He surveyed his sanctuary.

 The sinners had trampled all over his most hallowed ground.  He knew they’d find it, would violate it with their crime scene tape, their fingerprint dust.  They’d peered into every corner, touched every pew.  He thought he could almost smell the stench of their sweat where it had soaked through their polyester uniforms.

 His eyes lifted as the late afternoon sunlight broke through the grimy stained glass and bathed the old, cracked and dust-covered Christ figure above.  The crucifixion hung at an angle, as if it were looming over the parishioners long since gone, searching the rows where no believers were left to be found. 

 He saw it as a sign.  The light breaking through meant his quest to bring another sinner into the glory of the kingdom of Heaven must be nigh.  Soon he would bring her here.  Soon he would drive the sin from her soul in this very room.

 He adjusted the tattered stole around his neck.  He always wore it here.  His memento.  His gift that had been blessed by the hand of God.  At night he wore it around his neck, tucked into the collar of his coat as if it were a scarf to help him ward off the chill of the San Francisco air.

 No one ever looked at him twice.  Not even the police who knew by now about the material and the rare, expensive color it was dyed.

 He looked ordinary.  Even handsome.  He blended and mingled with the sinners because God wanted it so.  He wanted him to know and understand sin so he could rid others of it.

 Tonight he would begin the journey to bring another soul home.

 Tonight, one way or another, Jill Bernhardt would begin her path back to righteousness.

 ****

 “Hey!”

 Cindy Thomas had her head buried in her new BlackBerry when she heard the familiar voice call out.  She glanced up, smiling as Jill hurried to catch up.  “I was just about to call you.”

 Jill narrowed her eyes.  “Better not be to cancel on me.  I’ve been looking forward to tonight all day.”  She nudged Cindy with her shoulder as they walked side by side through one of the many corridors of the Hall.

 Cindy smiled.  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” she promised.  “I could use a few drinks,” she added dryly.

 Jill tilted her head.  “Oh?  Trouble in paradise?”

 Cindy shrugged then came swinging around to face Jill when the attorney abruptly stopped and grabbed her elbow.  “Hey now!”

 “Spill.  I have ways of making you talk.  Don’t make me waste them by plying you with alcohol and taking advantage of you.”

 Cindy leaned back and looked at Jill with amusement.

 “Not that kind of advantage,” Jill corrected when she interpreted the reporter’s look.  “Although you do look hot in your tight jeans and preppy little cardigan.”  Jill winked and playfully tucked her finger in the “V” of Cindy’s sweater and tugged, dragging the reporter forward a step.  Cindy swatted her hand and Jill chuckled.  “Besides, Linz would crucify me.”

 Cindy tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.  “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” she muttered.

 Jill crossed her arms and looked at the reporter like she was crazy.  “Well I am, missy.  Lindsay would kick my ass to Texas if I laid a finger on you.”  She dipped her head, trying to make eye contact with the reporter who was suddenly trying very hard to do the opposite.  “Talk to me,” Jill said a little more seriously.  “What’s going on?  Is Lindsay withdrawing from you again?  Do I need to talk to her?”

 “No,” Cindy answered quickly.  “It’s not… it isn’t exactly Lindsay.  It’s just… it’s… it’s Pete.”

 “Pete?” Jill’s blonde eyebrows elevated and she dropped her arms to let her hands rest on her hips.  “What did he do now?”

 “He’s not exactly giving up.”

 “Still?  He hasn’t gotten a clue?”

 “I got to Lindsay’s last night and there was another bouquet of white roses in front of the door.”

 Jill frowned.  Pete was starting to creep her out a little, and she suddenly regretted ever nudging her friend in the contractor’s direction.  “Cindy, you know Lindsay is devoted to you…” she began.

 “I know,” Cindy cut her off in a voice that almost managed to sound casual.  “It’s just…”  She sighed and flapped her hands in frustration.  “Why isn’t Lindsay being more firm with the guy?  He just keeps hanging around.  And then there was that night in the parking garage…”

 Jill’s blue gaze sharpened.  “What?  What night in the parking garage?”

