They kept him waiting in the interrogation room, bored silly and the lights blinding. It was a dirty trick, and they’d stolen it straight from Mason. The theory was that it left people so restless that when they were asked questions, they would want to answer as fast as possible so they could get out of there.
After what felt like an hour, the door swung open and Captain Leanne Cox entered.
Mason tried to hide his surprise.
“What, you didn’t expect to see me?” she said, closing the door and pulling out a chair across from him. She’d had her hair cut to shoulder-length, which suited her, in a Dana Scully sort of way. “Detective Bill Harvey will no longer be handling your case. This means any little strings he might have pulled for you are now entirely severed.”
“Strings?”
Captain Cox flung open a file and scanned through the pages, ignoring his question.
“Why do you suddenly have it in for me, Captain?” Mason was forthright with his question, a sign of respect for the woman. And he did respect her, even if she was trying to research his connection to the victims.
“I have nothing against you personally, you understand.” She didn’t even look up, only sliding a file and two photographs across the desk. “But I have to do my job. So, tell me, did you know any of these victims?”
Mason looked at them, squinting and turning them to one side. He’d seen these photos before, but they were no less disturbing the second time around.
“Oh, don’t try to convince me these are new to you. We know you’ve been all over town. A step ahead of us every time, in fact. Do me a favor, and don’t try to play me for a fool.”
Mason sighed, handing them back. The last thing he wanted was to seem aggressive. “All right. Look, Bill came to me with this picture.” He pointed at the one of Johnny Walker. “You can imagine it drew quite a surprise.”
“Sure.”
“Naturally I wanted to investigate, see why my name was cropping up in such a disturbing way.”
“Understandable. Go on.”
“A trail of clues and a couple of interviews led me this far, and…” Mason wondered if he should mention Evie. Bill must have been looking for her by now, but was it on the record? “That’s all.”
“Fascinating, Mr. Black.” If she was turning to formalities, it was a bad sign. She leaned forward, clasping her hands together and resting her chin on her knuckles. “But what I would like to know is just how you knew where to start.”
“What?”
“You must’ve known something about this whole thing. Where did you go first? What exactly was your process?” She smiled from the corner of her mouth.
He filled her in on the details, omitting anything that might link him to last year’s incident with the Lullaby Killer. Captain Cox didn’t hesitate to mention that he’d failed to solve the case. He didn’t like the idea of explaining that he and Bill had buried him under a housing construction. He pictured the mangled corpse now, resting under the lawn while a young girl played with her dolls on the grass above. Wendell was still smiling.
“So, what now?” she asked, as if options were available.
“You tell me.”
The captain cleared her throat and rose from her chair, tucking the file away. “I’d like to keep you around until this thing is solved. That okay with you?”
The suggestion alarmed him. Not only would it mean abandoning his search of Evie, but it also opened up the possibility of Lady Luck growing bored and donating some evidence to the police. On the other hand, leaving would only make him seem all the more guilty. “Am I under arrest?”
“Not currently,” she said.
Mason stood up and brushed himself off. He must have looked a poor sight with the blood smears above his upper lip. “Then I have to leave. Excuse me.”
Cox stopped him on his way to the door, wrapping her fingers around his arm. “I’m going to get a warrant and come back, so don’t get comfortable.” She looked deep into his eyes, looking 10 percent sorry and 90 percent accusatory. “I’m onto you.”