Chapter Fifteen

Six days later

"So what's the plan?" asked Kennex as he and Stahl sat in their suite after dinner. With the help of Dorian, Paul, and Detective Pullman, they now knew who the murderer of Chris Jamison was. Jenny Montgomery, who was married to Tim, had been having an affair with Chris. They had matched the knife that had stabbed Chris to a steak knife taken from the retreat's kitchen with Jenny's fingerprints on the knife from a biolock at the retreat center. He'd thought all murderers these days wore gloves, but apparently that wasn't always the case.

"Jenny runs a trail riding company so I think the two of us should talk to her about going on a ride soon. That's our best angle to get a confession out of her," Stahl suggested. He nodded in understanding.

The three of them were soon alone in a small room on the second floor as Jenny showed them an electronic paper about the trail rides she offered.

"So you can go out for an hour, two hours, the entire morning, or the entire day. It all depends on how much of the countryside you want to see and how comfortable you are with riding for long periods. For people that don't have much experience with horses I always suggest the one hour ride to start. Then if you like that you can go for a longer ride the next time," Jenny explained.

"Thanks. That sounds interesting. But horses aren't the only reason that we wanted to talk to you alone," Kennex stated as he set the electronic paper aside.

"What else do you want to talk about?" Jenny wondered.

"Why did you and Tim come to this retreat?" Stahl asked her.

"Tim wanted to come because he thought our marriage could be saved. I only agreed because of his mother who doesn't like to hear the word no," Jenny answered.

"Does Tim know about the affair?" wondered Kennex. Jenny's head quickly turned to look at him more closely.

"How did you know about that?" she demanded.

"That's not important," Stahl replied.

"So you two are cops. I figured someone would investigate Chris's death," Jenny replied.

"What happened between you and Chris?" Stahl pressed.

"Chris and I loved each other. We really did. But I wanted to get a divorce from Tim while Chris got a divorce from Susan. I was tired of sneaking around behind both of them. But Chris was reluctant to hurt Susan like that. We'd agreed to meet at the kitchen because it was deserted that time of night with everyone else sleeping. When Chris refused to listen to my plan, I grabbed the closest knife I could find and stabbed him in the stomach. I figured that if I couldn't have Chris, no other woman could," Jenny confessed. Kennex exchanged a look with Stahl.

"You're under arrest, Jenny Montgomery. You'll have to come with us down to the precinct," Kennex said as he stepped closer to her.

"I'm not going anywhere with either of you," Jenny declared as she pulled a steak knife from her right sleeve.

"Put the knife down," Stahl urged her as she stepped closer.

"No!" Jenny cried. Before Kennex could react, Jenny swiftly stepped forward and plunged the knife into Stahl's shoulder. Stahl stumbled back with a cry of pain. Kennex grabbed Jenny's arms. She swiftly kneed him between the legs which caused him to stagger back. Jenny ran out of the room. Kennex looked at Stahl who was holding one hand up to her bloody shoulder. He swiftly pulled out his phone.

"Dorian, Jenny Montgomery has fled and stabbed Valerie. I need EMTs in here now. I'll be fine. Keep me updated," he quickly informed his partner. He hung up and looked closely at Stahl.

"You OK?" he wondered.

"I've been better. You?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," he replied. They waited in silence until the door opened. The EMTs hurried in followed by Doctor Brown.

"Steven, Catherine. What happened?" Brown asked as the EMTs looked at Stahl's shoulder.

"Catherine was stabbed by Jenny and then ran away," Kennex summarized.

"Did you discover that Jenny was the one who killed Chris?" asked Brown.

"Yes. How did you know that we were cops?" Kennex wondered as the EMTs left the room with Stahl.

"I suspected that the police would put someone undercover in this retreat after Chris was killed," Brown explained as the two men left the room.

"What gave us away?" wondered Kennex. Were his undercover skills that rusty, he asked himself.

"You and Catherine certainly find each other physically attractive and you are close emotionally. But it was clear to me when I saw you kiss that you don't have the intimate familiarity with each other's bodies that a real couple would," Brown told him.

"Right. I should get back to work," Kennex replied.

"Of course. Thank you for finding the murderer, detective," Brown concluded.

"I was just doing my job," Kennex stated. Brown nodded in understanding then walked away. When he was driving back to the precinct Kennex got a call.

"Kennex," he answered his phone.

"This is Dorian. We caught Jenny Montgomery fleeing the scene. We've arrested her and are taking her back to the precinct. How is Detective Stahl?" Dorian said.

"She's on her way to the hospital right now. I'll meet you at the precinct," Kennex replied.

"Copy that," Dorian answered then ended the call.