 Cindy looked caught when she realized what she’d revealed.  “Never mind,” she replied a little too quickly.  Inwardly she cursed her inability to lie.

 “No, no.  Don’t you ‘never mind’ me,” Jill said, her voice growing more serious.  She grabbed a handful of Cindy’s sleeve and tugged the reporter to the side of the hallway out of the throng of people that just let out of a nearby courtroom.  “Tell me what happened.”

 Cindy looked around as if she were hoping a riot would break out and give her the distraction she needed to avoid the conversation.  “The night Pete first showed up back in San Francisco,” she began with a sigh.

 “Yeah,” Jill prompted.

 “He didn’t go see Lindsay first.”

 Jill took a slow breath, her unease with the Pete situation growing.  Her blue eyes studied Cindy with worry.  “Did he… confront you?”

 “Sort of.”  Cindy rubbed the back of her neck and fidgeted a little. 

 The reporter always looked like a school kid waiting for the recess bell to ring when she did that, Jill mused.  The thought almost made her smile.

 “He caught me in the parking garage at the Register.  He was waiting for me.”

 “Creepy,” Jill commented.

 “Yeah.  He weirded me out a little.  He said he knew Lindsay was seeing someone and wanted to know who it was.  He hoped that I would help him get back in her good graces.”

 Jill snorted.  “Keep hoping, muffin man,” she muttered and was rewarded with a fraction of a smile from Cindy.  “Do you think he meant it, or do you think he was already on to the two of you?”

 Cindy shrugged.  “I don’t know.  The whole thing just left me really wigged out.  Then I got to Lindsay’s that night…” She faltered when she remembered seeing Pete kiss Lindsay, the image forever burned into her brain.

 “And…” Jill asked.  This had been right before Cindy went skipping town to go play in the New Faith compound.  Something told Jill the two things were related. 

 “I saw him kiss her,” Cindy admitted.

 Jill’s jaw tightened as her teeth clamped together hard.  She wanted to smack Lindsay at that moment, but clearly her friend’s heart lay with the little redheaded reporter and not scone boy.  Maybe there was more to the story.  Maybe Pete had planted one on Lindsay without permission.  Jill sure as hell hoped so, but she wished Lindsay had slugged him.  “Cindy…”

 “Look.”  Cindy waved her hands as if the issue were nothing to be concerned with.  “This is stupid.  We’ve got Jason Abbott to find.  I actually dropped by to see if I could catch some of the other attorneys, to try to drum up a lead.”

 “It’s not stupid if it’s still bothering you,” Jill said sincerely.  “We’ll talk about it tonight, okay?”

 Cindy seemed to relax at the offer.  “Thanks.”

 “Now let’s go get this prick so we can enjoy our evening,” Jill announced.

 Cindy smiled and readjusted her purse before heading out into the morning sunlight as Jill turned and headed for a courtroom back the way she’d come. 

 Neither noticed the man who’d watched their whole exchange from the shadows.

 ****

  Act 1

 “That’s absurd.”  Malcolm Abbott scoffed as he leaned back in his chair.  “My son would never harm a soul. He doesn’t have the backbone for it.  And he certainly wouldn’t harm Nicole.”

 “And why is that?” Lindsay asked.

 “He was scared shitless of her.  All the junior associates were.”

 Lindsay exchanged glances with her partner.  Neither of them had any affection for Malcolm Abbott after what he’d put Jill through.  They’d already talked to the attorney and his law partner, Matthew Arbor, the night of Honeycutt’s murder.  Neither man had seemed broken up about the woman’s death, but they’d been plenty worried about the loss of income that would result from her demise.  Lindsay had hoped not to repeat the experience of talking to him ever again and yet here they were.  “Well DNA says otherwise,” she informed Abbott.  “Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

 Abbott stared at her with disdain.  He had washed-out blue eyes, receding gray hair and a mustache thick enough to lose his whole upper lip in.  His suit, however, was impeccable and probably cost as much as a small car, Lindsay thought.  She wanted to tell him to do something about his disturbingly bushy eyebrows but she refrained.  It would be too easy to make this case personal, to get a little revenge for Jill.  A part of her was self-aware enough to know she was looking forward to putting Jason away and his crimes had nothing to do with it.

