Anne Doss clenched her teeth, looked away. She muttered, “The dirty bastard.”

Tim said, “Yeah, we thought so, too.”

Tim Lane looked at Murphy and nodded, a tacit agreement that the woman was confessing to a crime she didn’t commit. She was surprised to find out JoJo was cheating on her, too.

Still, Murphy wanted nothing more than to arrest the woman and let the chips fall. They could not be faulted for arresting a person who freely and voluntarily confessed to murder. His smart young partner wanted to be prosecutor, judge, jury and maybe even God.

It was late and Murphy wanted to get home to his wife and kids, three fingers of single malt Scotch, and a warm bed. His job was to get criminals off the street, retire as young as possible, and enjoy what life was left to him. Why would anybody want more?

Tim Lane believed life was much more complicated. To him, it was a matter of living for the furtherance of a principle. You had to have justice sure, but with a strong dose of empathy. Humans had souls that needed protection. How could he arrest a woman when he knew damn well she wanted to take the blame for the worst crime in the book because she felt guilty for betraying her best friend?

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