Trouble with a Badge by Delores Fossen Page A

“There’s the evidence I have regarding the Moonlight Strangler. But if you want to file those charges, you should look at the woman cowering behind you.”
    Levi wanted to groan. Or punch the guy. “And why would I arrest her?”
    Scottie smiled. “Because this evidence belongs to Alexa.”

Chapter Eight
    Alexa just stared at Scottie, waiting for an explanation about that stupid accusation. But Scottie only handed the envelope to Levi.
    â€œI don’t have any evidence connected to the Moonlight Strangler,” Alexa insisted, and she repeated it after she turned to Levi.
    No matter what was in that envelope, Levi had to believe her. He was just starting to trust her again, and she didn’t want to lose what little ground she’d gained with him. She didn’t want to lose him .
    Not that he was hers to lose.
    But he certainly wouldn’t be offering her his shoulder or his arms if he thought she had kept information about the Moonlight Strangler from him.
    She hurried to Levi to get a better look. Jericho made his way there, too. It was a plain white envelope and it was addressed to her or rather to her WITSEC identity. It’d been sent to the house that the marshals had arranged for her. The house where she’d never actually stayed.
    â€œI’ve never seen that before,” she insisted. Then she snapped toward Scottie. “How’d you get it?”
    Scottie ignored her question and kept his attention on Levi. “Look inside,” Scottie instructed.
    The envelope had already been opened, and it had no return address or postmark on it.
    â€œWhat is this?” Levi asked. “And you can also answer Alexa’s question about how you got it.”
    â€œJust look inside,” Scottie repeated. “Read it and then we can talk about that deal you promised me. Tasha’s whereabouts in exchange for information about the Moonlight Strangler.”
    Levi shook his head. “The only deal I promised you is that I’d arrest you if you withheld evidence.”
    Scottie clearly didn’t like that, but he motioned for Levi to take out the letter. Both Jericho and Alexa leaned in so they could read it. It was short, just a single typed paragraph. Her attention zoomed to the bottom where she saw the sender’s name.
    The Moonlight Strangler.
    â€œâ€˜Alexa-girl’,” Levi read aloud. The killer, if this was indeed from the killer, had used her real name instead of the aliases she’d used while in WITSEC. “‘You’re a hard person to find. Bet you’re sleeping with one eye open, huh?’”
    She did. And not solely because of the Moonlight Strangler. She had another bogeyman, Marcos, that she had to watch even more.
    â€œâ€˜You don’t have to be scared of me,’” Levi continued to read. “‘I’ve decided I don’t want you dead after all. Better for you to stay alive so you can keep beating yourself up about your friend’s death. I do so love watching a girl in misery. If you want to talk about it, go to the Starry, Starry Night website and log in to the chat room. That’s where you’ll find me. Limited time only, though. Hurry.’”
    Levi studied the words a moment longer before he looked at her. “You’ve never seen this.” It wasn’t a question, and his gaze slashed to Scottie. “Because I’m guessing you stole it.”
    Scottie shrugged. “Not really. It was on her porch, and I was going to put it the mailbox, but then the letter fell out.”
    â€œWhat a crock,” Levi concluded. “You stole it, opened it and read it. When did all of that happen?”
    Jericho didn’t wait around to see if Scottie was going to add to that lie. He said something about checking out the website and he went to one of the desks to use a computer.
    â€œDay before yesterday,” Scottie admitted, though he didn’t seem the least bit