" to the female officer who had dragged him in for disorderly conduct. Amazingly, his screeching voice was nearly drowned out by the general noise and commotion echoing off the high ceilings. With a quick check of her watch, Andie realized the station was buzzing with the early morning change of the guard. It was easy to tell who was coming and who was going. There was no face more telling than that of a cop coming off the midnight-to-eight shift.
    Victoria went straight to the duty officer to announce their arrival. Andie's beeper chirped. She recognized the number. Gus had given her his private line last night.
    "We're a few minutes early," she said to Victoria. "I'd like to return this call."
    "Sure. Go ahead."
    "Thanks." She went down the hall to a pay phone and dialed. She pressed the receiver tightly to her ear and put a finger to the other, blocking out the noise from the lobby.
    "Gus?" she said into the phone. "It's Andie Henning. You paged me?"
    "Why did I have to read about this serial killer in the newspaper?"
    Her heart sank. All morning long she'd been worried about Victoria's reaction. That paled in comparison to the way Gus's voice made her feel. "I'm sorry this happened."
    "Sorry it leaked? Or sorry my wife is dead?"
    "No one said your wife is dead. The bookend theory is just that--a theory."
    "Why didn't you tell me last night?"
    "Because it's very preliminary."
    "Not too preliminary to make front-page news." "Believe me, I was just as surprised as you were to read about this in the paper."
    "Excuse me?"
    "I never intended that theory to hit the newspapers."
    He scoffed. "That's reassuring. Sounds like you've really got things under control."
    "It's--" Andie struggled. At this point, it seemed the more she told him, the deeper she dug her hole. "I wish I had time to explain. But I don't right now."
    "Explain this much for me, will you please? I'm still curious as to why the FBI even has a hand in this. I'm not a criminal lawyer, but homicide isn't normally a federal crime. Do you think Beth was kidnapped and taken across state lines? Is that why the FBI is involved?"
    "No. The FBI is involved only to support local law enforcement."
    "What does that