Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
An overpowering sense of guilt hung over Jenna as she walked along the hallways back to the office.
Ellie McBride had been her responsibility to keep safe and she’d let her down.
She bit hard on her bottom lip and forced her mind to go through the list of procedures she needed to attend to.
She needed to step up to the plate and make sure they caught the killer.
By the time they had reached the office, she had jobs for her team already mapped out.
She turned to Rio and Rowley. “I want you to take the principal to the media room and look over CCTV footage for the last twelve hours. Obtain a copy, if possible, and it will give you more time to check it out when we get back to the office.” She looked at Raven.
“I want you to speak to the administrator. Her name is Ms. Bell. She issues passes to anyone coming into the building who isn’t part of the staff.
Get a list of anyone, including students, who came to the office.
I want to know about them. I also need a list of everyone who entered the building today.
Everyone is logged in and out, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
It could be a crucial piece of evidence, so make sure that you insist that she gives you the information.
Explain that anyone inside the building is in danger after what happened, which is in fact at least two breaches in their security system that we know about. ”
As she led the way out of the main building and into the foyer, she glanced at Kane. “We’ll take Jesse Holland into one of the classrooms and interview him. As the last person to see Ellie alive, he becomes a suspect. Lean on him if need be. I want to know if he is involved in anyway whatsoever.”
“Wait up just a minute.” Kane placed his hand on her arm.
“I’ve been thinking about the victims. Usually, serial killers have a type of woman they murder.
They’re usually around the same age and have some distinctive feature about them, and yet the two victims are almost complete opposites.
One with dark hair, one with blonde; one in her early thirties and the other mid-forties.
” He met her gaze. “The only thing I can see that links them is children. They both work with children.”
Allowing his words to percolate through her mind, Jenna nodded.
“Yeah, so maybe the killer is one of her students, or has been through the system. That would put Holland in the right age group. He seemed so helpful, but then that’s no guarantee he isn’t a serial killer.
Let’s see what we can get out of him. He is young and would normally be quite vulnerable with law enforcement breathing down his neck.
If he’s not, we need to keep a very close eye on him. ”
“Copy that.” A nerve in Kane’s jaw twitched. “I’ll turn up the heat and see how much he can take.”
Leading the way into the office, Jenna stood to one side as her deputies moved to their various destinations.
Jesse Holland sat in the administration area staring at his boots, his hands hanging loosely between his knees.
She waited until he glanced up at her. “Jesse Holland? We spoke on the phone just before. We’d like to speak to you.
Would you mind directing us to an empty classroom where we can have some privacy, please? ”
“Yeah, sure.” Holland pushed both hands through his hair and stood. “I just can’t get Ms. McBride’s face out of my head. It was a terrible shock finding her like that. Did you notice anyone else in the building?”
“Not yet.” Kane folded his arms across his chest and looked at him. “We’ll discuss this in the empty classroom. If you’ll lead the way.”
“All the classrooms are empty at the moment, so we can take the first one.” Holland walked out of the office.
He scanned his card to the staff entrance door and they walked inside, coming out in the hallway lined with classrooms. He stopped at the first one and pushed open the door, holding it open for Jenna to follow him through.
He sat on one of the desks with one hand on each side and his legs dangling to the floor. “Fire away.”
“As you’re the last person to see Ellie McBride alive, we have to follow certain procedure.
” Kane stood in front of him, his face like granite.
“First, I need to read you your rights. This isn’t because we think you’re involved with the murder.
It’s so you understand that anything you say will be taken down and may be used in evidence against you.
” He handed his phone to Jenna. “The sheriff is recording our conversation on my phone.” He read him his rights.
“The second thing I need from you today is your fingerprints and a DNA sample, to eliminate you as the killer.” He pulled out his fingerprint scanner, followed by a DNA collection kit.
“It’s painless. All you need to do is open your mouth. ”
“I don’t need legal representation because I didn’t hurt anyone.
” Holland looked from one to the other. “Ms. McBride was one of my teachers. She has never been anything but kind toward me. Seeing her murdered like that will stay with me forever. I will do anything you require to assist you taking down this creep.”
“Okay.” Kane pulled on gloves and went to work.
Jenna took out her notebook and pen. If Holland decided to give up the names of the people he had been working with during the day and anyone else he’d seen, she wanted to get it down so she could act on it right away rather than waiting for the transcript of the interview.
“That’s good to know. I understand completely how you feel about finding the body.
It is a terrible shock when it’s someone that you know and respect. ”
“Can you recall where you were on Friday night between ten and midnight?” Kane moved Jenna’s phone closer to Holland and rested one hip on the teacher’s desk.
“I’m not one hundred percent sure.” Holland rubbed the back of his neck and reluctance flashed across his face.
“I drove around with the boys like we do every Friday night. So, I’m not sure of the time we went to different places.
We went to a hockey match, left there, and went to get something warm to drink.
I recall being in Aunt Betty’s Café for a time.
I figure I got home sometime around midnight.
My folks were asleep and I crept into the house so as not to wake them. ”
After making a few notes, Jenna raised her gaze to him. “Have you been to the new convenience store on the corner of Pine and Stanton?”
“Macks?” Holland grinned at them. “It’s a cool place. Yeah, we did swing by there one time over the weekend, but I don’t figure it was Friday.”
