Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
Jenna took her time taking a long hot shower.
She’d given instructions to Kane to contact the lawyer Sam Cross to have him standing by if Rourke requested a lawyer.
She didn’t want anything to jeopardize the interview.
Emily and Raven would examine Isla and take photographs of her injuries, particularly those round her neck.
Once Isla had signed a statement, they’d take her to the hospital and keep her under observation for a day or so.
Styles had collected the garrote that Isla had ripped from her neck in the boathouse and secured it in an evidence bag on scene.
It appeared to be exactly the same as the others that they’d discovered alongside the bodies of the previous victims. As she dried her hair in the bathroom, she heard voices and turned to see Jo walking into the locker room.
“I figured you might need me in the interview room.” Jo smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Raya is watching the kids. “This guy sounds complex. He might be an interesting addition to my next book.”
Running a brush through her hair, Jenna breathed a sigh of relief.
Psychopaths were complex people, and Jo had studied them for many years.
She interviewed them in prison and discovered that the majority of them loved notoriety.
The offer of being included in her “most notorious serial killers of the year” publication had often been the only encouragement they needed to give up their secrets.
“Rourke has already threatened me. He told me he hates women in authority and maybe I’d have been next if we hadn’t caught him.
What do you consider would be the best way to approach him to get him to spill his story? ”
“I figured we’d leave the men outside and speak to him ourselves.” Jo turned and headed along the hallway. “Sam Cross, Rourke’s lawyer, is here.”
Jenna walked beside her. “I’ll ask Dave to get the ball rolling. He can read Rourke his rights. It’s good Cross is here. If you recall, Sam is defense all the way, and we need to make sure this scumbag isn’t going to walk away from this.”
“Yeah, I recall.” Jo led the way to Jenna’s office.
Jenna collected a legal pad from her drawer and slid the photographs of the victims into a folder. “Dave, I’ll interview him with Jo. Head down and start the process, record everything.”
“Okay but first read Isla’s statement. He stalked her and likely stalked the others too.” Kane frowned. “You sure you don’t want me in there with you? He is a serial killer.”
Jenna shook her head. “He won’t get out of the cuffs attached to the table and you’ll be right outside along with Carter and Styles.”
They read the statement and discussed it before heading downstairs to the interview room.
Jenna swiped her card and walked in with Jo.
Inside, Kane leaned against the wall. He straightened and left.
Jenna turned to Sam Cross. The lawyer, in a battered Stetson and snakeskin cowboy boots, gave her a curt nod.
“Mr. Cross. Thank you for coming in at such short notice.”
“It’s what I do.” Cross straightened his legal pad and clicked the top of his pen. “My client wants to speak to you. I’ve advised him not to incriminate himself, but he feels it’s too late for that already. I will caution him if needs be as we proceed.”
Jenna sat down and arranged her things on the desk. The recorder had been paused and she pressed the button to continue the recording. “Recording continued at five after twelve. In the room with Mr. Rourke are Sheriff Jenna Alton, Agent Jo Wells, and Mr. Rourke’s lawyer, Mr. Sam Cross.”
Jenna exchanged a look with Jo and then swung her attention back to Rourke.
“When did you start stalking Isla Monroe? We’re aware you were inside her house, left notes on the back of her vehicle, and inside her locker at the hospital.
You intimidated her at the hospital and then climbed into her truck, placed a garrote around her neck, and made her drive to the boathouse near the lake.
” She kept her gaze fixed on him. “I’m sure you have a very logical explanation for why you behaved in this manner.
Maybe you would like the chance to explain? ”
“Yeah, I’ve been watching her.” Rourke leaned on the table, his hands clasped together as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “So what? It’s what men do. Hasn’t your husband told you that, or do you believe he’s a saint?”
Surprised by his verbal attack, Jenna made a few unnecessary notes just to put him off guard. “Why were you watching her? Does she remind you of someone from your past? Because she doesn’t know you and has never met you before.”
“The thing is women like her—nurses—believe they have the power over life and death. They lie to people and tell them everything is going to be okay when it’s not. They need to know it’s me who has the power over life and death.”
