Dark Reasons Ch. 13

Justin tapped the first photo. "Stephanie Lawrence, she just turned 18. She was found murdered just three days ago." He tapped the second photo. "Jane Doe, we haven't been able to identify her yet. She was found murdered just two nights ago. And this last one. This is Charlene Redman, her body was found in the park last night. Raped, tortured and sliced up, all three of them."

Ethan looked up, staring at Justin for a moment. "This is the case that you and Jenna are working on, the case she had to leave to go to last night. And she's not in here with you," he said slowly. "She's not in here with you because you think that I killed these women."

"Where were you yesterday after you got off of work at the hospital, Doctor?" Justin asked again, refusing to give credit to his musings. "Where did you go from the time you were off of work until the time you showed up at Jenna's apartment?"

"The only thing I don't know is what evidence you could possibly have that puts me at the scenes of the crimes." Ethan said as if he hadn't heard Justin's questions. He turned and stared at Chief Harley. "My hospital badge, someone swiped it and planted it at the scene, didn't they? Where was it, under the body?"

"Doctor Miller, where did you go tonight after you got out of work?" Justin asked again, standing slightly and coming between Harley and Ethan, bringing him back into the center of Ethan's attention.

"I got gas, went home and took a shower and then went to my appointment. Where's Jenna? I want to see Jenna." Ethan turned and looked at the glass. "Is she behind there? Is she?" he asked turning to look at Justin.

"Jenna doesn't want to see you, Dr. Miller," Justin said with great relish. "She's been taken off this case for the time being. You're dealing with me now."

Harley cleared his throat and Justin sat back a little in his chair. "Now, tell me again, when did you notice that your badge was missing?" he asked, leaving the crime scene pictures lying on the table.

Jenna watched as Justin took Ethan through his story over and over again, trying to break any part of it. And with every mention of her name, Jenna got madder and madder. He was deliberately rubbing her in to Ethan's face, deliberately flaunting the fact that she'd been replaced. It was all she could do not to run into that room and slam her fist into Justin's face.

"Your hospital badge was found tangled in the victim's clothes, Doctor! You want me to believe that someone sneaked into the hospital, found you in the warren of corridors there, and swiped your badge off your chest while you weren't looking, just to plant it in those clothes to implicate you?" He laughed. "That's pretty far-fetched. I think you can come up with a better excuse. We've fingerprinted the badge. There's only one set of prints on it, and that, I'm sure, will belong to you. So let's try this again, where did you go last night after you left work?"

Finally, Ethan had had enough. He turned to Harley. "Am I under arrest?"

"No," Harley answered slowly. "Not yet. We are still checking out facts."

"Then I'm out of here." Ethan stood, pushing back his chair so hard it fell over. He walked to the door of the interrogation room and opened it, feeling their eyes on his back. And all the time he waited for one of them to stop him. When that didn't happen, he walked out of the building.

Jenna was waiting for Justin when he came out of the interrogation room. "May I speak to you for a minute, Justin?" she asked, her voice low.

"Go home, Jen," Justin said. "You can't work this case now, Chief is putting Finn on instead of you. You might as well go home and get some sleep, come back later in the day and put some time in on the other cases we got pending." He watched Harley's back as the man walked away, leaving them alone in the hallway which were scarcely inhabited at this time of the early morning.

Jenna watched him also, waiting until he turned the corner as he headed back toward his office. Then she plowed her fist into Justin's belly, hearing his oof of pain as the air was driven from his lungs. "Don't you ever use me like that again, Justin, ever. You purposefully rubbed me into his face."

She turned and started to walk away when she felt his hand on her arm, grabbing hard and dragging her into the viewing room she'd just walked out of. Pushing her against the wall, he dropped the file onto the table and turned to face her.

"I will do what I have to, when I have to do it, Jenna. Not you or anyone else will tell me differently." He felt rage burning in his gut, boiling almost out of control. "I'm not the one out there fucking around with a killer. Was he any good, Jenna? Tell me, does he kiss better than me? I mean, just yesterday you were all over me. What, wasn't I good enough for you? Does a man have to kill to get your attention?"

"You're a sorry bastard, Justin," Jenna said, contempt in her voice. She turned to leave, only to find herself slammed back against the wall, his hand around her throat.

"Don't ever call me that, Jenna, ever," he snarled into her face.

Jenna felt her breath cut off and her hands went to his wrist, tugging at it. "Let me go," she gasped. "Justin, let me go."

It was like watching him wake up. He seemed shocked to see his hand at her throat, the skin welting around his grasping fingers. With an oath, he stepped back, seeing the fingerprints on her throat.

"You make me so fucking crazy, Jenna. You drive me nuts. Some days I want to love you forever and then others..." he let the sentence hang as he ran his now shaking hands through his thick blonde hair. "He's a killer," he said, turning and taking her arms, his hands gentle with her now. "He's got the blood of three innocent girls on his hands. At least, there are three that we know of right now. And you still want him, don't you?"

Jenna gently rubbed the bruises that were quickly forming on her throat. For the first time she could remember, in all the time she had known Justin, she was afraid of him. That fear must have shone in her eyes because he tried to draw her close, to hug her to him, stopping only when she shied away from him, knocking his hands off her arms.

"Don't touch me," she said, her voice hoarse. "Just don't touch me, Justin." She turned quickly, her hand finding the door knob and twisting at it before feeling it give.

Then she was walking quickly down toward the bullpen, grabbing her stuff and hurrying towards the stairs. She didn't want to see him again, not right now, not when she was feeling something completely alien for her. Fear, like what she'd felt during her dream of being stalked. It was horrid and sickening, twisting in her stomach until she felt as if she'd throw up again if there'd been anything there to vomit.

The stairwell was quiet, no one around at this early hour, and shift change wasn't for another hour yet. She raced down the stairs, hearing her feet echo against the cement steps. Every noise seemed magnified and eerie, her panting breaths unnaturally loud as she pushed out the heavy door that led into the parking garage.

Here too it was deserted. Her car was parked in its assigned slot in the badly lit lot, and she ran to it, staring around her wildly, wondering if Justin would come after her.

She was unlocking the door to her Mustang when the hand came down on her arm. With a shrill squeak, she grabbed the wrist, fighting with the man who tried to pull her into his arms. She managed to push him against her car, twisting his arm behind him. But she wouldn't be able to hold him long. And she had no idea what would happen when his strength overcame hers.