Chapter 13

Aaron examined the stubborn woman to make sure she really was all right. He was furious he'd allowed a threat to get within striking distance of his principal. He was fucking pissed at himself for making what could have been a terminal error.

"They need to let her go," Hope repeated.

She looked shaken but unhurt. He needed her to snap out of the denial she seemed to be in about what had actually happened. Maybe a little brutal honesty would work.

"Look, Hope, I am no fan of defense lawyers, but I am smart enough to know that without access to a fair trial the criminal justice system becomes meaningless."

Hope lowered herself slowly to her chair, clearly freaked out. "I don't want her prosecuted."

Aaron narrowed his gaze. "Why not? You'd encourage anyone else to press charges, but when it comes to your own safety you refuse?"

"Don't you think I've done enough to that woman?"

"Leech is the one responsible."

"I grilled her on the stand. I got him off…"

"Did you?" He crossed his arms over his chest, still mad as hell with himself for fucking up. "Downstairs you told the reporters it was the cops' fault. Detective Monroe didn't just cross a line, he pole-vaulted across the damned thing."

"If I'd sat on the email Monroe sent to me?—"

"Wouldn't the Boston PD have checked the guy's email after a suicide?"

Hope looked frail all of a sudden. "Yes, but the trial would probably have been over by then. And maybe BPD wouldn't have told anyone."

"And you'd have been okay with Leech going down for murder based on false evidence?"

"No." Hope closed her eyes. "But I'm not okay with him murdering my family either." When she opened her eyes, they shimmered like opals. "If I'd known what was going to happen… If I'd known it was their lives at stake. I'd have let him rot in prison, and I wouldn't have given a rat's ass about right and wrong because they'd be alive rather than in caskets, and Minnie Ramon would have had justice for her own daughter."

Her throat worked, as she clearly tried to control her emotions.

Aaron's own throat tightened. "This wasn't your fault, Hope. You know that deep down. I know you know it." But she clearly wasn't thinking straight. He pointed through the glass into the hallway. "That woman needs to be held accountable for her actions, otherwise every Tom, Dick, and Harriet are going to think it's okay to take a shot at someone they perceive let them down. It's not okay, and if it were directed at anyone else besides yourself, you'd be the first in line to have them charged. Even if the charges don't stick. Even if they are acquitted. It needs to happen."

"She needs medical help not a jail cell." A knock on the door had Hope fishing across her desk for a tissue. Aaron opened the door.

Lincoln Frazer stood there. "Everything okay?"

"Trying to persuade ADA Harper that she needs to press charges even though she is physically unharmed."

Hope's intern, Colin, hovered in the doorway looking anxious.

"DA has remanded Mrs. Ramon into custody and plans to get her a mental health assessment ASAP. He's going to give her an official warning and issue a restraining order. The only reason he's not going for formal charges is she took that knife from the break room rather than smuggling it past security."

"Plus, the fact there's no way in hell he'd get a conviction." Hope's lips twisted. "At least she didn't come in with the express intent to kill me."

"She's been here before, right?" Aaron pushed.

"Many times." Hope's voice was ragged.

"And she probably knew there'd be a knife in the break room?"

"You'd make a good prosecutor, Nash." Frazer laughed. "But I don't think Hope wants to hear any arguments for the prosecution."

Hope waved their comments away. "You don't understand."

"She tried to stab you." How many times did he need to say it before it sank in?

"And I am sure a judge would find her mentally unfit to stand trial."

"Then let a judge decide that?—"

"Let it go! Please, just let it go. You don't know how much she's suffered." Hope's eyes flashed bright with the sheen of tears.

She did understand that level of suffering though, and that was why it was so unfathomable that she refused to stand up for herself.

"I put her on the stand. I made her admit under oath that her daughter was unfaithful on multiple occasions and that her daughter's marriage was abusive to the point there were hospital visits and photographs. I cast enough doubt that some of the jury clearly believed her daughter and son-in-law might have killed one another rather than Leech being involved. And after all that, after all the pain and humiliation she endured, she never got closure for her child's murder. No one was held accountable for what happened to those six victims, and even though Leech was in prison, that matters. It really matters."

Aaron shook his head. He understood what she was trying to say, but he didn't back down. She was a menace to herself.

"That's the last time anyone gets within five feet of you unless they're FBI."

Her outraged eyes cooled to silver. "The FBI doesn't get to tell me what to do."

Aaron opened his mouth to argue, but Frazer beat him to it.

"I wouldn't bet on that. If Operator Nash recommends protective custody, then I suspect that's what you'll get. Aaron's highly respected within HRT for his cool logic. And you'll be bored out of your mind in minutes."

Aaron blinked in surprise. He didn't know the revered profiler even knew his first name let alone his rep, but maybe the guy was lying for effect.

"The AG will go along with any directives from HRT command, and HRT command will listen to their people on the ground." Frazer strolled over to the desk at one side of the room and began sliding files into a banker's box. "Mind if I take these home with me?"

Aaron and Hope glared at one another.

Finally, she looked away. "Knock yourself out."

She drew in a deep breath and let it out in an audible huff. "It's not like I run around hugging people or shaking hands. The number of people who get close to me is limited to four, five if you count poor Colin, who is only on the list because he has to be."

Her intern held up his hand in a nervous wave as Aaron narrowed his eyes at the man.

"We don't hug," Colin assured him nervously.

Hope stood and leaned against her desk as Frazer slipped on his coat. "I have another box of files at home from the first trial. If you want copies, I'll bring them in tomorrow and have some made."

"That would save me the trouble and be useful if I'm called back to Quantico unexpectedly. What happened to the letters Leech writes every week?"

"Colin?" Hope prompted.

Frazer turned to the intern who shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"The, um, ones that have arrived since I've worked here have been shredded."

"Did you read them?" Frazer asked.

Her assistant blushed fiery red. "I was told to shred anything that arrived from Leech without opening."

Aaron noted he didn't directly answer the question.

"When did the last one arrive?"

Colin blinked rapidly as Frazer grilled him. "Last Wednesday, I think?"

"It's probable another one will arrive this week. Don't shred it. I want to read it as soon as it gets here."

"I want to read it too," Aaron stated.

Colin looked at Hope, who nodded.

"Give Frazer whatever he wants." She shot a glare at Aaron. "Both of them."

"If only Izzy was so accommodating." Frazer's tone was wry.

"Izzy is a saint," Hope huffed.

Frazer's grin sliced across his face. "Izzy is a saint, but definitely not a pushover. She has mellowed since we met, but she is still a former Army Captain—and, yet, she loves me." He patted his heart and gave Hope an over-dramatic dreamy expression.

Scary as hell but the guy was obviously attempting to lighten the mood.

"Must be your charming demeanor. You're staying with the Hayeses again tonight?"

"Yes." Frazer dropped the act. "Ironically, I met Marshall Hayes' wife following her own battle with a New York City serial killer. We became friends over the years."

"Well, you're a friendly guy." Hope quirked a grin that didn't meet her eyes.

"Trust me, I'm as surprised about that as anyone."

Aaron shifted against the wall.

Hope sent him a look to say she hadn't forgotten their conversation. He hadn't forgotten either.

He was glad Hope seemed calmer than she had earlier, but he didn't like how she put her personal safety last on the list of priorities. As practical and aloof as she pretended to be, she had buttons that the wrong person could easily leverage.

Leech claiming to be innocent was one of them. The way she empathized with the pain of victims, another. These were weaknesses someone could exploit to harm her, and he bet she had others. He intended to make sure no one got close enough for it to be a problem.