“He claims to have a video of the killing,” Jessie said, trying not to rub it in. “We should get people on that ASAP. And that’s not the only reason I disobeyed orders, Captain.”
“I’m all ears,” he replied with raise eyebrows.
For half a second, Jessie debated whether to confide in him. But ultimately, if she wanted to keep herself and the people she cared about safe, she had no choice.
“I need you to shut the door for this,” she said quietly.
Decker looked more surprised than she’d ever seen him. But without another word, he walked over and closed the door.
She sighed deeply, and then began.
*
Jessie pretended her head wasn’t splitting in half.
She popped another ibuprofen as she watched Richard Kallas through a two-way mirror in the observation room. He sat cuffed to a bolted-down metal table in a Central Station interrogation room. His left eye was bandaged, though the doctor had said it would eventually heal. He was missing a tooth but nothing had been done about that yet.
It had been three hours since the attack at Kallas’s office and the world seemed very different now, though still not as safe as Jessie hoped. Since she didn’t know when she’d be free, she had called Kat Gentry, who had just returned from enjoying a multi-day date with Deputy Mitch Connor, the Lake Arrowhead liaison for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department.
She asked if Kat could relieve Garland Moses on the Hannah-watching front. But Garland instead offered to let her crash at his place. Jessie didn’t mind, as the more people she trusted around Hannah, the better.
Ryan was still at the hospital. Doctors were confident he could be released soon but wanted to keep him overnight as a precaution. They’d wanted her to stay too but she insisted on discharging herself to conduct this interrogation. She promised that she would return afterward and spend the night there so they could keep her under observation.
The Butters situation still weighed heavily on her mind. She wanted to talk to Kallas with a clear head but wasn’t sure she could until she got an update on that situation. As if on cue, Captain Decker stepped into the observation room and asked the camera tech to step out for a moment.
“What have you got for me?” she asked him hopefully.
“I can’t get into specifics,” he said quietly. “But it’s happening as we speak. We’ll know more by tomorrow.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s all I can share at this point,” he insisted. “The less you know right now, the better for you. Just trust that people are taking it seriously. You just focus on Kallas right now.”
“You sure I’m authorized to conduct this investigation? No one’s going to drag me out on a disciplinary charge in the middle of it?”
She knew it was a cheap shot but she’d held her tongue for this long and just couldn’t contain herself any longer.
“Don’t push it, Hunt,” he warned, though not unkindly. “Department policy requires that a detective be involved in any formal interrogation, so Trembley will be in there with you. But he knows that you’ll be taking the lead and won’t step on your toes.”
“Thanks, Captain,” she said as they left the room and stood outside the interrogation room door.”
“No problem,” he said. “Just remember, I’ll be watching. So please don’t stab him in the other eye.”
“I’ll try my hardest,” she assured him as she opened the door and stepped inside.
Detective Alan Trembley was already in there, as was one uniformed officer. Trembley smiled at her knowingly, oblivious to his own unkempt curly blond hair and the glasses halfway down the bridge of his nose. In addition to being boring, the guy was a bit scattered. But he’d come a long way since she’d first met him. More importantly right now, she knew he wouldn’t get in the way of what she needed to do.
She looked over at Kallas, who was staring at her dully.
“Is he medicated?” she asked Trembley.
“He is,” Kallas said before Trembley could reply. “But don’t let that stop you from attempting to outwit him. But before you try, I wanted to ask: how’s your detective buddy doing? No brain damage, I hope?”
Jessie smiled at him. Something about the guy’s smarm seemed pathetic when he wasn’t in his medical tower office.
“No new damage,” she told him. “He’s alert and remembers your attempt to murder him, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“I was purely concerned for his welfare,” Kallas said. “I want him to be in tip-top shape when I sue him for police misconduct for attacking me without warning in my place of business.”
Jessie leaned in and spoke slowly, relishing every word.
“Good luck with that. Oh, by the way, I just thought you should know—we have video from your office building showing Michaela leaving on three separate occasions, long after business hours.”
Kallas didn’t seem fazed.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Kallas insisted. “I agreed to see her at that time because she was worried about being recognized.”
Jessie nodded sympathetically.
“I see,” she said. “We also found video of a man in a hoodie driving your car about six blocks from Michaela’s place on the night of the murder.”
Kallas nodded expectantly.
“I’ve been meaning to file a police report about that. I think my car was stolen and taken for a joyride that night. I parked it on the street and when I found it the next morning, it was in a different spot and missing gas.”
He smiled as he said it, not even trying to sound convincing. Something about his brazen willingness to lie when the truth was obvious felt strangely familiar.
“How unfortunate that you didn’t file that report then,” Jessie noted.
“Here’s the thing, Jessie,” he said, leaning in himself now. “If you really had anything on me, you wouldn’t be in here right now trying to work me. This is a sign of your sad desperation. My attorney is going to have a field day with you.”
Jessie leaned back in her chair and studied him, wondering how he was able to compartmentalize the different parts of himself: the man in front of her now and the creature who had committed that vile act two nights earlier.
“I’m not desperate, Dick,” she said softly. “I just wanted to give you a chance to tell me how you did it in your own words. It will likely be your last chance. Once your lawyer gets here, you won’t have the chance. And I know you’re dying to.”
“This is the best you’ve got?” he asked haughtily, though his one working eye betrayed some apprehension. “You’re trying to bait me into some kind of false confession?”
“We found the video, Dick.”
“What?”
“The video of you assaulting and stabbing Michaela to death, we found it. Thanks for letting me know it existed. We might never have thought to look for something so depraved on our own. But because of your tip, we looked, and we found it in that innocuous-sounding computer file you titled ‘graft analysis.’ As you know, it’s definitive. You’ll be convicted. It’ll probably take the length of a sitcom episode for the jury to complete their deliberations.”