 “The easy way is that you tell us where your son is, and we go get him quietly and without incident,” Jacobi explained.

 “And the hard way?” Abbott sneered.

 “That involves lots of press,” Lindsay answered sweetly.

 Abbott crossed his arms and eyed Lindsay with new appreciation.  “You play rough.  I like that.”  He reached for his phone.

 Lindsay turned her head to look at Jacobi.  “Ok.  Eew,” she muttered.

 Jacobi’s eyebrows hiked, but he didn’t reply.

 “Jason?  It’s your father.  Where are you?  You missed work yesterday and today…”  Abbott listened quietly.  “I see.  Very well.  Be sure to be back tomorrow.”  He hung up.

 “Well?” Lindsay asked.

 “He’s at his mother’s home by the pool.  Working on his tan, I imagine.”

 “Working on his tan?” Lindsay spat five minutes later when they slipped into the car.  “What is wrong with these people?”

 “I hope I never figure that out,” Jacobi drawled as he flipped on the lights and hit the siren.  Abbott’s ex-wife’s home was only three miles away.  With any luck, they’d have the little junior shit in central booking before lunch.

 **** 

 “Jason Abbott?” 

 He was ripped, Lindsay had to admit.  He was perhaps twenty-six, maybe pushing as much as twenty-eight.  He shielded his eyes as he looked up at her, the movement making his impressive six-pack ripple.  Lindsay decided he looked a bit like an Adonis sunning himself there.  A very pretty, very stupid Adonis.

 “Yeah?”

 “Stand up,” Jacobi ordered him.

 “Why?”

 Lindsay held up her badge.  “San Francisco PD.  Jason Abbott, you are under arrest for the murder of Nicole Honeycutt.”

 He looked at her for a long moment.  Suddenly he rolled off his lounge chair and started to run.

 “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Lindsay growled.  She took off after him, knowing he wouldn’t cover as much ground with his bare feet on concrete as she would in her boots.  It took less than ten long strides before she cut him off, knocking him sideways into the pool.  She almost followed, but she managed to catch her balance just in time.

 “Damn,” Jacobi said with a chuckle.  “I was hoping to see you do that underwater cuffing trick again.”  He slipped his gun out of his holster and pointed it at Abbott.  “Come on, son.  Get out of the pool and don’t do anything stupid… er…” Jacobi added.

 Lindsay cuffed the snarling Abbott as he emerged from the shallow end.  She wondered what hell they were going to catch from the motor pool for getting the back seat soaked.  At the moment, she really didn’t care.  “Jason Abbott, you are under arrest for the murder of Nicole Honeycutt,” she repeated.  “You have the right to remain silent…”

 “I know my rights, bitch.”

 Lindsay shook her head and kept going.  No way was she letting this one off on a technicality.

 No damn way.

 ****

 Jill shook her head as she studied Jason Abbott through the one-way glass.  He was handsome in a preppy, frat-boy sort of way.  His sun-bleached blonde hair was a tad too long and swept to the side, hanging down low and bringing out the blue of his eyes.  It was those pale baby blues that would tell a woman something wasn’t right if they were smart enough to really look at what shined through them.

 “What a shit,” Jill muttered to Lindsay.  “Takes after his father in the winning personality department.”

 Lindsay glanced at her as she waited for Jacobi.  “You can tell that just by looking at him?”

 “It’s in his eyes.  He thinks this is a game.  Wonder if he thinks daddy is going to swoop in and get him off.”  Jill’s voice grew harder as she spoke.

