The three of us stood with our faces pressed against the glass. The air vents directly above piped frigid air over us. The two-way mirror felt like ice on my skin. The tension in the room immobilized us where we stood. Seth appeared on the verge of confessing, or at the very least, placing himself close enough to the crime scene that he’d be upgraded from person of interest to a full-blown suspect. Cassie had her doubts, and so did I. Seth didn’t have the look of a man who could kill three and kidnap another. Then again, they didn’t always look like you expected.
Pennington said, “Seth, I can’t promise something like that until I hear what you have to say. I mean, if you tell me you went in there and murdered those women, there’ll be consequences. I’m sure you understand there has to be. This is the kind of case where the DA will recommend the death penalty. That being said, confessing now will greatly help your chances of avoiding serious punishment.”
“I ain’t did it, man,” Seth said. Tears were falling now. “Christ, it wasn’t me.”
“Okay, so what’s this about then?” Pennington’s voice rose in anger. He was getting tired of the run around.
“I went over that night, like you said. My apartment was rented, and I had nowhere else to go. Most times, I’d just find a quiet spot and sleep outside. No one really bothers you if you’re in the right area. But the rain started. When I checked my phone and saw the size of the storm that was coming, I mean, shit, I knew I had to get somewhere.”
“You hadn’t heard anything about the hurricane prior to those first few drops?”
“Nah.”
“How?”
“Don’t pay attention to the news.”
“You don’t listen to the radio?”
“Why would I?” Seth lifted one eyebrow and looked at Pennington as though the detective had stepped out of a time capsule. “I got all the music I need on my phone.”
The guy epitomized everything that they say is wrong with millennials.
“All right, okay, Seth. I’m feeling it. But why not check into a hotel?”
Seth shrugged and looked a little surprised. Hadn’t he considered it?
“Well,” Seth said, “I figured just like you thought, being trapped in a hurricane gave me an opportunity to get back in with Alice.”
“How long had it been since you’d seen her?”
“Seen? Or touched?”
“Both.”
Seth looked toward the ceiling, calculating dates and times. “I’d seen her only a week before, leaving the library. She went over to Leopold’s with two of her roommates.”
“Did you talk to her?”
He shook his head. “Nah, I know better than that. She was with her friends, so I kept on my way.”
“Okay, so when was the last time you were in contact with her.”’
“It’s been a few weeks. Fifteen days before she disappeared, I’d say.”
“And what happened?”
“The usual, I guess. She let me in. We did, uh, our thing.” The left side of his face scrunched up, like he was trying to explain to his grandmother what happened in that room. “I tried to talk to her afterward, and she asked me to leave.”
“Nice gig for her, huh? Lets you in when she’s got nothing better on tap, then gives you the boot.”
Seth narrowed his eyes. “I guess. I’m getting something out of it, though.”
“I’m sure you are, Seth.” Pennington’s lips twitched again. He was working overtime to keep from laughing at this clown.
“Anyway, that’s the last time I spoke to her. I mean, I tried calling, but she wouldn’t answer. I left a couple messages. None were returned.”
I nudged Cervantes with my elbow. “Messages?”
“Nothing exciting,” he said. “We checked it out already.”
Nodding, Pennington said, “Let’s get back to the night of the storm. You knew you had to get inside, and didn’t bother with a hotel or shelter. Did you try a friend’s house?”
“What I was saying earlier was kinda true.” Seth leaned back in his chair, crossed his left leg over his right knee. He was getting comfortable. Letting his guard down. Was Pennington enough of a shark to take advantage? Seth continued. “I did go by a friend’s house, and they weren’t there. But there wasn’t any spare key. I tried a few windows and the terrace door, but they were all locked.”
“And you did what after that?”
“Alice’s. I went to her place.”
“Did you walk? Take the bus? Drive there?”
“I rode a bike.”
“Through the storm?”
Seth shrugged and said nothing.
Pennington shook his head, exhaled, and refocused. “What did she say when she saw you?”
“She never saw me.”
“Why not?”
Cassie drew in a sharp breath about the same time as Cervantes. This was what we were waiting for. Seth was about to deliver the money shot.
Seth leaned forward and tapped the table with his index finger. “‘Cause by the time they got to the house, it was raining so hard they ran from the car to the front door. All five of them.”
“Five, you say. Who? Tell me as though I know nothing about the residents of this house.”
“Her, her three roommates, and that dude.”
“What dude?” Pennington did well to hide his apprehension. It was best to string it out, let Seth recount it as he remembered it. And then ask him again.
“The one that slut brought home.” Seth leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. He held his head high, lips pursed.
“Did you get a good look at him?”
Seth shook his head as he lifted his hands in the air. As he let them fall, he wiggled his fingers. “The rain, man. It was like a plastic sheet. I can tell you he was about a head taller than her, but other than that, I don’t know if he was old, young, bald, whatever.”
“Was he white?”
Seth leaned back and glanced up at that spot on the ceiling where the inner recesses of his memory resided. “Yeah, he was. I could tell that.”
“So what happened next?”
Seth picked up his cup and turned it over. “I need some more water.”
Pennington looked back and nodded. Cervantes exited the room, leaving the interrogation on hiatus until he returned with a pitcher of ice water. He left it on the table, then rejoined Cassie and me on the other side of the glass.
Pennington filled Seth’s cup. We all waited while the guy took his time sipping on it.
“All right,” the detective said. “You’re re-hydrated. So now tell me what happened after they went inside.”
“I went to the door, the front one, and tried to get in. It was locked. I checked the flower pot, but the spare was gone. Guess she removed it after the last time I went over.”
“Thought you said she invited you in.”
Seth shrugged. “Kinda. I guess I showed myself in, and that was good enough for Alice. It wasn’t the first time, either, so don’t start thinking I did something wrong.”
“The door was locked the night of the hurricane. No key.”
“Right, yeah. I went to the back. Same thing. Power was out, so I couldn’t see anything through the windows. Checked each one. Either the curtains were drawn, or the darkness was too…dark.”
“How long did all this take?” Pennington shot a glance at his watch.
“Fifteen minutes, maybe?”
“You must’ve been soaked by this point.”
“Yeah, I was.”
“So what’d you do next?”
“The storm was getting bad. I went down the street and stopped at every house that had a garage until I found one I could get into.”
“What’d you want with a garage? Refuge from the storm?”
Seth slumped in his chair, eyes focused on the table. “Yeah, I mean, for a while.”
“How long?”
“An hour. Maybe two.”
“Must’ve been tough in there,” Pennington said. “Knowing that your girlfriend was in that dark house with some strange man.”
He was baiting the young guy. Judging by Seth’s reddening cheeks, it was working.
“They were all wet from the rain,” Pennington said. “Get to the house, guy has no clothes. Alice offers him something from her closet. Heck, maybe a pair of shorts you left behind. Can you imagine that? She helps him change into your old clothes.”
Seth said nothing. Kept his eyes focused on a scratch on the table. His expression told a different story, though. His eyebrows knitted together while his nostrils flared wide.
“Wonder if she even got dry clothes back on him? But you probably weren’t thinking about that, were you?”
Seth balled his fists and hit the table. “Yeah I was thinking about that. I stewed on that the whole time I was in there. What the hell was she thinking? I mean, I was right there, available, and she knew it. She knew I’d be over. She asked me to come over, man. And she still brought some asshole home.”
Pennington remained quiet as Seth shifted in his chair.
“And all around me, in that dark, ass-smelling garage, all these tools.”
“And what’d you do?”
“I took a big ass knife off the wall and went back out into the storm.”