The ride back to the precinct was quiet and uncomfortable. Penner tried making small talk but Millar just stared out the window. Penner really couldn’t blame him. If he had nothing to do with any of this, he must feel hurt and insulted that he was being investigated. If he did have something to do with the murders, he was looking at years in prison, and prison is no place for a cop. When they arrived, Penner decided to park in her normal parking spot instead of bringing Millar through the prisoner entrance. She really didn’t think he was going to try and run. Even with all the circumstantial evidence, she just couldn’t believe that Millar was capable of doing something like this. She parked her car and turned off the engine.
‘You run, I shoot,’ Penner said, half joking.
‘I’m not going anywhere.’ Millar opened the door and got out of the car. ‘Like I said, I have nothing to hide.’ He gave Penner a direct look. ‘Let’s get this over with.’
They took the elevator to the second floor and Penner unlocked one of the interrogation rooms. ‘Want a coffee or anything?’ Penner asked.
‘Yeah, thanks. Coffee would be great. Oh, and something to eat if you could?’ Millar said sitting down.
‘I’ll see what I can find in the kitchen, and I’ll let the Captain know we’re here,’ Penner said, turning to leave the room. ‘I’m really sorry about this, Terry, but…well, you know.’
‘I know. You’re just doing your job, right?’ Millar said. ‘Don’t worry about it. If we’d found the bodies by a statue named Sue and by a statue of a writer, it’d be you sitting here.’
Penner shut the door behind her as she left and watched Millar through the one-way glass for a minute. He just sat there, staring straight ahead. He wasn’t fidgeting or talking to himself like a lot of guilty parties do, he was just sitting. ‘God, I hope we’re wrong,’ she said to herself as she left to go to the kitchen.
Penner poured two cups of coffee and bought a sandwich out of the vending machine. As she bent down to pick it out of the drawer on the bottom of the machine, she heard someone come into the kitchen behind her.
‘Hi, Detective.’ It was Grant. ‘The evidence bags have been brought to forensics. They said they’re going to get someone working on them right away. I told them it was a rush based on the Captain’s orders.’
‘I guess that’s not a complete lie,’ Penner said. ‘Can you give me a hand bringing these back to interrogation? I’ll probably drop one of the coffees if I try juggling everything.’
‘No problem. Let me just pour one for myself.’ Grant grabbed the coffee pot and took a mug down from the shelf. ‘So, how did he seem on the ride over? You think he did it?’
‘He seemed pissed, but not stressed or guilty or anything,’ Penner said. ‘I really don’t think he had anything to do with it, but I guess we’ll find out.’
Grant finished pouring his coffee, grabbed one of the cups from Penner and they made their way back to the interrogation room. The Captain was waiting for them, staring through the window.
‘He hasn’t moved since I got here,’ the Captain said. ‘Oh, thanks, Constable,’ he added, taking one of the coffees from Grant.
‘Um, no problem, sir. I’ll go grab another,’ Grant hesitated. ‘So, who’s doing the questioning?’
‘I am,’ the Captain said.
‘I’ll be in there, too,’ said Penner quickly.
‘Don’t think so, Detective,’ the Captain said. ‘You two are too close. I think it would be best if you stay out here and just watch. You, too, Constable. Stay out here and observe. I need to make him feel like he and I are just having a chat. And I don’t think he’d open up if there were more than one of us in there. Besides, Constable, I’ve heard he isn’t too keen on you, after the search.’
Penner was disappointed that she couldn’t be in the room, but she understood the Captain’s reasoning. For now, she’d have to be content with watching and listening from the hall.
‘I’ll just give him the coffee and sandwich,’ Penner said. She went into the room, put them on the table beside Millar and patted him on the shoulder before walking back out to the hall.
‘Right, let’s see what he has to say,’ the Captain said, one hand on the door. ‘If I have any questions for the two of you, I’ll come out and see you.’ He went into the interrogation room and closed the door behind him.
Grant pulled out his notebook to take notes as a young officer walked by. ‘Constable!’ Grant called out. ‘Can you get me a coffee, black? I have to stay here for this interview.’
‘Sure thing, Detective,’ the Constable answered, running off to the kitchen. Penner looked over at Grant and raised an eyebrow.
‘Get a lot more respect in here when you wear a suit, eh?’ Grant said.
‘Seems that way, Detective,’ Penner said. ‘Even in that suit.’
The Captain sat down in the chair across from Millar. ‘I really never expected to be conducting an interview like this,’ he said.
‘That makes two of us, sir,’ Millar said, taking a bite of the sandwich. He had to force himself to chew and swallow. There was a very good reason he didn’t eat out of vending machines.
‘So, things aren’t looking too good, Terry,’ the Captain started. ‘Way too many coincidences for my liking, ya know.’