 “Jill,” Lindsay began slowly.  “Don’t let this get personal.”  It sounded hollow, Lindsay knew.  If she were making it personal, she could only imagine how Jill felt.

 Sharp blue eyes fastened on Lindsay’s face.  “It is personal, but not in the way you’re thinking.  I found the body this kid left behind.  I know who his father is, Linz.  I know what he put me through, but it was the job.  Just like Honeycutt.  What she tried to do to me in court… it was the job.  I didn’t like it, but I understood it.”

 Lindsay relaxed and felt a swell of pride and a tiny bit abashed.  Apparently her friend was being more of an adult about this than she was.  “It was the job,” she agreed.  “But that didn’t stop me from wanting to punch the guy for you.”

 Jill gave Lindsay a slow smile.  For an instant, Lindsay remembered the effect that particular grin once had on her.  Her own eyes sparkled. 

 Jill felt the familiar odd mixture of regret and warmth chase through her with the look in Lindsay’s eyes.  “Well,” she confessed, “I did enjoy getting a DNA sample out of the bastard.”

 Lindsay chuckled and nodded.  “That’s my girl.”

 The attorney shook her head.  “I believe that distinction belongs to a certain perky redhead,” Jill teased.

 Lindsay took a breath, feeling the need to say something, to address the history between them for once with words and not just looks.

 “Don’t,” Jill begged softly when she sensed where Lindsay was going.  “Leave it where it belongs, okay?”  She smiled to take any sting out of her words.

 Lindsay reluctantly nodded.  “For whatever it’s worth,” she said in a low voice.  “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

 The attorney had to look back at Abbott so Lindsay wouldn’t see her tears.  She’d waited years to hear those words, and now she realized she’d never needed to.  “We’re good, Linz.  We always have been.”

 The inspector cleared her throat and the moment between them burst like a soap bubble.  “So.  You think daddy will ride in to rescue Junior?”

 Jill took a shaky breath.  “I don’t know.  Malcolm is a first class ass, but he loves the law.  From all the rumor and gossip I’ve heard come out of that firm, he never did Jason any favors.”

 “What kind of an attorney is Jason?  Do you know?”  Lindsay watched the lawyer in question fidget on the other side of the glass.

 “Adequate at best.”  Jill shook her head as she felt her emotions beginning to stabilize.  “I don’t know.  I just don’t see daddy prying his son out of this one.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, there is no crowbar big enough for that task.”  Lindsay winked at her best friend as Jacobi finally joined them, followed closely by Tom.  “Hey,” Lindsay greeted her ex-husband politely.

 “Hey.”  Tom smiled.  “Jill.”

 “Tom,” Jill drawled sweetly; her eyes were narrow and shooting daggers.

 Tom cleared his throat and pretended to be fascinated by their suspect.  “So that’s him?”

 “No,” Lindsay said.  “I just thought he was so cute I had to arrest him and tuck him away some place until I was done for the day.”

 Jacobi chuckled.

 Tom fidgeted and tried not to blush as Lindsay moved past him and into the interrogation room.

 “So lame,” Jill told him as they went shoulder to shoulder to watch.

 Tom just crossed his arms and tried to look like he was in charge.

 “FYI,” Jill announced.  “Lindsay may have forgiven you for tossing her off the force, but I haven’t.”

 “Really,” Tom drawled.  “I would never have guessed.”  Self-consciously he looked away from Jill and turned his attention to the show that was about to begin on the other side of the glass.  There was nothing like watching Lindsay making a killer sweat.

 “Hey there, Jason,” Lindsay greeted the suspect as she closed the door.  “Dried off, yet?”

 Abbott glared at her.  He was in prison orange jumpsuit, the only dry clothes on hand since he couldn’t exactly sit there in wet swim trunks.

 “Maybe the undies are still a little damp,” Jacobi suggested.

 Lindsay slapped a folder down on the table, and Abbott twitched as his gaze swung back to her.  “I want to make this short and quick, Jason.  I have bigger fish to fry than you.  We know you killed Nicole Honeycutt.  We have DNA evidence that shows you raped her.”

