CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ella sized up Jared Novak through the two-way mirror.
He sat at the interrogation table with his head hung low like a dog that had crapped on the rug.
He propped his elbows on the scuffed laminate and raked his hands through his hair over and over again, as though any second the magic switch in his brain would flip and make him remember how the hell he got here.
‘Doesn’t exactly look comfortable in there, does he?’ said Sergeant Fields.
‘Can’t blame him. I wouldn’t be either if the police burst through my door.’
Fields gave her the side-eye. ‘Ripley said the figurine’s from a music box this guy gave his ex. That’s the connection?’
Ella watched Jared heave a ragged sigh and glance around the room, from the peeling walls to the lights, but he refused to land on the empty chair across from him. The chair reserved for her.
‘Jared Novak, 26, ex-boyfriend of Rose Michaels. He gave her a music box when they first got together, and that music box had a snowman on it. Rose donated it the box a few months ago after the custody battle. We don’t know where.
The snowman from that music box turned up sealed to the necklace of Amber Holloway. ’
‘He got a history?’
‘Nope. No priors, not even a parking ticket. On paper, he’s clean as a whistle.’
Ripley ambled closer with a steaming Styrofoam cup in hand. ‘Doesn’t mean a thing. Everyone’s clean until their first.’
‘She’s right. Even Ted Bundy worked a suicide prevention hotline.’ Ella adjusted the folder under her arm. ‘We need to be careful what we say, because we can only hold this guy for 24 hours. I’ll go in and see what I can wrangle out of him.’
Ripley said, ‘What about the kid?’
‘He’s been with Novak’s mom since yesterday.’
It could mean nothing, because grandparents took kids all the time. Or it could mean that Jared Novak had cleared his schedule the night two women were strangled.
‘You want me in there?’ asked Ripley. ‘Or just watching from the bleachers?’
Ella considered. Ripley could be an effective battering ram when a perp needed softening up, but her presence ran the risk of making Jared shut down. She needed him talking, not turtling.
‘Let me take a run at him solo. He might be chattier if it’s just us youngsters.’
‘Keep dreaming.’
‘Hey, I’m only a few years older than his ex. If he’s the type I think he is, it’ll infuriate him that I was the one who brought him here. And fury means mistakes, and mistakes mean slip-ups.’
‘Give him enough rope to hang himself,’ Fields said. ‘How much evidence we got on this guy? Lay it out for me.’
‘A figurine from a music box he gave to his ex-girlfriend was found on our first victim. The second victim was his ex-girlfriend. They had a custody war that he won, and her sister says made vague physical threats.’
‘So why kill the first girl? What’s Amber Holloway got to do with anything?’
‘We don’t know yet. But the figurine is the link. He either gave Rose that music box knowing he’d use it later, or he tracked it down after she donated it. Either way, a piece of his gift ended up glued to a dead woman.’
‘And why leave it behind at all? Why not just strangle the girl and go home?’
‘We’re working on that, but I’ve got two theories. One, it was a middle finger. Or two, it’s a double-bluff. Like signing his name at the scene to give the impression someone is framing him.’
Fields sighed and said, ‘Worked for Charles Manson.’
‘Well, it didn’t, because cops saw right through it. But what killer is stupid enough to leave his own property on a victim? Nobody. Which is exactly what his lawyer will argue if this ever gets to court.’
‘Did he put up a fight?’
‘No. He came willingly. A coward like this, I didn’t expect him to go down all guns blazing, but I didn’t expect him to waltz right into the back of my car either. He seemed pretty beat up when we told him Rose Michaels was dead.’
‘Could be a performance. Like he’s trying to prove how innocent he is.’
‘Yup.’
Fields nodded and stepped back from the glass. ‘Get it done. I’ve got my captain wanting updates every hour, and the last thing I need is two unsolved strangulations on my desk when this Creed transfer kicks off.’
