Free The Naked Eye by Iris Johansen Page B

qualify as news. It’s gossip mongering.”
    “I beg to differ. The woman who captured one of the most notorious serial killers in our state’s history now insists that his execution didn’t really happen? If that’s not news, what is?”
    “It will be news when I find him. And your half-baked story is only going to make it more difficult. Does your employer know that you lied and manufactured evidence to get me to talk to you?”
    “The Kinsley Chronicle doesn’t want to know. Do you really think they care what their reporters do to get stories? In this case, they handed me the story and told me the slant they wanted on it. They want buzz, page hits, and advertising dollars, not necessarily in that order. Your story will give them all those things.”
    “My story? Don’t you even care that—” Kendra stopped, then said, “I can’t believe you. What if I’m right about Colby, and if he kills again before I can find him? How will they feel then? How will you feel?”
    “Didn’t you read the story? Didn’t you see that every law-enforcement official I interviewed is positive that Eric Colby was put to death?”
    “I read it.” She took a step closer and got into Sheila’s face. “You made me believe you were into a much bigger, much more horrible story that I really didn’t want to be true. I actually thought you were helping me to save lives.”
    Sheila lowered her voice to a hiss. “But you do want it to be true, Kendra. You’re not fooling me or anyone else. You want it to be true so that you can prove you’re right and the rest of the world is wrong. Even if it means that people have to die.”
    Kendra was stunned at the sheer malevolence of the woman. “You’re so wrong. You couldn’t be more wrong.”
    “Couldn’t I? Well, it doesn’t matter. Do you think I care? I have the power of the press, and everyone will believe me anyway.”
    Sheila whirled and strode away.
    *   *   *
    EVEN IF IT MEANS THAT people have to die.
    The words were still pounding in Kendra’s head as she drove back to the condo. It wasn’t true, but that’s exactly what those cops thought, she realized. They thought she only wanted to prove herself.
    Lynch was right. It had been a mistake to talk to Sheila.
    But she’d probably do it again.
    Shake it off. Nothing that horrible woman wrote or said made a damned bit of difference.
    If only that was true.
    Even if it means that people have to die …
    As Kendra entered her parking garage, a text message appeared on her phone from Beth. THE PARTY’S AT OLIVIA’S .
    This made her smile. Beth was making friends. Her years in virtual isolation certainly hadn’t impeded her abilities on that count.
    She went to the third floor and immediately heard the pulsing music coming from the condo at the end of the hall.
    Kendra rapped on the door and let herself in. Beth and Olivia Moore were seated at the dining-room table with half a dozen shot glasses lined up in front of them.
    “Wow,” Kendra said. “It is a party.”
    Beth raised a glass in her direction. “Why didn’t you tell me your friend was so cool?”
    “I knew you’d find out soon enough.”
    Olivia smiled. “How are you, Kendra?”
    They knew about the story, Kendra realized. Olivia’s stunning, olive-toned face gave it away immediately. She had known Olivia since they were children together at the Woodward School for the Vision Impaired in Oceanside. They had been close since the day they’d met, and when Kendra had been granted the miraculous gift of sight, her only regret was leaving her friend behind in the darkness. Olivia was never anything but supportive of her friend, but Kendra knew that her deepest wish was to find a way to regain her own sight someday. Sadly, the stem-cell technique that had worked for Kendra wasn’t an option for Olivia.
    “You know about The Kinsley Chronicle story,” Kendra said. “Don’t try to pretend you don’t.”
    Olivia turned toward Beth. “I told you