 “You don’t have my DNA,” Abbott snarled.  “So whatever game you’re trying to pull you can go screw yourself.”

 “You’re a lawyer, Jason,” Jacobi said.  “You should know all about DNA.”

 “I know you can’t match what you don’t have,” Jason replied with a smug smile.

 “We have your dad’s,” Lindsay pointed out.

 Jason’s smile faltered.

 “Forgot about that didn’t you, son?”  Jacobi asked.  “What do you think led us to you?”

 “I want a lawyer,” Jason snapped as he closed off, seeming to shrink back in the chair as if he were making himself a smaller target.

 “You want your daddy?” Lindsay suggested.  “Does daddy need to come and help little Jason out of a nasty bind?” 

 “Shut up, bitch.  I know my rights.”

 Lindsay stopped playing.  Jill watched her best friend’s eyes darken and the muscles along her shoulders tense and ripple, and she prayed Lindsay wouldn’t hit the guy.  She shook her head.  “Someone is so about to get it,” Jill commented casually.

 “And you know what I know?” Lindsay purred.  “I know I have a warrant for your DNA.”

 Jacobi held up the Q-tip.  “I’m going to like taking this one.”

 “I know that I have you for resisting arrest,” Lindsay continued.  “I know your dad told us just where to find you.”

 Jason seemed to wilt further into his chair. 

 “Daddy isn’t going to help you this time,” Lindsay told him with satisfaction.  “Now you know how this can go, Jason.  Either you cooperate and the judge shows you a shred of mercy, or you don’t, and I make sure the DA’s office throws everything they have at you.”

 Jason shifted in his chair.    

 “So what’s it going to be?  I can leave this room and get you a lawyer, or you can tell me what happened the night Nicole Honeycutt died, and I’ll be sure to tell the judge you were a good little boy.”

 His blue eyes glinted when he looked up at her, and Lindsay saw what Jill meant.  There was a coldness to them that was almost unnerving.  Almost, she reiterated mentally.  She leaned in close, went practically nose-to-nose with him.

 “Glare at me all you want,” Lindsay said in a low voice.  “I’ve gone toe-to-toe with much scarier bastards than you.”  She held his gaze until he looked away.  “Tell me what happened, or he and I are out the door,” Lindsay said as she motioned to Jacobi.  “And your luck runs out completely.”

 “She was asking for it,” Jason finally snarled.

 “Are we to understand you’re waiving your right to counsel?” Jacobi asked in a droll voice.

 “Fuck you, old man,” Jason growled.  “I don’t need counsel.  I’m my own counsel.”

 Lindsay gave him a predatory smile.  There was nothing she liked better than watching some arrogant bastard hang himself with his own pride.  “She was asking for it, huh?”

 “Come on.  Like you don’t read the papers.  You know she was a slut.  She wanted it.  Liked what I could do for her.”

 Lindsay’s back teeth gnashed together but outwardly she seemed unaffected by his words.  “Tell me, Jason, have you read the papers since the murder?”

 “I didn’t murder her,” he snapped. 

 “Have you read the papers?” Lindsay insisted.

 “No.  I didn’t want to see what they were saying about her, okay?”  He spat and shifted in his chair again.

 “There was scripture found on the wall in the conference room, Jason.  The press thinks the Hallelujah Man killed her.  And your DNA is gonna match the sample from the victim.  What do you think the press and the legal system will make of that?”  Lindsay leaned on the table and waited for the bravado to pop like a balloon and she wasn’t disappointed.

 Jason’s blue eyes widened as his gaze darted back and forth between the two inspectors.  “I… I didn’t write…”

 “How many murders are we up to now, Jacobi?” Lindsay asked casually.

 “Let’s see,” Jacobi held up his hand and started ticking off names with his fingers.  “There was Blake, Dellan, Martin, Watkins…”

 “Death penalty for any one of those murders,” Lindsay said with perverse satisfaction as she watched Jason squirm.  “But I’m thinking the legal system will give you a lethal injection for murdering a member of the San Francisco bar.”