‘On it.’ She turned to her partner. ‘Mia, keep a close eye from out here. See if you can spot any signs of deceit, and drop the temp in that room to zero. I want it like an ice box in there.’
‘You got it. Good luck.’
Ella took a moment to shake off Ella Dark the woman and slip into Ella Dark the interrogator. Time to find out what was really going on here.
***
Jared’s head snapped up as Ella entered. She dropped into the chair across from him and fixed him with a stare.
‘Jared Novak, we need to talk.’
‘Yes we do. Why am I sitting here freezing my ass off?’
‘There are more important things to worry about than that.’ Ella laid her folder on the table. ‘Tell me about your relationship with Rose Michaels.’
‘Tell me what happened to her first.’
If he wanted to go full throttle, Ella was happy to oblige. She rifled through the folder and found a close-up of Rose Michaels’ body. She slid it across the table to Jared.
He scooped it up, squinted, then suddenly threw the photograph back at Ella. ‘What the f…. is this real?’ Jared’s mouth dropped open, then he glanced around the interrogation room as though a camera crew might manifest. Unfortunately for him, this was no prank.
‘It’s very real. Rose Michaels was discovered dead this morning. In an alley off Natkin Way. You know it?’
Jared pushed his chair back and then waved his hands in a frenzy. ‘No, no, wait. This is…. I mean, yes I know Natkin Way, but…’
The words spilled out but they told Ella nothing. Jared’s body language seemed consistent with someone learning tragic news for the first time, and she didn’t like that.
‘I’m sorry to tell you this, Jared.’
He scooted forward on his chair then buried his face in his palms. He scrubbed his forehead violently, then looked up at the ceiling. ‘Rose. Dead. I can’t…’
‘Can’t what?’
‘Can’t believe it. Who would do this? Why?’
Ella leaned back and folded her arms. ‘Why don’t you help me out with that? Rumor has it you and her had a turbulent relationship.’
Jared took a minute to compose himself, probably choosing his words carefully. Ella didn’t mind the wait – she still had twenty-three hours and fifty minutes left with him.
‘Who told you that?’
‘Does it matter?’
‘Lily? I’m not surprised.’
‘Is it true?’
Jared slid the crime scene photo back in his direction, perhaps out of some masochistic urge, perhaps a way to admire his handiwork. Both were plausible right now. ‘Yeah, our relationship got ugly, but that was only because of Rose. She left me.’
‘You sure about that? We heard differently.’
‘I’m not saying I was perfect, but Rose had her issues too. Manic depressive. Suicidal thoughts. I couldn’t have my kid around that.’
In a weird way, Ella saw his point, but everyone was the hero in their own story. Few people had the self-awareness to realize when they were the villain. ‘And you took full custody?’
‘Every weekday. I didn’t want Leo living in that tiny apartment with Rose and her sister. Not when he could live in a decent house, close to his nursery, no chance of him finding a dirty needle on the sidewalk.’
‘And how’d you feel about Rose now?’
Jared looked at the photo and shook his head. Ella could see the pressure building behind his eyes, like one little twist of the handle could unleash the waterworks.
‘This is… I don’t know what to say. I wanted Rose to get better. I wanted her to be a good mom. I didn’t want… this. How am I gonna tell a two-year-old that his mom isn’t around anymore?’
Ella identified the parental anxiety, despite never feeling it herself. One thing Ella couldn’t doubt was Jared’s love for his kid, but even Albert Fish, the world’s most sadistic child murderer, had been a decent dad.
‘I’m really sorry,’ she said as she reached into her pocket. She pulled out the figurine left on Amber Holloway’s body
‘Recognize this snowman?’
Jared squinted at it, then nodded. ‘Yeah. That’s from a music box I got for her. Well, I got it for Leo, but Rose liked it.’
‘Any idea what happened to it after you and Rose broke up?’
‘No idea. She took it with her.’
‘Ever seen it since?’
