Amanda and Trent set Lance Crane up in an interview room.
“Should I be getting myself a lawyer?”
“Only if you’ve done something wrong.” Amanda gave it two beats. “Did you?”
She was seated across the table from Lance, Trent next to her.
“I don’t think so.”
“We can play this one of two ways, Mr. Crane,” Amanda began. “One, you cooperate and we finish up here quick—which I suggest. Or two, you act coy, don’t answer questions and things become more complicated.”
“One, of course.” He splayed his palms open on the table, gesturing to that effect.
Normally she’d start from the beginning. She’d set up the interview by establishing the base of the conversation, asking questions, going from there. But if Lance was their killer, and he had Leanne and Gracie out there somewhere, she needed to get to them sooner than later. She reached into a file she’d brought in with her and pulled out a photograph of Leanne and Gracie. She pushed it across the table in front of Lance. “Do you know these people?”
Lance hesitated then relented, taking a look at the picture. He immediately shook his head. “I’ve never seen them before.”
“Is that your final answer?”
“It is.” The way he said it almost made it sound like he doubted himself.
Amanda took out a photo of Jill and Charlotte Archer. She put that in front of Lance. “What about them?”
“Nope. I’ve never seen them before either.”
“And them?” She presented a photo of the Riggs.
“No.”
“Then can you tell us how hairs from your black Lab got onto stuffed toys buried with them?” Amanda fudged the truth. His pup’s hairs hadn’t even been submitted for testing yet. But she had to shake him to get the answers she needed—and fast. She refused to accept she and Trent were too late, and Leanne and Gracie Reilly were already in a grave or awaiting burial.
Lance opened his mouth, shut it, swallowed roughly as if he were going to be sick. Even his complexion paled.
“You chose option one, Lance. Talk,” she pushed.
“I… I have no idea. I can’t even speculate. Maybe I should get that lawyer?”
“Again that’s up to you, Mr. Crane. But if you talk to us, we could work that in your favor with the judge.”
“Whoa, hold on there. Just to be crystal clear, what do you even think I did?”
“We think you killed these four.” She pointed to the pictures of the Archers and Riggs. “And that you may have them.” She jabbed her finger toward the Reillys. “We need to know what you’ve done with them.”
“What I’ve— I haven’t done anything with them. As I said, I’ve never seen them before.”
Amanda studied his face and his body language, and she read nervousness and anxiousness. It was tricky to decide whether he was covering guilt or not. “So if we searched your house we wouldn’t find any trace of them?”
“Absolutely not. And I’m tiring of these accusations. You want me to level with you, you level with me.” Lance, who struck Amanda as a rather quiet man, had been cornered and was pushing back.
She played the video from Corey’s Grocer showing the man approaching Leanne and Gracie Reilly. She paused it. “Do you know that man?”
“I can’t see his face.”
“Is that you, Mr. Crane?” she countered.
“No. I’ve never seen them, and I don’t know that guy either.”
His expression seemed sincere. His body language wasn’t defensive, and she believed him. Was he just skilled at hiding the truth? She took a photograph of the mystery man as captured on the Dumfries Elementary surveillance video. “Do you know him?”
Lance sighed loudly. “Please, what do you want from me?”
Amanda tapped the photograph and didn’t say a word.
“No, I’ve never seen him before.”
“So if we spoke to any of your neighbors they’ll never have seen him around your place before or going inside your house?”
“I’d certainly hope not.”
“All right, I’ll lay it out for you.” She leaned back and did just that in a cool, detached manner. “The Archers you know about. You probably heard about a second set of remains found in Prince Park.”
“I did. But I’m guessing these two are missing?” He pointed to the photo of the Reillys.
“That’s why we’ve been asking you where they are.”
A few beats of silence.
Amanda continued. “The man on the video walking away with them looks like it could be you.” Again, a bit of a stretch without seeing the face.
“So he’s a doppelganger? As sad and horrifying as this all is, I have nothing to do with this. Please believe me.”
Honestly, Amanda was thinking they had the wrong person. She turned to Trent. “Detective, could we talk in the hall for a moment?”
She and Trent headed for the door.
“Oh, please, don’t just leave me here. Talk to me. Can I go?”
“One minute, Mr. Crane.” Amanda got the door and held it open for Trent. She shut it behind him and said, “I don’t think he did this.”
“That makes two of us. But we can’t just cut him loose because of a feeling.”
“We certainly don’t have enough to pursue a warrant for his handspan or his finger size. I have dog hair, but it still needs to run through the lab.”
“I know.” Trent bit on his bottom lip. “This is frustrating as hell. Guess all we can do is ask if he’ll volunteer his DNA, let me measure his handspan and finger length, width. See where it takes us.”
“Let’s.” Amanda led the way back into the room, and they sat back down. “You claim you’re an innocent man, Mr. Crane. Would you do something for us?”
“If it gets me out of here.”
Trent took the measurements they were after. Neither was a match. He next swabbed Lance’s mouth for DNA, just for due diligence.
“You are free to go, Mr. Crane,” Trent told him. “For now.”
“Thank you.” Lance made haste leaving the room.
She wanted to punch something. Frustrating didn’t begin to touch how she felt. “While we’re busy banging our heads against a wall, Leanne’s and Gracie’s lives are on the line.”
“We’re doing the best we can.” He said it in such a confident and assuring manner, Amanda faced him.
For a few seconds, a moment passed between them that catapulted her back to her kitchen a few months ago. She turned away before her thoughts derailed her. Only one thing deserved her focus right now—getting to Leanne and Gracie. That’s if they were still out there to save.