CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Bree entered the interview room. Chevy sat at the table, his handcuffs fastened to a metal ring in front of him. She faced him. “If I take off the cuffs, will you behave?”
“Yeah,” he said, as if he hadn’t just committed multiple acts of violence to escape police.
Matt came into the room just as Bree was unlocking the cuffs.
Chevy rubbed his wrists and glanced at Matt with respect. They were about the same height, but Matt had the physique of an action hero.
“This interview is being recorded.” Bree read the Miranda warning, slid an acknowledgment across the table, and handed Chevy a pen. He signed without reading. This was not the first time he’d been arrested, but his previous transgressions had been low-level infractions: disturbing the peace, vandalism, and trespassing. He’d been fired from a job at a warehouse. In retaliation, he had climbed the fence and spray-painted profanity on the building. He paid fines and did community service.
Bree leaned her forearms on the table. “So, where’s Jana?”
Chevy crossed his arms. “Already told you. I don’t fucking know.”
“Why were you in her apartment?” Bree asked.
Chevy emitted a disgusted sigh. “We already covered this.”
“We need to get your official answer,” Bree said.
“Jana”—Chevy drew out her name with the same inflection he’d used with the bitch earlier—“wouldn’t give my AirPods back.”
“How long did you live with her?” Bree asked.
“A few months.” He lifted a careless shoulder.
“Until ...” Bree waved a hand.
“Until she threw me out because I lost my job and couldn’t find another one fast enough.” A waft of beer breath accompanied his bitter tone.
Matt shifted forward. “When did you lose your job?”
“January.”
“Where did you work?” Matt asked.
“Electronics Depot.” Chevy stretched a shoulder. “I stocked shelves and shit.”
“Why did they fire you?” Matt asked.
Chevy shook his bangs out of his eyes. “I didn’t do anything. It was total bullshit. The manager was a bitch. I hate working for a woman. Put a woman in charge, and she becomes a man-hating dyke,” he said to Matt, with Bree—his female boss—who also held power over Chevy—sitting at that very table. This fact didn’t seem to occur to Chevy.
Oh, the irony.
“And you couldn’t find another job?” Matt confirmed.
Chevy blinked. “Well, I was trying to find a better one.”
Bree did not roll her eyes, but it took effort.
“But Jana tossed you out anyway?” Matt crossed his arms. “That doesn’t sound very supportive.”
“Right?” Chevy threw up both hands.
Matt played the sympathetic man’s man very well. He could tap into a suspect’s assholery and use it against him. The goal of an interview wasn’t to win or to obtain a confession; it was information. Sometimes, achieving that end was easier through commiseration rather than animosity, even if the process felt slimy. Bree pictured the three sets of remains on the ME’s tables. They needed to find Jana. She let Matt run with the rapport he was developing between him and the suspect.
“Women ...” Matt sounded disgusted. “I can never figure out what they want. Can you imagine what people would have called you if you dumped her because she lost her job? Total double standard.”
“You said it.” Chevy huffed. “I tell you, man. It ain’t fair.”
“You must have felt like she betrayed you,” Matt said.
“It hurt.” Chevy went full-on indignant. “I went out for a couple of beers one night. When I came back, all my shit was outside.” His face reddened.
Matt made a disgusted noise. “And she made you give back her key?”
Chevy nodded like a dashboard dog. “She wouldn’t give me my laptop until I handed it over. Didn’t even give me a day to find a place to stay. I had to crash on a friend’s couch.”
“And she didn’t give you any reason?” Matt shook his head.
Chevy looked away. “Not really.”
Liar.
“Where are you staying now?” Matt asked.
“Same place. Can’t rent a place until I get a job.” The thought of a job appeared to displease him.
Matt leaned back, giving Chevy some personal space, as if there were no pressure. “If you gave the key back, how did you get into her place today?”
Chevy smirked. “I had a copy made a while ago.” He admitted this without blinking an eye. “Dumb bitch never suspected a thing.”
Interviewing suspects was an art. Matt was a master.
Matt slipped in a pointed question with a neutral, nonjudgmental voice. “But you still entered her apartment without her permission?”
“Just to get my AirPods,” Chevy answered, as if the why made a difference. “They’re my property. I have rights.”
Bree said nothing. Neither did Matt. Most people couldn’t stand silence and needed to fill it. They let the quiet spin out until Chevy started talking again. “But when I got there, I just, I don’t know, lost my shit. I miss her so much, and she won’t even talk to me. It feels real unfair, you know? I want her back, and she won’t even talk to me.”
Matt nodded with enthusiasm. “Was she there when you got inside?”
Chevy’s brows dropped. “No. She usually works until two.”
Bree asked, “Does she always work the same days?”
“Usually.”
“What about the red stains on the carpet?” Matt asked.
Chevy shrugged. “I didn’t think much about them. Assumed that was paint.”
