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"I thought you were hungry," he finally said. "I'm
sorry, it's really good. I wish I could eat more. Let me do the
dishes. It's the least I can do since you went to so much trouble." Garrett watched Ginger clear the table for a moment then got up and went into the kitchen himself. He quietly followed her and started making coffee while she loaded the dishwasher. "How's the case?" Garrett heard the forced casualness, and his heart sank. "We've had a break. A big one." "Oh? Can you talk about it?" The note of studied unconcern was still there. Garrett had heard it hundreds of times. Suspects used it when they thought they could get information from the police. Nine times out of ten, that suspect was guilty of the crime. Garrett's heart sank even more, but did not break. "Jackson's cracked Hunt's code. It'll still take some time to decipher, but until then, we have manuscript." "The manuscript?" Garrett couldn't even look at her. "Yeah, the publisher gave us a copy of Carter's manuscript. She was shocked. She didn't know he'd completed it before he died. She said it was a real departure for him, like nothing he'd ever done before." "Really?" "Cream for your coffee?" he asked, turning to the refrigerator. "Sure.
Did you read it?" "Yes." "I wish you hadn't done that, Garrett." She wiped the blade of a long knife carefully, studying the razor sharp edge. "I know." She sighed and turned. "Then you know." Garrett looked at her and at the knife. "It was you, wasn't it? The one in the book?" She stepped up and slammed the knife into its slot just past Garrett with an anger that could've been murderous. "I knew he was up to something. He was being too secretive, too full of himself. He wouldn't let me read the manuscript. He wouldn't even let me anywhere near the computer. I should've..." "You know I'm going to have to take you in." "Take me in where?" Understanding dawned in her stormy eyes. "You're arresting me?" "He's not. I am." Ginger
whirled to see Jackson standing in the doorway with two uniformed
officers flanking him. She turned back to Garrett pain, anger,
and confusion warred in her expressive eyes. As she was being
handcuffed, those eyes turned pleading. "Please, Garrett,
don't...I didn't kill Carter...I swear!" Garrett turned away. Jackson hung back as the other officers took her out. He patted the older man on the shoulder awkwardly. "We did the right thing." "I'm not so sure." # Garrett couldn't rid himself of the niggle in his mind that perhaps Ginger hadn't... He shook himself free of the thought. He had to go with the evidence, and not what his heart - though Jackson would argue another part of his anatomy was involved - wanted to believe. There was still something that made his brain itch enough that he had to keep looking. Garrett finally looked over at Jackson. "You've read Carter Hunt's books, haven't you?" "Yeah." "The publisher said this one was different, right?" "Yeah." "Why?" Jackson shrugged. "It seemed rough. All the stuff was there for the story, but it bounced all over the place. I just figured it was a rough draft and hadn't been edited yet." Garrett sat back and tapped his chin with his pen, a thoughtful look in his eyes. Jackson sat back and studied him with a suspicious look of his own. Jackson could almost see the wheels turning in his partner's mind. # "You wrote for Carter Hunt, didn't you?" Garrett asked Ginger from across an interrogation table. She stared at the table. "You're in the book are you?" "Yes.
After we started...dating...Carter started writing. I knew what
he was doing, at least enough to warn my mother if she ever read
the book. We'd known each other for years, and though he said
he'd never do it, he knew too much about me not to use me."
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