“I haven't accused anyone.”
“You're digging.”
“That is my job.”
“You're going to make enemies.”
Elena looked directly at him.
“I'm not here to make friends.”
He stared at her.
Then he smiled.
“You should be careful.”
“So should you.”
He left.
Elena waited until the door closed.
Then she opened her notebook.
She wrote one sentence:
Rourke is afraid.
But she did not yet know why.
That afternoon, the weather changed.
A violent storm moved across Bellhaven.
Rain flooded the gutters.
Traffic slowed.
Elena left the department at 5:40 p.m.
She had planned to return to her hotel.
Instead, she walked three blocks to a small café.
She never saw Rourke following her.
He had been watching her all day.
He saw her enter the café.
He waited.
When she came out twenty minutes later, she was carrying a paper cup and her satchel.
She walked toward the courthouse.
Rourke pulled his cruiser beside the curb.
“Ms. Cross.”
She turned.
“Sergeant.”
“I need to speak with you.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Now.”
“I have plans.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
He stepped out of the cruiser.
“You've been asking questions about cases that are none of your business.”
“They are my business.”
“Not if they compromise active investigations.”
“You don't have any active investigations involving those cases.”
Rourke's expression changed.
Elena saw it.
She had hit something.
“What are you really looking for?” he asked.
“The truth.”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“You're looking for someone.”
Elena said nothing.
Rourke stepped closer.
“Who?”
She looked at him.
“Do you know?”
He grabbed her arm.
Elena pulled away.
“Take your hand off me.”
“Tell me.”
“Let go.”
He tightened his grip.
People were walking past.
Nobody stopped.
Elena reached for her phone.
Rourke knocked it from her hand.
It hit the pavement.
“Sergeant.”
“You've gone too far.”
“No.”
He shoved her.
She stumbled backward.
Her heel slipped on the wet pavement.
She fell against the curb.
Rourke stood over her.
For one second, there was silence.
Then Elena heard the sound of her own breathing.
Rourke kicked her.
Her body rolled toward the gutter.
The paper cup floated away in the rain.
Someone screamed.
A car stopped.
Rourke froze.
He looked around.
Three people were watching.
One had a phone raised.
Another was calling emergency services.
Elena pushed herself up.
Blood ran from her forehead.
She looked at Rourke.
He seemed to realize, too late, what he had done.
“You should have stayed out of this,” he whispered.
Elena wiped the blood from her eyebrow.
“You just made sure I won't.”
The ambulance arrived six minutes later.
Rourke gave a statement.
He claimed Elena had attacked him.
The witnesses disagreed.
But the most important evidence was the video.
A teenager named Noah Reyes had recorded the entire confrontation.
By midnight, the footage was already circulating.
By morning, Bellhaven knew.
But what nobody knew was that Elena Cross was not merely a state auditor.