CHAPTER TEN
Alison and Derek were back in the CBI offices, with Jason Weber waiting for them in one of the interview rooms. He wasn’t under arrest, and he hadn’t asked for a lawyer. He presented the image of someone who was happy to talk with them and was sure everything would be resolved willingly.
"What do you make of him?" Derek asked as they stood outside the interview room, ready to go in.
"Honestly, I’m not sure," Alison said. "He was alerted to a special agent being there to speak with him, and he tried to escape the building.
He obviously heard you shout after him at the bottom of the stairs and ignored you.
Yet, when we did catch up with him, he didn't come across as panicked. He might have played the fool and come down here with us, but I do get the impression he believes he hasn’t done anything wrong. "
"But?" Derek asked.
"That doesn’t mean he hasn’t done anything wrong," Alison confirmed. "If he sees killing people as righting wrongs, then he might believe what he’s doing to be profoundly right. He might also believe that we have no evidence and no way to link him to the crime scenes, which, at the moment, we don’t. "
"I have agents looking into the company, checking their servers. Maybe they surveyed the residences of the two deceased for some reason, and he was able to get inside and… plant something? I don't know, it’s all out of the realm of stuff I understand. Is that even how they would get into the security systems? The only thing we know for sure is that Weber’s company was founded long after the two security systems were installed. "
"I don't have a clue about that sort of thing, so I don't know. All we know is that the killer is a technical expert and they were able to bypass the security systems of two major security companies, systems they believe are second to none."
"So, we look at employees also?" Derek asked. "Or those who code the systems?"
"We might have to. Although you’re already stretched thin with agents trying to contact everyone I coached pretrial. We could expand our search to thousands of people if we go down the rabbit hole."
"Then let’s start with Weber and go from there," Derek said.
"Sounds good," Alison agreed.
They entered the room to find Jason Weber with his head in his hands, sitting at the table, waiting for them. When he looked up, he looked bored.
Jason was not a large man, but he had the air of someone who got what he wanted.
He was dressed in black formal pants and a cream short-sleeved shirt.
He wore a gold watch that might have been fake, and his hair was gelled to the side.
He was in his forties and dressed like someone ten years younger.
"Jason, thank you for coming down here to talk with us," Derek said as he sat down.
"Can we just get this over with?" Jason asked. "As I already told you, I’m a very busy man."
"And you don't need a lawyer. That’s correct?" Derek asked.
"I’ve not done anything wrong, so why would I?"
"You haven’t done anything wrong," Derek said. "Good. Then we shouldn’t have any problems, and I’m sure you can be on your way soon.
I just want to say that I much prefer it when you’re not running away from us.
Can you take us through that, Jason? We arrived at your office, your partner called your office to let you know we were there, and then you tried to escape before talking with us.
What possible reason could you have for that? "
"And as I asked at the time, is that a crime?"
"No, not at all," Derek said. "However, it does make you look incredibly guilty. So, are you telling us why you tried to get out before talking with us earlier?"
"It’s best to tell the truth because we’ll find out sooner or later," Alison said. "And if we find out you’re lying to us, then it means you’re obstructing an investigation."
Jason looked between Derek and Alison. "I, uh, thought the IRS had maybe sent you."
"The IRS?" Derek asked.
"Yeah, I got spooked, and I apologize for that," Jason said with a sweet smile.
"Jason, you don't strike me as the kind of man who gets spooked," Derek said. "You worked as a prison guard, and now you co-own a security company. Is that what you want to go with? You’re a man who gets easily spooked? Come on."
Jason didn't answer immediately, and Derek didn't give him anything more. He and Alison sat there, staring at Jason, waiting to reel him in.
Jason finally sighed and shifted his weight from his left side to his right side. "Alright, I know it sounds stupid, but we’re behind on some of our loans, and…"
"You’ve not been paying your taxes," Alison finished.
"Look, it’s been a really tough start, but we’re building capital and customers, and I just need a little more time to get things straight, and I promise that I’ll be paying everything we owe. We hit a few bumps in the road, that’s all."
Derek sighed. "And you wouldn’t want anyone investigating you after being fired from the prison."
Jason paled at the mention of the prison. "Yeah, I was fired, but so what? A lot of people are fired from their jobs, and it was a blessing. Without that push, I would never have started my own business. I owe them for that."
"Why were you fired?" Alison asked.
"I signed a non-disclosure agreement," Json replied. "I would just love to talk about it, but the thing is, I can’t."
"Come on, Jason, not even for us?" Derek asked, leaning in. "We promise we won't tell anyone."
Jason laughed, and it felt like a genuine laugh, not one to cover how uncomfortable he was.
"I can get into those files and open them up if I want," Derek said. "It might take some time, but the FBI has a good relationship with law enforcement agencies, and we’re investigating a double homicide."
That finally wiped the smile from Jason’s face. "What? You don't think I had anything to do with a double homicide, do you?"
"We’re just talking here," Derek said.
"Maybe I do need a lawyer," Jason replied.
Derek furrowed his brows. "I thought you had nothing to hide?"
"Yeah, I don’t, but I didn't know this was so serious. I thought that…" Jason started.
"You thought that what?" Alison asked. "We don't need to open the files to know that you were up to something with the inmates in that prison, Jason. Do you want to let us in on what that might have been?"
Jason looked like he was trying to smile to maintain his cool and calm demeanor, but he was physically unable, and the smile turned into more of a grimace.
"I really don't know what you’re talking about," he said. "I went to work, did my job, and made sure people were safe."
