Page 46 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
“There is reasonable doubt.” She filled him in, sent the files on the first slashing and the preliminaries on the second, and promised the autopsy when Mike Sun had finished.
“Looking at the pictures now…” She could hear him clicking through the photos.
“See anything familiar? Does the FBI have reports of similar attacks anywhere close? Or far? Past or present? Have you heard anything?”
“No clusters of slashing attacks that I’m aware of. The only things the victims had in common was that they’re white and female?”
“And that the slashing was to their faces. That coincidence seems unlikely.”
“Agreed. Let me look around at FBI reports, talk to some people, get back to you. In the meantime, you eliminate or confirm Terrance as a suspect.”
“You mean, catch him?”
“You’ve only got a little time before Virtue Falls goes from quiet hysteria to a riot.”
“I am aware. But he’s gone to ground.”
A short, portly man stepped into the doorway and rapped briskly on the sill.
This could not be good.“Garik, I have to go. City Councilman Venegra has arrived for a visit.”
“Viagra Venegra? Isn’t that the guy you arrested last week?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Along with most of the city council and the school board?”
“Yes, I did.”
“For getting involved in a fight between two members of the school board in front of the courthouse that became a riot involving every politician in town?”
Shut up, Garik.“That is correct.”
“Think he might hold a grudge against you?”
She checked out Venegra’s scowl. “Absolutely! I’ll keep you posted as events unfold. Call me as soon as you’ve got something.” She hung up on him and gestured to a seat. “Come in, Councilman. What’s on your mind?”
He gripped the arms of the chair as he lowered himself down and he winced as he settled on the cushion.
On that fateful day last week in front of the courthouse, Venegra’s wife had discovered he was having an affair with Mona Coleman and she had bunched up her fist and landed a good solid hit. That was part of what precipitated the riot…
Kateri refrained from asking how his nads were feeling.
“Who were you talking to, sheriff?” Venegra asked.
As if he had the right to know. As if she reported to him. Which she did not. But she knew damned good and well he’d heard at least some of her part of the conversation and so she told him, “Garik Jacobsen at the FBI. In case you haven’t heard, we have a situation here in the county.”
“I’m glad to hear you admit that. For as little as you’ve done to apprehend John Terrance, I thought you were unaware of the danger lurking on every corner. Whenareyou going to catch John Terrance? The citizens of Virtue Falls didn’t vote you in and expect you to prove your incompetence in the first week.”
He was a nasty little sexist creep. Kateri wondered what Mona saw in him—and Kateri didn’t think much good of Mona.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” he demanded.
“Is this official business, Councilman? Because I’ve got citizens to interview, calls to make and—”
“This isofficial business. The Virtue Falls City Council is in charge of the finances of this city and this adverse publicity that you have garnered by letting John Terrance run around the county unchecked when the Fourth of July, the date of our country’s independence and the largest moneymaking week for Virtue Falls businesses… this is ruinous!”
She was staring, she realized, with her mouth cocked sideways. “You’re not complaining because the citizens of Virtue Falls are in danger, but because the city treasury is in peril?”
