Chase hung up the phone and then turned back to Agent Stitts.
“I’m going to talk to him again. Just because he isn’t Colin Elliot, doesn’t mean he isn’t our guy,” she said, but her voice lacked conviction.
Agent Stitts eyed her suspiciously for a moment.
“What’s your gut telling you?”
Chase sneered.
“My gut’s telling me that we fucked up.”
With that, she headed out of the room and back into Interrogation Room 6.
“Glenn,” she said with a sigh. “I’ve got some questions for you.”
The man smirked; he actually smirked.
“Did yer boss tell you that I ain’t Colin? That I’m not a spineless prick that hit his wife?”
Chase made a mental note of the comment, along with a reminder to speak to Ryanne Elliot after she was through at the hospital.
“How do you know Colin and his wife?”
Glenn pursed his lips, and while he was clearly trying to be defiant, she knew what type of man he was.
She knew that she could get him to talk.
“I told you already, I was sleeping with Ryanne.”
“And how did you first meet her?”
Another shrug.
“I’m their landlord,” a disgusting smile suddenly appeared on the man’s face. “That bastard Colin couldn’t pay the rent one month, and Ryanne came to me pleading for an extension. One thing led to another and…”
Glenn brought up two fingers and rammed them into a hole he made with his other hand.
Then he laughed.
“Ya, you know what I’m talkin’ about.”
Chase tried to keep her emotions in check. The more she spoke to the man, the less likely she thought that he was involved with either the books or the murders. And yet he was a despicable human being if there ever was one.
“Cute,” she replied. “Tell me about Colin.”
“Like I said, he’s a spineless dweeb. Only met him a few times. He let his wife deal with all of the finances. When she spoke about him, she usually just blathered on about how he was trying to write books, about how he didn’t even know how to do that good. Alls I know is that he couldn’t do anything good, including keeping her happy, if you know what I mean.”
Chase tapped a finger on the table.
“You know what gets me about this?”
“What?”
“We haul you in, start asking questions, accuse you of murder, and you don’t even ask for a lawyer.”
Again with the chipped-tooth smile.
“Why do I need a lawyer? I didn’t do nothing.”
“So you say. But I promise you this: if you had anything to do with the murders, even if you just knew about them and sat back and did nothing, you’re going to rot in a cell for a long time. A long, long time.”
With that, Chase stood and started toward the door. Only now did the smile slide off Glenn’s face.
“Hey, where you going?”
Chase knocked on the door.
“Hey, lady, can I go now? I answered your damn questions?”
The door opened, and Agent Stitts stood in the entrance.
“Hey! Hey! What do I do now?”
“Get a lawyer,” Chase said over her shoulder as she left the room.