Then her expressioncrumpled.
She raised his hand to her uninjured cheek, turned her face into his palm, kissed it. “I was so afraid, Joaquin. Those shots rang out, and you fell, and I thought I’d lost you. I don’t know what I would havedone.”
“God, Mia, I’m so sorry. If I’d only seenhim…”
“How could you? It was nighttime. He was wearing black and hiding behind my black car. No one saw him. Officer Petersen walked past him to the door and didn’t see him. Please don’t blameyourself.”
“I heard him beating down your door. I wanted to get to you, but when I tried to stand, everything went black again. I had to crawl. I thought he was going to tear you to pieces before I could reach you. You fought so hard, but I could hear he was hurting you. When I looked up and saw him aiming that pistol at you…Madre deDios.”
“You saved mylife.”
Joaquin cupped her chin. “Youaremy life,Mia.”
22
Joaquin was reading Cate’s article about the shooting with Mia the next morning when Detective Wu knocked on the door and stepped into his hospital room. He asked to take their statements so he could close out thecase.
“If you’d like we can wait until you’re discharged and arrange for a victim advocate to bepresent.”
“I’m okay,” Mia said, though Joaquin could see in her eyes that the last thing she wanted to do right now was relive fighting for herlife.
“No.” Joaquin was done with this bullshit. He had a bone to pick with Wu anyway. The man had blown him off, and he and Mia had nearly been killed. “You want to talk to either of us, make an appointment after we’re out ofhere.”
Mia gaped at him, but Joaquin could see that she wasrelieved.
Wu nodded. “Just to let you know, the blood we found by the elevator at your condo did belong to Meyer. The DNA on the towels and the bath mat belonged to a cat. We’re guessing Meyer came up with the idea of framing you just to be malicious. We spotted him in the background of security footage from the Botanic Gardens making his way toward the mulch yard with a backpack. We couldn’t see his face, but he was wearing that damnedhoodie.”
“Did you release Powell?” Joaquin had to know. If that son of a bitch was on the street, Joaquin would make damned sure he went nowhere nearMia.
Wu shook his head. “He’s still in custody. He was found in possession of several illegal drugs, and his DNA matches that associated with three unsolved sexual assaults. The judge denied bail, and the DA is certain we’ll get convictions. Powell is up to his ears in his own shit now, so he’ll be behind bars for a longtime.”
Joaquin was happy to hear that. “A rapist, huh? I’m notsurprised.”
“That must be why he resisted when you tried to sample his DNA,” Miasaid.
Wu nodded, then frowned. “I want to apologize to both of you, but especially to you, Ms. Starr. If I had put a rush on the DNA from those towels at the same time we rushed all the other DNA we collected for this case, we would have known to look for Meyer. When you called the other night, I ought to have listened. Your exemplary service record and your truthfulness during this investigation merited a better response from me. I was so certain that Powell was our guy. I was blinded bythat.”
“You weren’t the only one who made those decisions.” That was Mia. With her big heart, she was letting Wu off the hook. “What about Shoals and the FBI? They thought Powell was the one,too.”
“They did, true, but it was my case.” Wu turned to go. “Oh, one last thing. I never really thought you were the killer, Ms. Starr, but at the time you were all I had. If it were up to me, every head that failed you during your time in uniform wouldroll.”
“Thank you.” Mia watched him walkaway.
Joaquin took Mia’s hand. “Are youokay?”
“I was just thinking how hard that must have been for him toapologize.”
Yeah, well, Joaquin was less impressed. “What do you know? Powell is arapist.”
“I’m not surprised. He was alwayscruel.”
“It’s not you that Powell hates, Mia. It was never you. He hates women. You were a target in his eyes the moment he saw you werefemale.”
“I’m sorry for his victims, but I’m glad they’re finally going to getjustice.”
“He assaulted you, too. He didn’t rape you, but he assaulted you. It’s justice for you, too, in a way.” Joaquin hoped it would make a difference forher.
“I suppose you’reright.”