Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

surveillance. If someone drives in, they’ll know.’
    ‘And if he never goes back and we never find the cabin? If by some miracle she’s still alive, she’ll die anyway.’
    She was coming unraveled so he tightened his hold. ‘ Stop this . You’ll make yourself crazy. You didn’t cause this, Daphne. And their blood is not on your hands.’
    ‘I hear you. And I appreciate it. It’s just . . . never mind.’
    He squeezed her again, more lightly this time. ‘Talk to me.’
    She met his eyes in the glass. ‘When I was thirteen years old I decided to be a prosecutor because they were . . . righteous. And they made a difference, even if it was after the fact. They got justice . And I wanted justice. Needed it.’
    ‘I understand.’
    ‘I know you do. The day I met Travis, all I wanted was information on being a lawyer. He was the first one I’d ever met.’
    ‘He was a prosecutor, too?’
    ‘Oh no. He was defense. And if I’d known that , I wouldn’t have approached him to begin with.’ Her mouth winged up briefly, then drooped again. ‘If I’d known Beckett was still alive, I would have reported him.’
    ‘I know that, honey.’
    ‘And I appreciate that you do. What you think matters.’
    ‘But?’
    She sighed again, this time so wearily it made his heart ache. ‘I worked hard to get my law degree. I’ve worked hard to become a prosecutor. To be fearless. Fearsome. Dedicated to getting victims justice. But now . . . God, this is going to sound so selfish.’
    ‘So? It’s just us, Daphne. Talk to me.’
    ‘It’s just that nobody’s going to care that I’ve worked for the victims. Or how many bad guys I’ve put away. When this comes out – and it will – everyone will say, “She waited seven years to report him?” I’ll have to explain why . . . which will rip me open, for everyone to see. This could ruin my career, everything I’ve worked so hard to do.’
    Which would be , Joseph thought darkly, an excellent motivation for someone with a grudge against Daphne to orchestrate this revelation . Still, why now? And how did any of this connect to Doug and the Millhouses?
    She blinked and two tears rolled down her cheeks, followed by more that fell as steadily as the snow outside. There was no explosion of emotion, no sobs to wrack her body. No drama. Just simple despair that filled her up and had nowhere else to go.
    ‘It’s so selfish of me to care about myself or my career,’ she whispered brokenly, ‘because Beckett’s got more victims. Their families will want to know why, why I said nothing when I knew his name. I’m going to have to tell them. They’ll despise me, Joseph, because I was weak . And I can’t disagree with them.’
    She was breaking his heart. She hadn’t been weak. She’d been a traumatized child. There was no weakness in this woman and he’d defend her from anyone who said there was. Even if it was herself.
    ‘They won’t despise you. Come on.’ Pulling the drapes shut, he turned her in his arms and nudged her toward the stuffed chair in the corner. ‘Sit with me.’
    Wednesday, December 4, 11.30 P.M.
    Well . Mitch lowered the binoculars, no longer able to see them through the window once Carter pulled the drapes. Agent Carter and Daphne. That he hadn’t expected.
    Shame on you, Agent Carter . Fraternizing with a witness. And a perpetrator. Although he shouldn’t have been so surprised. The expression on Carter’s face as he’d leapt to save her from Marina’s bullets had been chilling. A man saving his woman.
    But just now, he’d looked helpless. A man comforting his woman as she cried like a baby. It would all be gelling together for her now.
    Wilson Beckett had been a busy man this evening. Took him long enough to get here, though . Filling his tank with gasoline had taken him longer than Mitch had expected.
    But once Beckett had arrived, he’d made good use of his time. The first BOLO that Mitch caught on his police scanner described Beckett wearing nurse’s scrubs, armed and dangerous. He’d stabbed a cop after attempting to murder a patient. Go, Beckett .
    A few minutes later the BOLO was upgraded to include a white pickup truck at the same time that emergency personnel were called to the southwest corner of the hospital. Sounded like Beckett had hurt somebody for those scrubs.
    Idiot . He hadn’t needed to hurt anyone for the scrubs. There would have been plenty in the hospital’s laundry room. Plenty more if he’d