‘No. Why would I have?’
Ella found another picture in the folder and passed it to Jared. It was a full-body shot of the first victim. ‘Amber Holloway. Recognize her?’
Jared inspected the photo, and there was none of the earlier grief Ella had seen on his face. ‘Holloway? No. I don’t know her.’
‘Take a closer look at her neck.’
Jared did. ‘A necklace.’
‘What’s on the necklace?’
‘A… oh Christ. Is that from Rose’s box?’
‘Yes. We found the figurine off that music box around the neck of a dead girl this morning. Any idea how it could have gotten there?’
Jared stared at the photo like it was a venomous snake about to strike. His face drained of color and left him a sickly shade of grey. ‘I don’t... I have no idea. I swear to God, I’ve never seen this girl before.’
Ella leaned forward, elbows on the table, invading his space. ‘See, I find that hard to believe, Jared. This thing just magically ends up on a dead woman’s body? That’s one hell of a coincidence.’
‘It is a coincidence! Or someone’s trying to set me up!’
‘And who would want to do that? Who’s got it in for you so bad they’d kill two women to pin it on you?’
‘I don’t know. Rose’s psycho sister? One of Rose’s new guys?’
Ella had to admit, Jared’s confusion and desperation seemed genuine. She’d grilled enough perps to know the difference between authentic bewilderment and acting. But she couldn’t let him see her doubts.
‘Or maybe you’re exactly what you look like. Someone with a history of abusing women, who finally escalated from emotional torment to physical violence.’
'That's insane! I never laid a hand on Rose or any woman. I'm not a monster.'
Ella had played her ace. An accusation. And Jared had responded exactly how an innocent man would. She didn’t like this at all.
‘Where were you last night?’
‘What time?’
‘Between ten PM and one AM.’
Jared glanced up and to the right, suggesting he was recalling a visual memory, not an invented memory. Another nail in the coffin for any guilt this guy might have.
‘Let me think. I picked Leo up from daycare about six, then went back to mine. He fell asleep about seven, but woke up at nine. Then I took him to my mom’s at ten PM.
She was having him all day today, but I took him last night to save time.
Then she picked him up from daycare. That’s where he is now. ’
Ella looked over at the two-way glass and gave the silent signal for Ripley to hit up Jared’s mother and check the alibi. ‘And after that?’
‘I had a flooring job up in Baton Rouge. I lay hardwood and tile. Me and my partner, Danny Briggs, took the van up there last night. We both slept in it so we could get an early start. Danny can vouch for me. He was in the passenger seat the whole drive up and sleeping three feet away from me all night. We started the job at six this morning and got back about four this afternoon.’
She sucked in a breath and held it. She could pick holes in body language and microsignals, but she couldn’t pick holes in airtight alibis, and if Jared Novak was in another city from last night until this afternoon, he wasn’t her man.
Her instincts were pinging, and while she’d made mistakes in the past, she was usually bulletproof when it came to recognizing innocence.
Something about Jared’s reaction felt genuine, from his shock at seeing Rose dead to his desperate denials. If this was an act, it was a good one.
‘You know anyone who could have gotten their hands on this figurine?’
‘No. I haven’t seen it since we broke up.’
Ella pulled out the second evidence bag. The ballet dancer. She set it on the table.
‘What about this? Ever seen it before?’
Jared looked at it. He turned the bag over and examined the figure from every angle, and Ella watched for the faintest spark of recognition.
She didn’t catch any.
‘No,’ he said. ‘That’s not from the music box. I don’t know what that is.’
Ella believed him. She scooped everything up and stood.
‘We’re going to check your alibi. If it holds, you can go.’
‘Please find who did this to Rose.’
‘That’s the plan.’ Ella made for the door. She still had a long way to go, and it wouldn’t be long before she was ushered onto a plane with Austin Creed and sent back to D.C. She couldn’t live without knowing the truth, so she had to work fast.