Chapter Eighteen
Eighteen
Fort Bragg, California
“You okay?” Alexis whispered.
Elle drew a deep breath. “Not really. I’m about to jump out of my skin.”
They’d been called to the police station in Fort Bragg to answer more questions.
Detective Simpson had made the call, saying that they needed to do this at the station for documentation purposes, but that his and Ronan’s boss would be driving over the hill to Fort Bragg so that Elle didn’t have to make the trip to Ukiah.
It was a small relief, not having to go back to the station they’d been to last night, but Elle’s heart was still beating hard and fast in her chest.
She’d been tempted to take one of Alexis’s Ativans for her nerves but decided against it. The last thing she needed was to go into a formal police interview under the influence of drugs.
“How did you manage to go into SFPD’s headquarters all those times you returned fugitives for booking?” Alexis asked quietly.
“I wasn’t there for me. I was there to return criminals.”
“You’re not here because you’re a criminal, either.”
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t feel like that.”
It didn’t. Detective Simpson had been apologetic but firm. They could not do this anywhere else.
Which made Elle think he knew that Ronan had brought her to his own home the night before. She’d known at the time that it wasn’t appropriate for Ronan to do so, but her panic had overridden her good sense.
She didn’t want to get Ronan into more trouble, so she hadn’t fought Simpson when he’d commanded they come in. He’d claimed it was a request, but Elle knew a command when she heard one.
The door opened and an older man entered, followed by Ronan and Detective Simpson.
The older man’s hand was extended in greeting. “Ms. Randolph. I’m Lieutenant Bennet. I wish we were meeting under different circumstances.”
Shaking his hand, Elle glanced at the mirror dominating the far wall. “I guess at this point I’m glad you’re not watching me from the other side of the glass.”
“I did last night,” Bennet admitted. “I wish I could apologize, but it was necessary.”
“I understand.” And she did. “I don’t like it, but I understand. Detective Clarke, did you get footage from the store?”
“Detective Simpson did,” Ronan said, taking a seat across the table. Simpson and Bennet sat on either side of him and Simpson pulled a remote control from the pocket of his suit jacket.
“We appreciate your cooperation thus far, Ms. Randolph,” Bennet said. “We’re hoping you can help us identify the individual on this video.”
Elle braced herself. “I’ll do my best. I was thinking about the order of the murders.
It seems like the first one was two years ago in San Francisco—at least that’s the earliest one we know about—so we’re really looking at possible suspects from cases from my first year with Sara’s agency.
I’ve made a list of those earlier cases as well, since my original list only went back two years. I’ve emailed it to Detective Clarke.”
Ronan checked his phone. “I have it. Thank you, Ms. Randolph.”
“Simpson?” Bennet gestured to the remote in the detective’s hands. “Let’s get started.”
Detective Simpson hit a button and woke up the large screen on the wall.
“The store was very cooperative in getting me the footage, but the camera angles and the light in general aren’t very good.
However, we were able to get a few decent views of his face.
” He hit another button and the video started.
It was a typical superstore, bright fluorescent lights and shelves upon shelves of products for sale. The store was fairly crowded, but Elle quickly zeroed in on Alexis pushing a shopping cart through the aisles.
They continued to watch in silence as Alexis threw toiletries in her shopping cart and moved to the women’s clothing department.
Abruptly, Alexis rose and went to the screen, peering intently before pointing at a slender young man wearing a San Francisco Giants ball cap. “Him. I remember him. He was kind of lurking in the underwear aisle. I just thought he was a creep, copping a peek at lacy panties.”
“He followed you throughout the store,” Ronan said. “He didn’t get close enough for you to notice him until you got to the clothing department. It appears to be the same person who broke into Ms. Randolph’s room yesterday and who posed as her leaving and reentering the inn last night.”
“He has a limp,” Alexis said. “And at least we now know he’s male.”
Elle squinted at the screen. “I can’t see his face. The cap covers too much.”
“Just wait.” Simpson fast-forwarded past a few minutes of the recording, then paused, freezing the frame on the young man as he glanced upward. It was only for a second, but his face was in full view.
His youth was Elle’s first impression. He was maybe twenty, tops. He had a round face with a faint scar along his left cheekbone.
“Have you seen him before?” Lieutenant Bennet asked.
That’s the guy who killed ten people.