‘I really don’t know what to tell you, sir, other than I had nothing to do with these murders. Someone must be trying to frame me,’ Millar said.
‘Right. Okay, let’s start with where you were during each of the murders, alright?’ the Captain said. ‘The first murder, Mrs. Wong, right? Where were you before the call came in?’
‘I was at work, sir. Then I went for a run. I was just finishing up when I got the call,’ Millar said.
‘And what time did you leave work?’ the Captain asked.
‘I don’t know, off the top of my head. I’ve been working a lot of long days recently. I’d have to check my notebook,’ said Millar.
‘Here.’ The Captain slid a notebook across the table over to Millar.
‘What’s this?’ Millar asked, opening the book. It was his. ‘Where did you get this?’ he asked, rather surprised that the Captain had it.
‘From your office. It was on your desk. I picked it up on my way here. Don’t worry, I didn’t read it,’ the Captain said.
‘Isn’t that an illegal search, sir? I didn’t see mention of this in the warrant that Penner and her little helper executed.’ Millar was upset.
‘Illegal? Hardly,’ the Captain said. ‘It’s police issue, in my precinct. Anything inside these walls that comes from the precinct, I’m in charge of, so it’s fair game for me to take.’
‘I really don’t think that’s right, sir. I think this is considered my property, in my office,’ Millar argued.
‘Oh, is that what you think?’ The Captain pushed back his chair and stood up. ‘Fine.’ He snatched the book back from Millar. ‘I’ll put this back in your office, if you like. Then, I’ll go and get a warrant for it, while you sit here and wait. How’s that sound, eh? At this time in the evening, shouldn’t take more than ten or twelve hours to get it signed off on. So you can just sit here waiting while I go home and have a nice sleep in my bed. Sound good to you, Detective?’
Millar had never seen the Captain like this. It was the first time he had seen him deal with a ‘suspect’. He always just thought of him as a figure head, sitting in his office, signing papers, going to budget meetings. He didn’t know if he was impressed or a little scared. With the Captain standing over him, he didn’t need to think for very long. ‘Fine, a warrant won’t be needed, sir.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ the Captain said, sitting back down and giving Millar the notebook back. ‘So, the night of the first murder.’
Millar opened up the book and flipped through the pages until he came to the day in question. He scanned the page. ‘So, I was in the office until around eleven thirty. Then I drove to my neighbourhood and went for a run down by the river. At the end of my run, I got the call from dispatch.’
‘Anyone see you leave the office?’ the Captain asked.
‘Don’t think so, sir. I had been working with Penner during the day but she left before I did, I think. You’d have to ask her what time she left,’ Millar said, looking back at his notes.
‘Right. We should be able to verify that with the cameras at security, but that won’t be until tomorrow.’ The Captain made a note in his own book. ‘Right. See anyone on your run?’
‘No, sir, not that I remember. Where I live, it’s usually pretty quiet at that time of the night,’ said Millar.
‘So, you left here about forty minutes before the body was first noticed, and you don’t have any one who can vouch for your whereabouts,’ the Captain said, writing something else in his book. ‘So, the second murder, you say you were out of town, correct?’
‘I was out of town, sir,’ Millar said. There was something he didn’t like about the Captain’s tone.
‘Well, the problem is, Detective, no one can say that they actually saw you where you said you were going.’ The Captain continued, ‘I did some phoning around today, and I was able to confirm that you got on a plane from here during the day, but the conference you were supposed to speak at was cancelled. And there’s no record of you taking a flight home, so I can’t say for certain what time you got back in town.’
‘I didn’t take a plane home, sir,’ Millar said.
‘Oh, no? But there was a ticket bought for you, wasn’t there?’ the Captain asked, referring to his notes.
‘There was, for the next day. But I decided I didn’t want to wait around that long, so I ended up getting a ride back,’ Millar said.
‘A ride? From who?’ the Captain asked.
‘Well, I took a cab to the event centre where the conference was being held. I hadn’t heard that it was cancelled,’ Millar began. ‘When I got there, the doors were all locked, so I called my agent to find out what was going on. He told me he had just gotten a call from the organizers and they’d had to cancel. My cab had already left, so I was just standing there trying to figure out what I was going to do when someone came up to me, a guy named Wayne. He’s a cop in another district and he was there for the conference. He recognized me from the photo on the back of one of my books. Anyway, we got talking. After a while he told me he had a rental and, if I wanted, he could drive me back home. He was passing this way anyway. I figured a ride would be better than spending the night in a hotel and waiting around for the flight the next day, so that’s what I did.’
‘That’s not what he told me,’ Penner thought to herself from the other side of the glass.
‘Okay, so you got a ride with a Wayne,’ the Captain said, taking notes. ‘Wayne who?’
