Flawless by Heather Graham

said wearily. “And you’re a bartender on top of all that?”
    â€œIt’s a family business,” she said. She winced. Did that make her family sound like the Mafia?
    They’d reached her office, she realized. He had the car in Park and was ready to hop out and open her door for her. Professional courtesy? Was he always like that?
    â€œThank you,” she said quickly, opening her door. “I appreciate the ride back.”
    â€œThanks for your help,” he told her.
    â€œOf course,” she said quickly as she stepped out of the car, then bent to look back in at him. “Um, goodbye.”
    â€œGoodbye, Miss Finnegan. And my thanks again.”
    She closed the door and hurried toward the building. When she got upstairs, she was grateful to discover that both her bosses were in consultation. She hurried to her own office and began to write up her report on the parents she had interviewed the other day. Both were heartbroken; in her opinion, neither had in any way been responsible for the death of their child. It was sad, as she’d told Agent Frasier, but infant deaths still occurred through no one’s fault. She was convinced this was just such a case.
    Eventually her bosses finished their consultation and came in to see her, quizzing her about her visit to the FBI. They both seemed pleased that she’d been consulted.
    â€œIf you’re needed again, you just go right on over, Kieran,” Dr. Miro said.
    â€œWe always help whenever we can,” Dr. Fuller assured her.
    She smiled weakly. “Of course.”
    They left a few minutes later, and Kieran realized she’d worked through lunch and the day was nearly done.
    * * *
    Craig spent most of the rest of the day reinterviewing everyone he could get hold of who had been at any of the robberies. The prosecutor, Julian Smith, wanted to charge the men they’d caught with the murders, and they finally got together to discuss that with him late in the afternoon. Craig, Mike and Eagan argued against bringing charges, showed him the security footage, brought up Kieran’s insistence that the tapes showed two different men and emphasized that the men in custody had been caught with toy weapons.
    Smith was a hard-ass, though. He wanted to throw everything at the defendants that he could possibly throw. On top of that, the media was already calling them murderers.
    Everyone in the city wanted the crime spree to be over.
    â€œThey were toy guns!” Craig said, slamming the table with the flat of his hand. “Even a public defender will be able to make that case. Give us some time to work this.”
    â€œToy guns this time, real ones the last,” Smith said. “You could have been killed, Agent Frasier. I’d think you’d want them locked away forever.”
    â€œAnd I’d think you would want them charged for the appropriate crimes,” Craig said.
    â€œYes, well, real guns or not, there are laws—” Smith began.
    â€œGentlemen, gentlemen!” Eagan protested, raising a hand. “Smith, give my men time to work this. You’re going to want all available evidence and witnesses concurring about the facts, aren’t you?”
    Smith finally left in a huff after agreeing to give them more time. “But not too much,” he’d said threateningly.
    It was nearly seven o’clock after a damned long night and day.
    Mike was heading to the hospital for a checkup. One of the perks of being FBI was that doctors bent their schedules to see you after hours. Craig offered to tag along, seeing as he had no plans for the night.
    â€œHell, no,” Mike told him. “Leave me alone. Let me be grouchy and crotchety tonight, go in, go home and then hit a bottle of Scotch and my bed. You should go do something fun. Shake off this job for a few hours.”
    But when he left the building at last, Craig wasn’t ready to go home.
    And he wasn’t sure why, but he