The guy who wants me to get arrested for those murders.
He didn’t look insane.
Whatever insane looks like.
It was strangely anticlimactic. He looked…normal. Just a kid walking through Walmart. But Elle knew that evil often wore a normal face.
Todd had seemed completely nice and polite until they were alone. Many of the fugitives she hunted looked like choirboys.
Unsettled, Elle got up to join Alexis next to the screen.
“I don’t know. Other than the scar, he looks totally normal and utterly forgettable.
” She leaned close, studying the man’s face from a few inches away, and a memory trembled on the edge of her mind.
“There’s something about his face. I think I’ve seen him before. ”
No one said anything, letting her sift through the pictures in her mind.
After a few minutes, she shook her head. “I can’t remember. But I know I’ve seen him somewhere.”
Alexis took her arm and led her back to the table. “Can you use facial recognition software to get an ID?”
“Already on it,” Simpson said. “But we don’t know how long it’ll take. We’ve already run his face against the California DMV and state prison databases, but so far nothing.”
“Are you sure you can’t remember where you saw him?” Bennet pressed.
“I really want to. Believe me, I do. But it’s…just out of reach. Frustrating,” she growled.
Alexis ran a hand over Elle’s hair. “It’ll come, Ellie.” She glared at the lieutenant. “If you pressure her, it’ll make it harder. Did you ask the bail jumper if he’d seen him?”
Bennet settled in his chair, his expression one of impatient resignation. “Not yet. Reece Miller’s in the hospital in Willits. He went into surgery right after we took him from the campsite. He’s unconscious. The surgeon said his chances of survival are less than fifty-fifty.”
Elle wondered if she should feel sorry for Miller, because she didn’t. “What about his wife?”
“She’s refusing to talk to anyone,” Bennet said. “She’s lawyered up and all she’d say was that we should fuck ourselves for taking her baby.”
Alexis scowled. “Give me five minutes with her. She’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
“Alexis,” Elle chided, even though she was grateful for her friend’s support.
“I’m serious, Elle. And I wouldn’t lay a finger on her,” she added for the cops’ benefit. “I wouldn’t need to.”
“I’m glad to hear that you don’t plan to assault our prisoner,” Ronan said dryly.
He set his phone on the table, the email from Elle open.
“Let’s come at this from a different angle.
With the exceptions of Bakersfield and our six Mendocino County homicides, all of the murders happened out of state.
For the time being, let’s assume our doer is not from California.
Ms. Randolph has listed four more cities she visited to recover fugitives in her first year. He could be from one of those cities.”
Bennet pulled the phone closer so that he could read the message. “Nogales in Arizona; Dallas; Salt Lake; and Lincoln, Nebraska. We’ll get the homicide records from those cities. Thank you, Ms. Randolph.”
Ronan rested his forearms on the table and leaned in.
“We know about the case that led to the murder of the first victim. That was the girlfriend of the fugitive who kidnapped a child, held her hostage, and set the house on fire when you were rescuing her. Let’s look at the second one. Tell us about Portland.”
Bennet held up a finger. “Bounty hunting is illegal in Oregon. I feel I should remind you of your rights at this juncture.”
“I appreciate that, Lieutenant,” Elle said, not sure if she did or not.
He seemed so willing to believe she’d not only break the law but be careless—or stupid—enough to tell him about it.
“But we operated within the boundaries of the Oregon statutes. Two fugitives had fled from San Francisco into Oregon. Mainly because fugitive recovery is illegal there. We can’t apprehend a fugitive in Oregon.
That’s considered kidnapping. But we can use some trickery to lure them to where we can legally take them into custody. That’s what we did.”
“Where did you make the arrest?” Simpson asked.
“In a hotel parking lot in Vancouver, Washington. Right over the state line from Oregon.”
Alexis was smiling. “I like this story. Tell them how you lured them, Ellie.”
Elle sighed. “I don’t like this story. I felt smarmy at the time, and I still do.
The fugitives were brothers, twenty and eighteen.
They’d robbed a convenience store at gunpoint, then jumped bail.
I talked to the older brother’s ex-wife who lives in the Bay Area and she was very useful.
Exes give you some of the best intel. She was only too happy to tell me that the brothers had…
” She grimaced. “Kinks. They liked to share women.”
Ronan’s eyes widened. “What did you do?”