“Explain.” Jo crossed her legs slowly. “What gave you this impression of nurses?”
“She reminds me of the nurse who cared for my mom.” Rourke gave an agitated tug on his cuffs, making the metal clang against the loop on the table. “She told me to go home and everything would be okay, and the next morning my mom died alone. She lied to me.”
“So you wanted her to pay for your mom’s death?” Jo raised one eyebrow. “Although she is completely innocent.”
“I wanted her to feel the fear I felt when Mom died and left me all alone.” Rourke glared at Jo. “My pa didn’t want me. He tossed me away like garbage.”
Jenna leaned back in her chair. Sam Cross had allowed everything so far, so she’d move to the murders. “In your interview, you mentioned knowing Ellie McBride. You said you’d worked on equipment in her classroom recently.”
“Yeah, I did, what of it?” Rourke rolled his eyes and stared at the wall.
Shrugging, Jenna inclined her head to observe him. “We know you attacked her in the parking lot of the convenience store at approximately eleven on Friday evening. We have you at the roadhouse shortly after. Ellie escaped and told us a lot about you. What were you planning to do with her?”
“I had planned to take her to the boathouse. She reminds me of the teacher who had me expelled for throwing a spitball at her. That incident caused problems for me at home. Soon after my pa left, my mother got sick and died. It was all her fault. If she hadn’t had me expelled, none of this would have happened. ”
“Run through what happened that night with Ellie McBride.” Jo looked at him expressionless. “What went wrong? You didn’t try to strangle her, did you?”
“Nope. Not at the time.” Rourke smiled at her.
“I had been following her for a few days. I couldn’t believe my luck when she went to the convenience store and parked along the pile of snow.
I parked my truck out of view of the CCTV cameras—the ones I’d installed—and waited until I seen her coming out of the store.
When she opened the back of her SUV to put her groceries inside, I had intended to strangle her, but I noticed someone heading toward the door, so when she bent over, I grabbed the jack in the back of her vehicle and smashed her in the head with it.
I figured I’d killed her, so I pushed her inside the trunk of her SUV, grabbed her purse and keys and drove to the roadhouse.
I noticed the vehicle had no gas, so I stopped to refill it using her credit card.
I figured as I had her card, I might as well go inside and get myself a meal.
I decided to dispose of her body in the lake and no one would find her because it would be frozen over until the melt. ”
“What did you do when you found her missing?” Jo kept her voice low and in control. “Did you go looking for her?”
“Nope.” Rourke glanced at Sam Cross. “I know I’m making it difficult for you to defend me, but they’ve got me on the kidnapping charge anyway and as I’ve admitted to attempting to murder Isla Monroe, they can only keep me in prison for one life, can’t they?”
“You’ve been given your Miranda rights. I can only advise you to remain silent. As you have chosen not to, I can only sit here and make sure your legal rights are protected.” Cross blew out a breath. “I will explain why you committed the crimes. That’s the best I can do.”
“Like I told you, I figured I’d killed Ellie McBride.
She climbed out of the vehicle and walked out into the night and then I heard she’d gone back to the school.
I searched at her home for her and she was a no show.
It took sheer genius to enter the school again without being seen and then get her to go to the boiler room.
” He chuckled. “No one else could have done that.”
Jenna held up a hand. “Just back it up a little. So you went outside and found Ellie missing from the back of the SUV. What happened next?”
“I drove her car back to the convenience store. Dropped her keys under the back, climbed into my truck, and drove home.” Rourke looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.
“How do you figure I got back to the convenience store? It’s too far to walk.
” He gave Jenna a long look. “Why are you here interviewing me and not at home with your kids? Do you leave them alone all night?”
The door to the interview room opened and Kane stepped in. He leaned casually against the wall, arms folded across his chest, but his expression had dropped into combat mode. Jenna ignored Rourke’s question and allowed Jo to continue with the interview.
“So you left the messages on the whiteboard for Ellie McBride? How did you get into school without being noticed?” Jo cleared her throat.