 “I didn’t murder her!”  Jason yelled.  “It was a fucking accident, alright?”

 “Tell me,” Lindsay demanded moving in close again.

 “She liked it rough,” Jason complained.  “Giving her what she wanted kept me ahead of the pack.  It got me special treatment.”   

“Your daddy didn’t get you that?” Jacobi asked.

 “Hell no,” Jason whined.  “Made me start in the damn mailroom and pay my way through law school.  He never gave me nothing.”

 “Poor baby,” Lindsay said with disgust almost under her breath.

 “She was a total fucking nympho,” Jason told them.  “Every damn day she cornered me.  In her office.  In the bathroom.  In the file room.”

 “And you were tired of being Nicole’s sex toy?”  Jacobi asked.  “A strapping guy like yourself?”

 “She was killing me,” Jason told them.  “She wanted it rough Friday night so I made it rough.  It’s just… she kept egging me on… telling me I would never be good enough to make partner… that I wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for my dad.”

 “So you started squeezing harder and harder,” Lindsay prompted.

 “I just wanted her to shut up, okay?  I wanted her to stop saying that.  I just wanted her to get off so I could go have a life on a Friday night.”  He was quiet for a moment.  “Then she started clawing at my arms, but she didn’t leave a mark on me.  She always made me do her in my best suits.”  He laughed and shook his head.  “I realized she couldn’t breathe.”

 Lindsay and Jacobi just waited.

 Jill took a breath behind the glass and glanced at Tom who was watching her in the reflection.

 “She was starting to panic.  I was scaring her.  Little old Jason was suddenly more powerful than her.  Little old Jason was suddenly the one in charge.”

 “And it felt good,” Lindsay suggested.

 “It felt great,” Abbott corrected.  “And suddenly I realized I could make her shut up forever.”

“Well you certainly did that,” Lindsay told him.  “But you threw away your career and your life to do it.”

 “We’ll see,” was all he said on the subject.  “But those other people… I didn’t kill them.  I never even knew them.  And I sure as hell didn’t stick around and write fucking scripture on the damn wall.”

 Wall, not dry erase board, Jill noted.

 “I’ve never read a damn Bible in my life,” Abbott continued without remorse. 

 “That’s alright,” Jacobi replied.  “You’ll have plenty of time to find God where you’re going.”

 Jill stepped back from the glass and turned, having heard enough.  She could feel Tom watching her, almost sense the words he wanted to say to her, but they caught in his throat as she froze in place, coming face to face with Malcolm Abbott.

 “Ms. Bernhardt,” the defense attorney said civilly.

 “Mr. Abbott.”  Jill swallowed.  “Are you here as counsel for your son?”

 Malcolm looked past Jill.  He watched Lindsay and Jacobi with Jason for several quiet moments.  “I don’t have a son,” he finally replied.

 Jill sucked in a sharp breath.  “You would defend a man like my stepfather, a man who would…” She licked her lips and steeled her nerves.  “But you won’t defend your own son?”

 Malcolm looked at Jill.  “Defending your father was business.  This is family.”

 Jill glanced back at Jason before looking at his father one last time.  “Business,” she said slowly.  “You know, for a moment, I thought we almost had something in common.”  She shook her head.  “My mistake.”  She brushed past him.

 Tom started after her, shooting Abbott a glare as he passed.

 “Ms. Bernhardt,” Abbott called after her.  He waited until Tom and Jill turned to look at him.  “We can’t choose our family,” he pointed out.  “But we can pretend like the less desirable members of it don’t exist.  That… that is something we do have in common.”

 Jill’s blue eyes tracked to Lindsay where the tall, lithe woman was working behind the glass.  She smiled.  “Actually, Malcolm, you can choose your family.  It just took me a while to figure that out.”  She pivoted on her heel and walked away, feeling lighter than she had in weeks.

 ****

 

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