One Small Sacrifice by Hilary Davidson

Author:Hilary Davidson [Davidson, Hilary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Police Procedural, Psychological, Thrillers, Domestic
ISBN: 9781542040266
Google: ThNhuwEACAAJ
Amazon: 1542040264
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2019-06-01T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

SHERYN

When Sheryn finally returned to the Manhattan North Precinct, she found Rafael literally spinning in his desk chair. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“You’re going to drive me crazy—you know that?” he said, whirling around again.

“When I went downtown, I thought you were coming back here to work,” Sheryn said. “Didn’t you tell me you had a lead to follow up?”

“I did, and you missed it. It was pretty damn exciting for a while. I had a suspect . . . nah, I’m going to make you wait for it,” Rafael said. “Also, I need you to explain to me why you kicked Traynor to the curb.”

“I didn’t, the detectives at the Seventh Precinct did,” Sheryn answered. “But it was the right call. The assault claim was bogus, and there was video.”

“Okay, maybe he was pure as the driven snow this time. But what does that matter when you’ve got the guy you want in custody?”

“Are we going to have one of those ends-justify-the-means arguments? Because I’m down for that,” Sheryn said. “And I’m not going to have a clean collar muddied up with false claims. I know Mr. Stanton lost his daughter, and that breaks my heart. I’m going to give him a pass on whatever went down because of that. But I’m not going to pretend black is white. Alex Traynor only punched back in self-defense.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you hate this guy,” Rafael said. “The detective who laid this case out for me wanted to put a stake in his heart.”

“Yep, you’re wrong.” Her tone was firm. “For the past year, I wanted him punished, but more than that, I wanted to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone else. But I just spent the last hour talking with him. He’s not a sociopath. He’s a borderline case with drug issues and PTSD. He’s basically a walking wound. That woman he told me he killed in Syria? He blames himself for taking pictures of her rescue instead of actually rescuing her.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“She died because she wasn’t saved fast enough. Alex Traynor has the guilt from that weighing him down.”

“It sounds like the man made a convincing case for himself,” Rafael observed. “Clever. How much of his new story do you think is true?”

“I don’t doubt what he told me. He’s never been a master planner. When he opens his mouth, he usually incriminates himself. I think this story has the ring of truth.” She exhaled loudly. “Which is kind of pissing me off, truth be told. For the past year, I’ve been rock-solid certain that Alex Traynor is capable of violence, at least in his fugue state. Everything fit together with a kind of heartless logic. But now . . . it feels like I missed part of the big picture. The more I poke at this case, the more I feel something isn’t right.”

“A woman is missing,” Rafael pointed out. “That’s obviously not right.”

“It’s more than that. When we were up in

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