"Detective Kennex, Captain Maldonado wishes to speak with you in her office," a MX informed him in the lobby of the precinct. Kennex nodded in understanding and walked to Maldonado's office. He knocked on the glass door. Once Maldonado looked up from her tablet and waved him inside Kennex closed the door behind him.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked his boss. She stood to face him.

"Kennex, why did you break police protocol when Stahl was injured? You know after Dorian called the EMTs that you should have pursued the suspect, not waited until the EMTs arrived in the room," she asked him.

"I had to make sure that Stahl was all right. Besides, Dorian and Paul caught the murderer so no harm was done," Kennex told her.

"I'm glad that you're so concerned about Stahl's well being. But you feel more than concern for her, don't you?" Maldonado pressed him.

"I feel respect for Stahl, but that's all. I've seen enough good cops die without wanting to add to that number," Kennex replied.

"Valerie's important to you, John. I saw that when she was kidnapped by the Avery clones. I'm glad that you work well together but I can't have you distracted from the job again. So from now on, you two can't act as a couple undercover," Maldonado ordered.

"Both Stahl and I can remain professional," Kennex protested.

"I trust Stahl's professionalism but unfortunately you're different sometimes," Maldonado argued.

"Look, I know I have anger issues but I'm working on that with therapy," he reminded her.

"That's not entirely what I meant. Sit down and watch this video," Maldonado said. He sat down in the chair behind her desk and then she passed him the tablet.

"What am I watching?" he wondered as he picked up the tablet.

"You'll see," she told him. Kennex pressed the play button. The camera showed the exterior of the safe house where he had left Ava. A moment later the external camera feed died. There was a brief period of static then the camera feed switched to an internal view of the safe house. A moment after the front door opened, Detective Leung was shot by Sala and crumbled to the floor. Leung lay on the floor as Sala talked to Ava. Sala confessed to the killing of Seamus and then called Kennex. After he hung up, he tied Ava up and then there was silence until Kennex arrived. Kennex pressed the pause button on the video shortly after he had shot Sala. The video stopped on the image of him and Ava tightly embracing each other. Kennex put the tablet back on the table and turned to face Maldonado.

"Why did you show me that?" he demanded. He should have known there was camera footage of what had happened, but at the time he hadn't been thinking about that.

"Tell me, if Miss White hadn't bit Sala's leg what would you have done next? Would you have still shot Sala dead even though we could use all the information about inSyndicate we could get out of him? Or would you have waited for the backup that I sent to the safe house?" she questioned him.

"You knew that I would go alone without backup to the safe house?" he clarified.

"Yes, as soon as I saw that Miss White was in danger," Maldonado declared.

"What else could I have done to save Ava?" he wanted to know.

"I don't think you had a choice. But the fact remains that with Miss White you were thinking with your heart rather then your head, just like you were with Stahl. Keep this video of the safe house between us. I'm personally leading the investigation into how the safe house was compromised. Once I know all of the details, I'll let you know. Speaking of inSyndicate, Miss White knows about the raid," Maldonado stated. He swiftly turned his head to face her.

"What does Ava know? Did you or Dorian tell her anything?" Kennex demanded.

"I didn't say anything. I can't speak for your partner, but I doubt Dorian said anything either. Miss White probably found out from the media. For the first two days after the raid, I had reporters from all over who wanted a comment from me. I didn't say anything, so they drew their own conclusions. Soon the next big story broke and the media moved on. But between those stories and what Sala said, Miss White must have connected the dots herself, though she doesn't know every detail. You haven't told her anything about the raid, have you?" Maldonado answered.

"No. I know not all the details were classified, but I don't want to think about it, much less talk about it. The dreams are bad enough," he admitted.

"You can take a sedative for that," she suggested.

"I'd rather not deal with the side effects, not after my experience with Membliss," he told her.

"I understand. One more thing. I know you'd probably like a protection detail on Miss White, but the department doesn't have the funding for that over the long term," Maldonado said.

"But you heard Sala. InSyndicate will likely target Ava again because of her connection to me," Kennex argued.

"Possibly. But we can't protect the spouses and partners of all the cops in the City. That's just not practical," she argued. Loath as Kennex was to admit it, he knew his boss was right.

"I see. Now if that's all, I'd better get started on my report," Kennex concluded. Maldonado nodded. Kennex quickly left her office and headed to sit behind his terminal. From now on he would do his best to act more professionally around Stahl, he decided. He also needed to talk with Ava to make sure she really had put the events of the safe house behind her. As for convincing Ava that he didn't consider her to be as untrustworthy as Anna had proven to be, Kennex knew that would take time. But he'd deal with his girlfriend later. Right now he had a report to write, he told himself.