“I’ve had my people look over the CCTV footage.
The school requires cards to come and go and everything is recorded.
How did you manage to gain entry without being seen? ”
“I made a copy of the janitor’s card. I went to his house recently and he asked me to get something from the glovebox and there it was.
I returned it once I’d made a copy.” Rourke gave her a wide grin.
“He moves around without anyone noticing him. They all figure he’s crazy and let him be.
Once I had the card, I could get inside the school at any time and change anything I wanted to on the computers and CCTV footage.
You see I’m very smart. Smarter than you. ”
“So, it would seem.” Jo nodded slowly as if agreeing with him. “How did you first come into contact with Laney Prescott?”
“I didn’t lie to the federal officer during my interview.
” Rourke wet his lips as if he enjoyed reliving the moment.
“I told her that Laney Prescott had contacted me for a home security system. I just left out the bit where I’d already gone to see her.
She is one of these women that leaves a set of spare keys in a dish by the front door.
I pocketed them as I walked around explaining where she needed to put her CCTV cameras.
I had free access to her home anytime I wanted it. ”
“You left the note on her pillow using Ellie McBride’s lipstick, didn’t you?” Jo’s lips turned up at the corners. “Were you trying to deflect the blame onto Ellie for murdering Laney?”
“Nope.” Rourke barked a laugh. “Do you figure that anyone would believe that a schoolteacher murdered Laney Prescott? You are crazier than me. It was a trophy. I had it in my pocket at the time, is all. The thrill of chasing Laney through the house and then strangling her made me forget where I’d left it. Can I have it back?”
Jenna glanced at Jo. She wanted to wind up the interview, but Jo had one more question.
“Laney Prescott was a social worker.” Jo uncrossed her legs and stared at him. “She helped people. What possible motive could you have for killing her?”
“If you’d ever been trapped in foster care, you’d know the answer to that question.
” Rourke turned his head away, disgust plastered across his face.
“Do you know how many kids I’ve seen, who went to court on the hope they would get back with their parents and end up back in foster care because a social worker had given them a bad report.
They don’t care about the kids or their families.
All they care about is keeping them apart.
The world would be a better place without them.
I’ll make it my life’s work, to take every one of them out. ”
“Oh, I figure that’s enough for today.” Sam Cross glared at his client.
“Can you get me out of here?” Rourke shot him a glance. “I need to feed my dog.”
A dog? Jenna stared at Rourke and then looked at Cross. “One of my deputies has connections with Animal Rescue. I can send him to collect him.” She looked at Rourke. She needed one last bit of information. “Can you describe your dog, and what’s his name?”
“He’s a black-and-white mixed breed.” Rourke grinned. “He’s a big mean SOB and goes for the throat just like me. I call him Satan.”
That was another nail in the coffin for Rourke.
Thank the Lord they had taken this man off the streets.
Jenna ignored him. “The interview concluded at twelve forty-five.” She stood.
“If you have finished with your client. We have a van ready to transport him to County, once he has signed a transcript of the interview. I will be handing all the information over to the DA and he will take it from there. You will be able to visit your client again in the morning once an arrest warrant has been issued.”
“How long will that take?” Sam Cross checked his watch.
“It will be almost immediate.” Kane straightened from against the wall.
“AI produces a transcript of the interview. I’ll go to the office and collect a copy for you now.
I will also give you a copy of the video, should the need arise to check the transcript for any reason.
The moment your client signs the document, we can all head home to our beds.
” He opened the door and stood to one side as Jo and Sam Cross left the room.
Jenna turned to look at Rourke. “Do you have any remorse for killing those innocent women?”
“They weren’t innocent.” Rourke shot a dark look at Kane. “You’ll find out soon enough. I’ll be free soon and I’ll come looking for her. She’s just the same as the others.” He chuckled. “I can almost feel the life leaving her already.”
“You’ll never walk free, but if you do find a way to escape”—Kane slammed a fist on the table—“we’ll meet again and next time I’ll aim for your head. I won’t miss. You have my word.” He opened the door and waved Jenna through.