He took another sip of coffee and allowed himself the full-on smile this time.
“Did you want to discuss any non–case related topics?” he asked. “I feel like you’re holding back.”
“What am I holding back?” she replied more petulantly than she’d intended.
“We haven’t talked about Hannah in a while. How’s she doing?”
Jessie exhaled deeply.
“Sometimes sweet. Sometimes moody. Sometimes hilarious. Sometimes bitchy. Sometimes silent. Your basic nightmare.”
“But no killing, right?” Garland said.
“What?”
“The half-sister you’re worried might be a budding, sociopathic serial-killer-in-training—she hasn’t murdered anyone yet?”
“Not to the best of my knowledge,” Jessie answered.
“Then moody doesn’t seem so bad in comparison,” he noted.
She shrugged in agreement.
“Not when you put it that way.”
“Maybe count your blessings,” he said mildly. “Considering the life you lead, things could be a hell of a lot worse.”
Jessie couldn’t deny that. She was about to ask him for his input on another matter when her phone rang. She looked down. It was her FBI agent friend Jack Dolan, who’d been having his people keep tabs on her ex-husband, Kyle.
“I have to take this,” she said.
“That’s okay,” Garland, said, dropping a five on the table. “I should get into the office anyway. Your boyfriend probably misses me.”
“You want a ride?”
“Nah. You’ve got your call. Besides, you know I like to walk.”
“Okay,” she said as she answered the phone. “Hi, Dolan.”
“Hey, Jessie,” Garland added in a hushed voice as he stood up.
“Hold on one second, Dolan,” she said into the phone before looking up at the crusty guy in front of her. “Yeah, Garland?”
“Just remember, you’re in charge of your life. Not Decker, not Hannah, not Hernandez, and not any serial killer. Sometimes it’s hard to see it that way. But you always have choices.”
“Thanks, Confucius,” she said as she winked at him. “We’ll talk later, okay. I’ve got to take this call. It’s about Kyle.”
Garland smiled, bowed slightly, and headed out, his shock of unruly white hair fading into the distance as he disappeared leisurely into the crowd of people hurrying to their destinations.
“I’m back,” Jessie said. “What have you got for me, Jack?”
“Bad news—it’s about your ex-husband.”
CHAPTER SIX
“Hang on a minute,” Jessie said, even as her heart dropped into her stomach. “I need to find somewhere private to talk.”
Jessie almost regretted waiting. The three minutes it took to pay, leave the diner, and get into her car felt interminable. Dolan, a hard-bitten cynic whose attitude was only mildly tempered by his morning surf outings, was not known for hyperbole. If he said a situation was bad, it was usually worse. She thought she might throw up the quarter of a muffin she’d eaten.
“Tell me,” she said brusquely when she took him off hold.
“The short version is: we’ve got nothing.”
“It’s been over three weeks,” she protested. “You’re telling me he’s been a perfect citizen this whole time?”
“Yep,” Dolan said, “suspiciously so. He hasn’t so much as rolled through a stop sign. Of course, he’s well aware that we’re watching him. He waves at our agents when he drives by.”
“They’re not trying to stay low profile?”
“They were at first. But he’s pretty savvy, as you know. He spotted our van the first week so it seemed like a waste to use it after that. We’ve been employing unmarked sedans ever since. The truth is that my bosses are balking at the use of resources as it is. Pretty soon, they’re going to make me pull back to one agent. I wouldn’t be surprised if they dump the surveillance entirely by the end of the week if nothing pops. By then, it’ll have been a month without anything.”
“But that’s exactly what he’s waiting for,” Jessie insisted. “He’s holding out until you pull your guys before he tries anything big.”
Jessie could feel a familiar anxiety resurfacing, as she recalled how adept her ex-husband was at presenting a charming front that masked the ugliness below.
“You know that and I know that,” Dolan said, clearly frustrated. “But that doesn’t mean much to the higher-ups. They want to see results. And we haven’t given them any. You have to look at it from their perspective.”
“What does that mean?” Jessie demanded.
“Remember, technically your ex-husband was released because of malfeasance by a law enforcement professional. They don’t want to be accused of harassing a man who was already mistreated by the system. It’s a political issue. The fact that he’s a murderer gets lost in there. So we’ve had to tread lightly as it is. We’re close to the point where the hope of catching him in