Matt tilted his head, the first sign of doubting Chevy’s story. “Which she dripped all the way to the bedroom? Is she usually that messy?” They’d seen no paint anywhere else in the apartment, and Jana had used a drop cloth under her easel.
“What else would it be?” Chevy asked.
Bree thought the answer was fairly obvious. Blood. But she didn’t want him to stop talking yet. “What time did you get to Jana’s place?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe ten.”
“Did you go for a couple of beers first?” Matt asked.
Chevy shook his head. “I drank the ones in Jana’s fridge. They were mine anyway.”
“What happened when you got there?” Matt kept his tone neutral, but Bree could see his gaze sharpening. His questions were circling like a great white, and Chevy was a seal stuck on a rock.
“I drank my beer.” Chevy emphasized my. “Then I started to think about how she wouldn’t even talk to me. Like I had no rights after living together for months.”
“That would have made me pretty mad,” Matt commiserated.
“Thank you.” Chevy slapped his palms on the table. Then he lowered his head. “All I want is for her to talk to me, but she just shut me out.” His color rose with his temper.
“Sounds cold to me,” Matt said. “When did you pour the turpentine on the bed? Before or after you pissed in it? Did you go into the apartment intending to set the fire?”
Chevy mashed his lips. “I was looking for my AirPods, and I probably shouldn’t have drunk the whole six-pack.” He flushed. “I ain’t proud of it now, but yeah, I pissed in her bedroom. Then I started to think about her being with another dude in our bed. It made me crazy. I wasn’t thinking straight. I grabbed the turpentine and poured it out. Then I heard you guys come in, and I just, I dunno, reacted.”
“You never saw Jana today?” Matt asked.
“I haven’t seen her in weeks.” Chevy bowed his head.
Bree guessed he had. “You didn’t, say, follow her?”
His eyes went furtive. Bingo. “Once, but she wouldn’t talk to me. A couple of days after she threw me out. I waited for her by her car. Jana yelled at me to go away.” Chevy frowned. “That old bitch next door came out and threatened to call the cops.”
“You don’t know where Jana is now?” Bree asked.
“No.” Chevy glared at her.
Matt leaned forward. “And you haven’t seen her in the past couple of days?”
“No,” Chevy said.
“Do you know Ally Swanson?”
Chevy paused and looked at the ceiling for a few seconds. “The name sounds familiar.” He shrugged. “I dunno.”
“She was a friend of Jana’s.”
Chevy snapped his fingers. “That’s it. I remember Jana talking about her. She’s a junkie, right?”
Bree didn’t answer. “She’s dead.”
“What?” Chevy’s posture snapped straight.
“Likely murdered by a serial killer,” Matt added.
“Oh.” Chevy nodded. “She was one of those girls found in the woods?”
“Yes,” Bree said.
“I dunno anything about that. I never met her.” Chevy shifted his gaze. “Can I go?”
“No.” Bree tapped a forefinger on the table. “We have you cold on multiple felonies.”
He sobered. “Felonies?”
“Arson, breaking and entering, vandalism, assault.” Bree enumerated the charges with her fingers.
Chevy’s jaw dropped. “You can’t ... I was just messin’ around.”
Bree didn’t answer except to lift one eyebrow.
“You could have burned that whole apartment building down.” Matt sounded incredulous.
Chevy’s gaze went cloudy, as if he were thinking and it took work. His gaze shifted to Matt, whose buddy-buddy face had gone serious. Chevy swallowed. “I want a lawyer.”
With those words, the interview was over.
Bree summoned a deputy to process Chevy. Back in her office, she closed the door.
Matt asked, “Is he really that stupid? Or is it an act?”
“I don’t think it was an act.”
Matt stroked his beard. “He wanted to move back in and didn’t think he should have to take no for an answer. He accosted her in the parking lot of her apartment complex. When she wouldn’t talk to him, he broke into her apartment and trashed the place. He set her bed on fire.”
Bree flipped through her messages. Nothing she wanted to respond to at the moment. “Is that the behavior of a serial killer?”
“We can’t prove he killed anyone. Her neighbor saw her Tuesday evening between five and six. So Jana was taken after then.”
“The blood on the carpet was dry. How long would that have taken?”
“At least an hour or two,” Matt said.
Todd knocked on the doorframe and stepped in. “I called the local ERs and urgent cares. No one has a record of Jana coming in.”
“Thanks, Todd,” Bree said.
“Do we have a decent suspect?” Todd asked. “What about Chevy?”
“We don’t know yet. The good thing is that he’s definitely going to jail for other crimes.”
“But will he make bail?”
Bree set the message slips on her desk. “I’d like him in custody until we solve this, but we all know that’s not likely to happen.”
“Do you think he has the physical strength to carry a body into the woods?” Todd asked.
“He was strong enough to toss a TV at me,” Matt said. “And he’s clearly fit enough to run and climb a fence, even after drinking.”
“Keep pulling background data,” Bree said to Todd. “Matt and I are going to talk to Jana’s mother and boss and determine if Jana is actually missing.”