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initially explained the nature of the case Carrie would be working on, Carrie nearly hung up. But proving how effective a lawyer she was, Linda had not only persuaded Carrie to accept the appointment but had Carrie convinced that the assignment was inevitable.
    “So tell me, Carrie: Are you ready to make those SOBs find out who really killed your sister?”
    She rose from her chair, trying to conceal her nervousness. Was she really considering working for Anthony Amaro’s lawyer?
    “ Half sister. But, yes, I’m very glad you called.”

CHAPTER
FOUR
    T he newly comprised “fresh look team” rode together from the precinct to the New York County District Attorney’s Office at 80 Centre Street—Rogan at the wheel of the fleet car, Ellie riding shotgun, Max in the back, no sound except Rogan flipping radio stations.
    As they were heading up the courthouse stairs, Rogan announced that he’d left something in the car. He tapped Ellie’s arm before turning back: “Just say what you need to say. I’ll be up in five.”
    A s soon as the elevator doors closed, Ellie said what had been on her mind for the last forty-five minutes. “You had to pick me? Of all the detectives in the NYPD? And you didn’t even talk to me about it. You went to our lieutenant.”
    “I honestly thought you would be excited.”
    Her eyes widened. “Excited? About reinvestigating a case that other cops already closed? About stealing an active investigation from the detectives who’ve been working Helen Brunswick’s murder for weeks? Do you know what kind of position that puts us in?”
    “If other detectives aren’t doing it right, you should want to fix it.”
    “Why are you assuming someone did something wrong? That’s the risk of this kind of second-guessing. Not to mention that we live together.”
    When the elevator doors opened on the tenth floor, he led the way, in silence, to a conference room, and then shut the door behind them. “I thought about running it past you first, but I know how you feel about special treatment. This is how I would have handled it with anyone else.”
    “But you didn’t dump this on anyone else.” She looked around at the boxes covering the conference table. From the notations on the whiteboard, she could tell this had been the Conviction Integrity Unit’s workspace for the Amaro case. “You dumped it on us.”
    “I wouldn’t call it dumping, and the choice was completely on the level. You guys have worked a serial case before. You’re both new enough that you don’t have connections to the original players. And I didn’t think you had that ‘us versus them’ mentality; I thought you’d be willing to work outside the chain of command, reporting to the DA’s office. You’re both pros, and the whole office knows it.”
    “A lot of people in the department are pros, Max.”
    “They don’t have your background, Ellie.”
    “You mean living with an ADA? Working outside the chain of command, as you put it?”
    He shook his head and forced a calm smile to his face. “Please don’t twist my words around. If you really want to know the truth, I picked you to work on this— you , specifically—because I know you’re the very best.”
    “That sounds a lot like special treatment.”
    “No, it sounds like the truth. I know you, Ellie. I know your background, and I know the empathy you have for victims. You’ve told me how your best memories of your father were down in that basement, playing jacks and serving as his sounding board for the competing theories.”
    The father he referred to had been a detective, the basement was in Wichita, and the competing theories had been about a sadist who tortured and murdered women and children.
    Max closed the distance between them and rested a hand on her shoulder. “You saw the compassion your father had for those victims. And that compassion—that relentless desire to get to the truth—is part of who you are now. You don’t play politics, Ellie,