Millar thought for a second. ‘I don’t remember. I think it started with a ‘G’, but I really don’t know, sir.’ Millar realized this didn’t look too good.
‘Alright. We’ll see if we can get in touch with the organizers to get a list of people who were supposed to attend,’ the Captain said, taking more notes. ‘You’re not making this easy. So, the third?’
Millar knew the Captain wasn’t going to like his response. ‘Well, sir, I wasn’t working that night, so I don’t have any notes. I know I got home about forty-five minutes or so before I got the call from dispatch.’
‘Anyone vouch for where you were?’ the Captain asked, doubtful.
‘Not really, sir. Tina was there when I got home, but that’s it really,’ Millar said. He decided that if he was the one doing the interview, he would have thought the guy in his chair was guilty as could be.
The Captain rubbed his temples. ‘Alright, so let’s talk about the victims. Did you know them personally?’
‘Not personally, sir,’ Millar said. ‘I know they all had daughters that wrestled, so I may have seen them around before, but, honestly, I’ve never gone to very many of Tina’s matches. I don’t remember if I ever even spoke to them or not. It’s possible, but who knows.’
‘So, again, just a coincidence that three women that were in your personal circle, even if not closely, would end up dead, in front of statues that seem to point to your name and street? And they all died by a weapon that was similar to one that you had possession of at your house?’ Laying it all out like that, the Captain didn’t know what to think.
‘Like I told Penner earlier, sir, someone must be setting me up. I didn’t do any of this! I certainly wouldn’t leave behind clues that pointed to me. And what would I have to gain?’ Millar asked.
‘Well, based on the partial profile Constable Grant came up with, you could have been having an affair with one or more of the victims,’ the Captain said. ‘Maybe something happened that made you mad and you decided to get rid of them?’
Millar put both hands flat on the table and his voice rose. ‘You’re seriously going to accuse me of murder based on a profile done by Constable Grant? He’s hardly qualified to tie his own shoes let alone come up with a reliable profile!’ Millar yelled.
‘Ouch,’ Grant said to Penner out in the hall.
‘Well, okay, if someone set you up, then who?’ the Captain asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Millar started. ‘No, you know what, maybe it was Grant himself.’
‘What? Why would Constable Grant want to set you up?’ the Captain asked. Out in the hallway, Grant’s eyebrows raised in surprise, and he felt his face get hot as Penner looked over at him.
‘Well, to start with, he’s practically obsessed with me. He made a point of telling me that he has all my books and that he wanted me to autograph them.’ Millar ticked off his points on his fingers. ‘He’s trying to become a Detective and a profiler. What better way to advance your career than by solving a serial killer case, when the serial killer is a cop,’ Millar carried on. ‘Where was he for each of these murders, eh?’ Millar stood up and turned to the window. ‘Where were you? Talk about convenient. You’re the one to discover the first body—no one had called it in before. Then, on the last one, dispatch couldn’t reach you after the body was discovered because you were taking a shower? Why would you need to take a shower if you were supposed to work patrol at eleven? Wouldn’t you have showered before your shift?!’
‘Sit down!’ the Captain yelled at Millar.
‘Penner, arrest him!’ Millar yelled. The Captain stood up and grabbed Millar around the shoulders.
‘Sit down and shut up, Terry!’ the Captain said. He looked over as Penner ran into the room to try and help calm Millar down.
‘It must have been him!’ Millar repeated. ‘He has the same weapons. Check his alibis for the three cases!’
‘If you don’t shut up, I’m going to lock you up for the night!’ the Captain shouted. This finally got Millar’s attention and he sat back down. ‘Right, Penner, in the hall. Millar, sit here and try to think of some way to convince me you didn’t have anything to do with this, because right now…’ The Captain didn’t finish his thought. He and Penner went back out to the hall, leaving Millar alone in the room.
‘Penner, I want you to go in and see if you can find out anything. At least try and calm him down, alright?’ the Captain said. ‘As of right now, we have a lot of circumstantial evidence on him, probably enough to get an arrest warrant, but I don’t want to go there yet. Not until we’re a hundred percent sure. We’re going to have to do some more digging around in the morning.’
‘Are we keeping him overnight, sir?’ Penner asked, not liking the way things were going.
‘I haven’t decided yet. That really depends on the next hour or so,’ the Captain said. ‘Now, as for you,’ he turned to Grant, catching him off guard. ‘You and I are going to have a talk and you’re going to tell me where you were for each of the murders. I wouldn’t be doing Millar any favours if I didn’t fully investigate everyone. And,’ he added, ‘whether you like it or not, he made some valid points. Come with me.’
‘I had nothing to do with this, sir!’
‘Then this won’t take long, will it.’ The Captain walked down to a second interrogation room and unlocked it, waving for Grant to follow him inside.