"We have a meeting scheduled with Calvin Reynolds and Casper Douglas," Alison lied. "What might they tell us?"
"Lies, most likely," Jason said. "I wouldn’t trust them one bit, and I should know. I was in there for months with them, years in some cases. They’d sell their grandmothers before blinking an eye. So, go ahead and talk to them, but if you bring anything against me based on their testimonies, then it’ll be laughed out of court. "
"Maybe, but maybe not," Alison said. "They’re in prison right now because of me.
I coached the women who testified against them, and they were both found guilty.
I have a great relationship with the court system, and my words hold weight.
With Special Agent Sullivan opening the files on why you were fired from the prison and me presenting the evidence to a judge, do you really like your chances? "
Jason shifted in his chair. He still tried to bring back the smile, but the grimace on his lips had found ascendancy, and he couldn’t stay still as he squirmed in the chair.
"Add that into the fact that you ran from us, and we’re building a pretty compelling case that something is very, very wrong, Jason," Derek said.
Jason sat forward and placed his hands on the table.
"Look," he said, making it sound like a threat.
"We don't need to go there, all right? You said that you’re investigating a double homicide. Whatever happened at the prison has nothing to do with that. I’ll gladly help you with your investigation, but I will need to talk with a lawyer if we need to revisit the past."
"See, that’s the problem," Derek said. "The two are connected. The two women who are now dead have direct links to the two men you associated with in prison. Margaret Donovan and Sarah Livingstone. Do those names mean anything to you?"
Jason took a second before saying, "No, I’ve never heard those names before."
There was a small hesitation before answering, but Alison suspected it was because he was genuinely thinking about the names. Still, his face had become paler and paler since entering the room.
"Calvin and Casper never mentioned them?" Derek asked.
"No, never," Jason claimed. "I’ve never heard those names in my life."
"Not even in passing," Derek asked.
"No, I told you," Jason said, becoming agitated. He turned to Alison. "Are two women really dead?"
Alison nodded. "We want to help you out, Jason, we really do, but you have to work with us here. You can see how this doesn’t look good."
"Yeah, but I didn't do anything."
"Were they blackmailing you?" Alison asked. "Calvin and Casper."
For the first time since the interview started, Jason was speechless. He said with his mouth hanging slightly open, staring at Alison, and she gained more information from that than anything he’d said so far.
"They were, weren’t they?" she confirmed. "What did they have you do?"
Jason wrung his hands together and looked down at the table as he spoke. "They get a cut of the company profits. That’s why we’re still in the red. My partners don't know, and they can't know. I thought maybe I could find a way out of it, but…"
"What do they have on you?" Derek asked.
"I…"
Alison could see he didn't want to talk about it, and if they continued to push it, he would put down and request a lawyer.
"What about your social media posts, Jason?" she asked. "You spoke about making the Liars pay. You wanted revenge on the people who fired you, didn't you?"
"They were empty threats, I promise." All of his confidence was lost. "It’s not like people don't do that all the time. I was angry about being fired, and I posted stuff online, but it wasn’t serious. It was just letting off some steam, that’s all."
"That’s how you let off steam?" Derek asked.
Jason didn't answer.
"How about your whereabouts over the past few days?" Derek pushed. "Where have you been in the evenings?"
"I didn't kill anyone," Jason replied.
"Then we don't have any problems," Derek replied. "How about you tell us where you’ve been, we check that out, and everyone goes home happy?"
Jason was breathing a little heavier as the interview went on. "The last few evenings? I’ve been out on calls for the last week. I work seven days, we all do."
"Great," Derek said. "So, you have people who can place you at certain locations?"
"Yes," Jason sighed in relief before grimacing again. "Well, not quite. I’ve been doing routine checks and upgrades for customers, and some of them can be done remotely, and others are done after hours when no one is around, but I’ll have the logs of the work I’ve done."
"But the work can be done remotely?" Alison asked. "From anywhere?"
"No, well yeah, but I was on location for some of it."
"With no one there," Derek pointed out.
"Yeah, but there was CCTV. I must be on camera at some point. I must be."
"We’ll need to check that out," Derek told him. "I want a list of the places you were over the previous five nights, and we can go from there."
"No problem at all," Derek said. "I’ll go back to the office and get all of that information for you right now."
"We can't let you do that, I’m afraid," Derek said. "We can have someone go over there and collect everything you need or call them for information, but we don't want you trying to run from us again."
"Am I being detained?" Jason asked.
"No," Derek replied. "I’d prefer if you remained here voluntarily as a show of good faith, but I will have to detain you if not. As we discussed, you have nothing to worry about if you didn't do anything wrong, right?"
"Yeah, of course," Jason said. "I can give you a list of what I need and what you should access on our system, and I’m sure we can clear all of this up. I just need to get back to work as soon as possible."
"I’m glad we’re on the same page," Derek said. "I’ll have someone bring you a pen and paper, and you can start working on a timeline, and they’ll assist you in obtaining what you need. We appreciate your cooperation, Jason."
Jason wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Yeah, no problem."
Derek and Alison left the room together.
"He’s cooperating for now, but he was in deep with the criminals in the prison, and I’m sure whatever he spoke about in there was only the tip of the iceberg," Derek said.
"If he’s willing to give up a percentage of the income of his company, they must have something substantial on him," Alison agreed.
"Enough to have him do their bidding," Derek said. "Let’s see if he has an alibi for the murders, and if not, we go digging."
A special agent walked toward them holding a document in his hand as if he’d struck gold.
"Sullivan," Special Agent Loxley said. "We found this online, posted on the Balanced Justice website. You’re going to want to take a look.