Reporters cluster on the front steps of the Shreveport Police Department when I arrive. I move through them, ignored, head up to the third floor, and ask someone where Keegan is. They point me to the interrogation room down the hall. My temples hurting from grinding my teeth, I stride down to that door and look in the window. I see Hannah in there with Keegan and Rollins. She’s crying and frantic.
I knock on the door.
Rollins opens it and leans out.
“I want to sit in,” I say quietly.
“Naw, you can’t do that.”
“Let me talk to Detective Keegan.”
He rolls his eyes and shuts the door. I watch through the two-way glass as he whispers to Keegan. I see the smarmy smirk on Keegan’s face as he gets up and opens the door. “This is not your case, Dylan,” he says. “I don’t know why you keep making me remind you that you’re contracted help tasked with one job. Bringing back the killer.”
“That’s her sister,” I say. “I want to know what you have on her. Did she contact her? Did you intercept communications between them?”
“Go find something else to do,” Keegan says. “I’m busy.” He goes back in and closes the door.
I swing my fist, almost hitting the wall but stopping short of it. I want to yell so loud that my voice shakes the building, but I stop myself. I’m covered with sweat and I can hear my heart pounding in my ears.
Did I somehow cause this? Did I get Hannah arrested? Did I set Casey up to do something that turned out to be stupid?
What is all this about?
I go to Chief Gates’s office. His secretary stops me. “He’s in a meeting. He can’t see you now.”
“Please. It’s important that I sit in on the interrogation with Casey Cox’s sister. I need to know if Casey has contacted Hannah. I need to know why they’ve arrested her.”
“I can’t interrupt him,” she says. “I’m sorry.”
I think of kicking down his door, demanding that he help me, but I know that’s not the way to convince him I’m a professional. Instead, I go out into the hallway and find Jim Pace’s number. I call him and it rings three times. Finally, he picks up.
“Dylan? What’s going on? I saw the news report.”
“They’ve brought Casey’s sister in. I can’t get any information. Jim, I need you to call the chief and ask him to let me sit in on their interrogation.”
“Have you asked?”
“Yes, and the detectives don’t play well with others. I need to be there, Jim.” I know I need an ace in the hole to convince him, so I pull one out. “Look, they’ve clearly uncovered something that could lead us to Casey. She’s very close to her sister. I need to know what it is so I can find her.”
Jim hesitates for a moment, then says, “Has the chief told you no?”
“Not yet. He’s in a meeting. I can’t get in there to see him. You have his cell phone number, don’t you? Can’t you call him?”
“Yes,” he says. “Just hang on. I’ll get back to you. Where will you be?”
“Right here, in the hallway in front of his office,” I say.
“Okay. Let me see if I can get him.”
I wait, pacing up and down the hall, doing the breathing exercises my shrink gave me, trying to make my heart rate slow. I feel that illogical sense of panic like I did after the explosion—as I groped around trying to save my friends. It’s not the same, I know, but I’m sweating and feel like I’m on high alert, waiting for the next blast to go off, waiting for gunfire, mortar fire, waiting for something . . .
When my phone chimes, I jump. It’s Jim, but as he calls, I hear footsteps in the chief’s office, and he leans out into the hall. “Dylan, Jim said you were here. Go on up. I’ve called Keegan and told him to let you in.”
I let out a breath. “Thank you. I really need to be there.”
“I agree. Sorry for the confusion.”
My phone is still ringing, so I swipe it on. “Jim, you did it. He’s letting me sit in. I’m heading up there now.”
“Let me know what you find out,” Jim says. “Call me as soon as you can.”
“Will do.”
I head back up the stairs and hurry down the hallway. When I knock on the door, it flies open. Keegan stares at me, his jaw set. He steps out into the hall and closes the door behind him. “Just because you have an in with the chief doesn’t mean you belong here. We do the questioning. You don’t say a word.”
“All right.”
“I don’t know why you couldn’t just watch through the glass, but the chief says let you in, so come on in.” He sounds like a circus master as he says those last three words.
I follow him into the room, and see Hannah’s face change. Is that hope? I fear she’s going to cry out for me to help her, but surely she’s wise enough not to. I sit down, arms crossed, as they resume their questioning. It doesn’t take long for me to realize that they don’t have anything on her. They’re really just filling time.
This was all to lure Casey out of hiding.