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"Because you and Lucia were the first people at the scene?"
"Yes Partly"
"How long did you ith Ana’s mother?"
"Twenty years All of it on patrol She was the most exceptional officer I’ve ever known"
"After she died, you sponsored her daughter’s career Tres told eant’s position in homicide"
"She was the best person for the job"
"Does Detective Kelsey see it that way?"
The lieutenant stared through the glass at Ana’s hospital bed He radiated worry and frustration, but whatever he wanted to say, he kept it to hi for this man
He reminded Maia of her old law firm mentor, John Terrence, back in the days when she still trusted his sincerity There was soo heartbreak that sparked a woman’s instinct to nurture, to heal With Hernandez, you’d have to exert a conscious effort not to want to please hiure
"Ana wasis a good detective," he said
"She wasn’t going after her husband," Maia said "She had another lead Do you knoho it was?"
Hernandez pinched the knot of his tie "Ana was desperate to clear her husband, Miss Lee Grasping at straws"
"But did she tell you anything?"
"No"
"Case notes?"
"There was nothing in her office She usually kept everything on her laptop, which she would’ve carried hoot to the scene Disappeared, just like Ralph Arguello"
Maia thought about Kelsey riffling through Ana’s desk drawers, poring through stacks of case files
Just being thorough
"Lieutenant, what happened the night Frankie White died?"
Hernandez watched the nurses One filled a hypoder on Ana’s chart
"We found John Doe bodies along Mission Road all the tis Nice rural stretch, heavy ground cover, hardly any streetlights That night, I kneho the victim was the minute we pulled up Frankie White used to cruise our beat I knew his car Good thing, too, because his face was unrecognizable When we found hi by the book She said even Franklin White deserved justice Me? Honestly, Miss Lee, I wanted to push the body into the bushes, back out and pretend we never saw anything I knehat kind of hell would break loose ord got out I knew Lucia and I would be on the hot seat for all kinds of questions because we’d found the body I didn’t care who killed the son-of-a-bitch, as long as he was dead"
"Youtoback to haunt aze was so intensely sad it sent a shiver down Maia’s back "Apparently, God has other plans"
He swept out of the roo to attention as he passed
Alone at the observation , Maia tried to keep vigil
That hy she’d co close to Ana, Maia could understand what she’d been after, why she’d gotten herself shot
All Maia felt was growing unease She felt like she was still back at police headquarters, the rapist elf’s arm around her neck, his sour breath on her cheek She hated feeling helpless
She took the note from her coat pocket
She’d already located the medical examiner, Jaime Santos Two quick calls had done that, but Maia was loath to go She never liked talking to MEs Since childhood, she’d had an aversion to people who handled dead bodies
Bad luck, her father always said The worst luck of all
Of course, her father had had his own reasons to fear death
Maia looked at Ana DeLeon She tried to i is wrong
The picture of Ana’s baby grinned at her on the bedside table The heartoff seconds Maia didn’t have to waste
ETCH HERNANDEZ SAT IN HIS CAR considering what Miss Lee had said
The lawyer rely of Ana, which made him uneasy He didn’t like the doubts she’d raised about Kelsey He wished she hadn’t asked about Lucia No matter how many years went by, that subject was always painful
Most of all, he was asha at Ana in that hospital bed had been harder than he’d anticipated
He had a reputation for being professional--cal the ranks, he still felt like a pretender At heart, he was still a si ain, with Lucia DeLeon, drinking bad coffee at three in thethe moon rise over the South Side barrios
He closed his eyes and reust 10, 1975
He and Lucia had been patrolling together for al his best to hate her