Brazen Virtue

bruise was tangible, the might-have-been a nightmare, unreal. “You don’t have to talk anymore if you don’t want to.”

    “We just have a few questions.” Ben eased down in a chair, hoping that seated he’d be less intimidating. “Believe me, Mr. Morrison, we want to get him. We need your help.”
    “How the hell would you feel if it was your wife?” Harry demanded. “If I knew where to start I’d be after him myself.”
    “This is my wife.” Ben spoke quietly as he gestured to Tess. “And I know exactly how you feel.”
    “Mrs. Morrison.” Instead of sitting, Tess crouched down beside the sofa. “Maybe you’d be more comfortable talking to me. I’m a doctor.”
    “I don’t need a doctor.” Mary Beth glanced down at the brandy as if surprised to find it in her hand. “He didn’t—he was going to, but he didn’t.”
    “He didn’t rape you,” Tess said gently. “But that doesn’t mean you weren’t violated, and frightened. Holding in the anger, the fear, the shame—” She saw the last word hit home and waited just a moment. “Holding it all in only hurts more. There are places you can go, people you can talk to who have gone through the same ordeal. They know what you’re feeling, and what your husband is feeling now.”
    “It was in my home.” Mary Beth began to cry for the first time. The tears that squeezed out of her eyes and ran down her face were thin and hot. “It seemed so much worse that it was in my home. I kept thinking, what will I do if my children come in. What will he do to my babies. And then …” Tess eased the snifter from her as her hands began to shake. “I kept praying that it was all a dream, that it wasn’t really happening. He said he knew me, and he called me by name. But I didn’t know who he was and he was going to rape me. He—he touched me. Harry.” She turned her head into his shoulder and sobbed.

    “Oh baby, he won’t hurt you again.” His hands were gentle on her hair, but there was a look in his eyes that said murder, plain and simple. “You’re safe. Nobody’s going to hurt you. Damn you, can’t you see what this is doing to her?”
    “Mr. Morrison.” Ed wasn’t sure how to begin. The anger was justified. He felt some of it himself but knew, as a cop, he could never let it blind him to procedure. Still, he understood, and he decided to play it straight. “We have reason to believe your wife was very lucky tonight. This man has attacked twice before, and the other women weren’t so lucky.”
    “He’s done this before?” The tears were still flowing but Mary Beth turned to Ed. “Are you sure?”
    “We’ll be sure, after you answer some questions.”
    She was breathing very fast, but he saw that she was fighting to steady herself. “All right, but I’ve already told the other officers what happened. I don’t want to go through it all again.”
    “You won’t have to,” Ben assured her. “Will you work with a police artist on a composite drawing?”
    “I didn’t see him very well.” Grateful, she accepted the snifter back from Tess. “It was dark in the kitchen, and I’d taken out my contacts. I have very bad vision. He wasn’t much more than a blur.”
    “You’ll be surprised how much you saw when you start piecing it together.” Ed took out his notebook. He wanted to treat her gently. With her cozy little house and pretty face, she reminded him of his sister. “Mrs. Morrison, you said he called you by name.”
    “Yes, he called me Mary Beth several times. It was so strange to hear him say it. He told me, he said something about how I’d promised him things. That he wanted …” Even with her blurred vision, she couldn’t look at Ed. Swallowing, she looked down at Tess. “He said he wanted me to do things to him, sweet, gentle things. I remember because I was so scared and it seemed so crazy to hear that.”

    Ben waited while she sipped the brandy. “Mrs. Morrison, do you know anything about a company called Fantasy, Incorporated?”
    When she blushed, the bruise on her face stood out. But she would no more lie than cut out her tongue. “Yes.”
    “That’s none of your business,” Harry began.
    “The other two victims were both employees of Fantasy,” Ed said flatly.
    “Oh God.” Mary Beth squeezed her eyes shut. There were no tears now, just a dull, dry fear. “Oh my God.”
    “I should never have let you do that.” Harry rubbed his hand over his face. “I must have been