Expectation (Ghost Targets, #2) by Aaron Pogue Page A

said.
    "Maybe." Reed sounded distracted. "I don't know about that, but apparently Barnes was a real handful, and this Cohn was the first liaison he was willing to work with, long before they started fooling around. So when they did, the higher-ups turned something of a blind eye."
    "That's certainly an interesting tidbit."
    "It's more motive, Katie. I know you don't like the wife for a suspect—"
    "Well, she's really not doing anything to help me there," Katie grumbled.
    "Regardless," Reed said. "If she learned about the affair, that could give a lot of credibility to Dora's theory of the crime." He paused, probably working on his handheld, and then said, "It's hard to get all the right readings without a Jurisprudence crime profile, but I've got one commercial personality report pegging your girl as the jealous type. We're pursuing this angle, Katie, so I need you to get on board. And I need you to get us medical access—"
    "That's not going to happen." Katie shut him down. "She has agreed to talk with me about her husband, but the medical access is off the table."
    Reed thought for a moment, then sighed. "If that's how it is, then you're going to have to get her to reveal something damning enough to take to a judge. I've already checked, and the affair alone is not enough. They want a Jurisprudence confidence, and I just can't rig that." He sighed. "I need you to break her."
    Before Katie could object, he forestalled her. "I know it sucks. She's practically a widow, and you're not even convinced she did it. But it's all part of the job, Katie. Just remember that, one way or another, she brought this on herself. Confront her with Cohn, get her to talk, and even if it's something inadmissible at trial, it could be enough to convince a judge to give us access to the victim's medical records. Once we know what we're looking for...."
    "It's not right, Reed." She sounded petulant, and she hated that, but he'd backed her into a corner. She could remember all too clearly the war of emotions raging in Theresa's eyes, and none of them had seemed much like jealousy. She was a woman deeply in love with her idealized image of her husband. "I've been talking to her all morning, and she's not a killer. She's grief-stricken. Her husband is gone, and you want me to attack her."
    "Katie." He dropped his voice to a fierce whisper, still strong in her ear. "I've got a good feel for this guy from his assistant, and I don't think we're going to get anything out of the army. I really shouldn't even know about the liaison, but I caught a lucky break. If you can't get that woman to give us access to her husband's medical records, we have to push through her. There's no getting around these guys."
    "All she has left is her memory of him," Katie answered back, in just as furious a whisper. "She clings to it. I know you like your info as motive, but what if she didn't know. What if she never found out? You want me to march in there and tell her he was—"
    "I want you do to your job," Reed said. "Because if she did know, if she did find out, then that could well have driven her to something next to murder. Maybe she's not a killer; maybe that's why he's still alive, even if it takes million-dollar machines to keep him that way. But, Katie, if she did this, she has to be brought to justice for it." Katie didn't get a chance to answer that. Reed said, "Okay, Katie, I've got to go. Lieutenant's ready for me. Good luck." Then he was gone.
    Katie's heart pounded, her jaw clenched tight. She blinked in the sudden silence and then took a moment to collect herself. She checked the message center on her handheld, then put it away. Nothing new. She stepped up to the sink and washed her hands, trying to avoid eye contact with the troubled woman in the mirror. She took a deep breath and let it out in a tired sigh. Then she left the bathroom, but she found the kitchen empty.
    Theresa's voice came drifting from the living room. "In here. Sorry."
    Katie stepped