“I would like the names and contact details of everyone you were with that night.” Kane glanced at Jenna. “The sheriff can take a photograph of your contacts list to save time. You just tell us which one of them went with you that night.”
“Why exactly do you want to know where I went on Friday night?” Holland handed Jenna his phone and then looked at them suspiciously. “Ms. McBride was murdered today.”
“An incident involving Ms. McBride occurred on Friday evening.” Kane gave him a direct stare. “Like I said before, as you are the last person to see her alive, we need to make sure we’ve cleared you from any involvement with the attack on her on Friday night.”
“Oh, I see.” Holland nodded and pointed out the friends he’d been with on the contacts list.
Jenna made a note and then looked at Holland again. “What vehicle do you drive?”
“A Dodge pickup.” Holland smiled. “The tricked out one in the parking lot. Cherry-apple red. I worked on it all last summer.” He moved his attention to Kane. “The truck you drive is something else. It went flashing past me on the highway over the summer. Have you got nitro in that machine?”
“Yeah, but let’s get back to Ms. McBride’s murder.” Kane’s hard expression didn’t alter as he stared at the man. “You work here every day?”
“Yeah.” Holland shrugged. “I’m not a janitor. I’ve got my plumbing license, but I can run wire just fine. I’m part of the maintenance team, and we all go where we’re needed.”
“So you’d notice if someone new came along or shouldn’t be hanging around the school?” Kane scratched his cheek. “Was there anyone?”
“Nope, not that I recall, but I’m involved in maintenance, so I can’t say for all over the school.
” Holland frowned. “We do have people come by for specialist jobs, like IT, security, and audiovisual. Those interactive screens are going down all the time. The teachers have people in to do talks and there are others, to do with education, I guess. I’m not the person you should be speaking to about them. ”
During the conversation, Jenna scrolled through Holland’s call log and hadn’t noticed any calls around the time he’d supposedly taken a call to leave Ellie and go and fix a burst pipe.
After taking an image of the call log, she handed the phone back to Holland, who looked at it stupidly for a few seconds as if not recalling he’d given it to her.
She glanced at Kane. “You mentioned receiving a call. I don’t see one on your phone around that time. ”
“We use a radio.” Holland indicated to a small two-way attached to his belt.
That complicated matters and Jenna sighed. “Who contacted you?”
“One of the guys.” Holland frowned. “It’s noisy down there, you know, so I’m honestly not sure who called me.
” He moved around restlessly his eyes shifting back and forth.
“The thing is, it couldn’t have been the person who murdered Ms. McBride because they’d need a radio and everyone on duty was there fixing the pipe.
They’d almost finished by the time I arrived. ”
Making a quick note in her book, Jenna considered his reply. “Who else carries radios?”
“All the maintenance staff, including the janitors, gardeners, cleaners.” Holland scratched his head messing up his hair. “I’d say everyone apart from the teachers. The admin has them to contact us if they need something done, so does the principal. I figure that’s all.”
“Where were you on Saturday night and Sunday morning?” Kane leaned forward and narrowed his gaze. The move reminded Jenna of an eagle waiting to swoop down and capture its prey. “Tell me the truth because we can check the GPS on your phone.”
“My folks went to see my grandma, and they stayed over.” Holland lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “They like me to stay home and feed the animals, so I watched TV. With all the snow and all, I didn’t want to risk getting stuck somewhere.”
“Were you alone?” Kane flicked a glance at Jenna and then continued his relentless stare at Holland. “If not, we’ll need to corroborate your alibi.”
The smell of fear rose up from the young man and Jenna noticed a sheen of sweat above the man’s top lip. Why was he sweating?
“Dang.” Holland shook his head. “My folks will kill me.” He gave Kane a remorseful stare. “My girlfriend stayed over with me. Do you need to tell them?”
“No.” Kane slid from the desk. “I can be discreet. Give us her name and where we can find her. I suggest you don’t contact her. You’ve already given us permission to look at your phone logs, so we’ll check if you call her.”
“Okay, okay.” Holland gave them the details.
“One more thing.” Kane cleared his throat. “Do you know Laney Prescott? She’s a social worker.”
“Can’t say that I do.” Holland wiped both hands down his face. “Is that all? Can I go now?”
Jenna handed him her card. “Yeah, thanks for your time. If you discover who called you about the burst pipe, call me.”
“You can go.” Kane picked up his phone and stopped the recording.
As Holland left the classroom, Jenna turned to Kane. “What do you think?”
“We’ll check out the girlfriend, but I figure he’s clean.
” His gaze followed Holland along the hallway and then he looked back at Jenna.
“I checked out his gloves. I figure the killer wears black leather gloves similar to mine. I noticed dark particles under the victim’s nails.
His gloves are light brown, well used, and had no recent scratches.
He is way too nervous for a serial killer who stalks women—and he showed remorse.
He appears genuinely disturbed by finding the body. ”
Blowing out a sigh, Jenna stepped into the hallway.
“Agreed, but I got two things from speaking to him. The killer has access to a radio and the school. It’s a long shot, but if we can pair one of Laney Prescott’s clients to one of the workers here at the school, we might just catch this guy before he kills again. ”