“And you don’t follow the religion anymore?” asked Ella.
“Follow it? Hell no. I never believed any of it. It was cool, but it was obviously all bullshit.”
Ella felt the sincerity again. She watched his body language closely and saw no emotional or mental barriers in place. He genuinely didn’t follow the religion, and perhaps never did. The chances of him being this killer were looking less likely by the second.
“Are you aware there were two recent murders, both of which looked like something straight from a Santerian execution?”
“What?” Daniel asked. “Murders? Santerian? You gotta be shitting me.”
“I’m not. We have two men, both discovered dead in their homes with coins around their eyes.”
The suspect’s bottom lip began to quiver. In some people, that was a sign of guilt or an incoming confession. But Daniel kept his cool. “That’s insane. How were they killed?”
“Throats were slashed.”
“Crap. Well, that’s nasty, but I had nothing to do with it. Swear on my life.”
“You understand how much of a coincidence this is?” Ella asked. Right now, she was three-quarters sure Daniel wasn’t her man, but she needed evidence to take it to a whole. “A Santerian obsessive living a few miles from these murders. It’s hard for us to look past.”
Daniel began to pace. If he ran in the next few seconds, he was guilty. Ella kept a close eye on the direction his feet were facing.
“When were they killed?”
“April 27 and April 30. Sometime around one in the morning.”
Daniel backed up against the tree again. He looked back over the trees towards his house. “Last week?”
“Yes.”
“It couldn’t have been me. I was at my dad’s house in Greensboro. Me and all my brothers.”
“Really? You can verify that?” Greensboro was about three states away. Not impossible to get back from, but unlikely, Ella thought.
Daniel clenched his fist in success. “Yes! I still got my bus ticket too. Ask anyone. Dad, brothers, uncle. We even have some videos from the week.”
“We’ll need to see them, okay? It’s not that I don’t believe you, but we need evidence to exclude you.”
“I get it. I’ll show you everything.”
“We’ll send an officer to your home to get them. Please tell your mom to expect him,” Ella said. She felt a twinge of disappointment that she’d come so close only to reach a dead end, but in another way, she was glad that Daniel wasn’t her culprit. He seemed to be a lost soul still searching for his place in the world. She felt sympathy for him, not pity or disgust. She would probably never see him again, but she didn’t want to see his potential go to waste.
“Yeah, she’s a bitch sometimes. Can you show me any crime scene photos?” he asked.
Ella couldn’t quite believe his boldness. “Afraid not. That’s confidential.”
Daniel stuffed his hands in his pockets. He bent his shoulder back and it cracked loudly. “Ouch. Well, can I just ask one question?”
“Go ahead.”
“You said you found the coins in the guys’ eyes right?”
“Yes.”
“Heads or tails?”
“Very funny.”
“No, I mean it. Which side was showing outwards?”
Now that Ella thought about it, she didn’t know. That wasn’t something she thought was necessary, but now that Daniel mentioned it, it could be an important factor. “Damn, I don’t actually know. Let me check.”
She pulled out her phone, swiping away a few messages from Mark in the process. She pulled up the crime scene photo she needed.
“Heads.”
“Aha. Well, you need to research better, because Santerians don’t show heads.”
Ella couldn’t quite believe she hadn’t taken that part into account. It was probably crucial to his ritual. She silently cursed herself. “They don’t?”
“Nu-huh. When they make sacrifices, it’s always the tail side that faces outward. It’s symbolic. They want the hounds of hell constantly chasing their sacrifices in the afterlife. The demons of hell chase your tail, you see?”
“Oh, damn. I didn’t know that. Thank you for clearing that up.” That changed everything, Ella thought. Maybe she’d been on a wrong path from the start with this theory. And to think that poor Daniel was almost killed because of her ideas. Shame knotted up her stomach like a coiled snake and for a second, she couldn’t look the boy in the eye. She was ready to scratch off everything and start again from new, as much as it would hurt to do so.
“Yeah, and throat slitting? Another no-no. Santerians cut their victims through the heart. Never anything else.”
Another blow, but by now, a welcome one. Ella needed to get back and collect her thoughts. “Thank you, Daniel. You’ve been a great help, and I’m sorry about my partner. Shall we head back?”
They began walking back from where they came. “Sure. Don’t worry about your partner. Shit happens. I’ll be around when the cops come. And good luck with everything.”
“You too. And please, go back and finish your studies when you’re allowed. Don’t waste it.”
“Ha. Can’t afford it. You’ve seen where I live, right? I had a scholarship and blew it. Lost my shit, lost my scholarship. Simple as.”
“Go to another school. I grew up in a dive too, but my studies got me out of there. You don’t have to be a prisoner of your past.” Ella spotted Byford waiting in their cruiser at the edge of the road. “Here’s my ride. We’ll be in touch shortly.”
Daniel waved bye and walked past towards his home, ignoring Byford in the vehicle. Ella got in.
“Back to square one,” she said. “Come on, I’m ready to rest.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ella checked into the motel two streets away from the precinct. The clerk behind the desk handed her a key and told her that breakfast was served between six and nine. Byford was still at the precinct finishing some things off, but she’d hit a wall for the day. She could think no more, so decided it was time to get some rest.
She took the stairs for the exercise, noting the rich mahogany banisters on her way up. The motel was only a two-story building, probably with around fifty rooms in total. So far, she hadn’t seen another soul, only a clerk and a parking assistant. When she came to her floor, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, already knowing what name was flashing on her screen. Since she hadn’t replied to his last message, he’d sent her more messages than she thought possible. She’d only been away for a day, and he was already on her like a greyhound on a rabbit. It was all getting a bit much, even at this early stage.
Ella swiped her keycard in the door and entered her living quarters for the foreseeable future. She had a single bed, a nightstand, and a TV angled in the high corner of the wall. There were some questionable style decisions dotted around, particularly the red and yellow drapes, but she didn’t plan on spending a whole lot of time here anyway. Starting tomorrow, she had to crack this thing open. She had the knowledge and the skills to do it; she just needed to apply it.