Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
With the chilling effects still clinging from the interview with Durnell, Jenna checked with Maggie at the counter to see if Kitteridge had been brought in for questioning.
Discovering Rio had deposited him in interview room two and that Pike had already left the office, she led the way downstairs with Kane close behind.
Outside the interview room, Jenna and Kane observed Kitteridge for a moment before going in.
The suspect sat hunched at the metal table, his large hands clasped loosely in front of him.
Rio sat opposite, with one hand on the recording device.
Jenna passed her identity card over the scanner beside the door and pushed inside with Kane.
“I’ve read him his rights and he waived the right to an attorney.” Rio glanced from one to the other. “I’ll start the recording again now.” He pressed the button and then gave the time.
Jenna and Kane both gave their names and settled down at the table. Rio leaned against the door, with his arms folded across his chest. Before she could open her mouth to ask a question, Kitteridge stared at her and his jaw tightened.
“Can we get this over with?” Kitteridge’s shoulders dropped. “I have a ton of work to get through at the Haunted House. We’re running out of time.”
Taking her time, Jenna took out her pen and dropped a legal pad on the table. After making a few notes, she looked up at him slowly. “That depends on you, Mr. Kitteridge.”
“Well, then ask away.” Kitteridge moved his head from side to side as if relieving neck pain.
Nodding, she ran through the questions in her mind. “If you recall, when we visited the Haunted House this week you mentioned leaving early. Can you elaborate on that please?”
“I told you I had stomach cramps.” Kitteridge blew out an exasperated breath.
“Did you tell anyone you were leaving?” Kane leaned forward, his fingers running along the edge of a folder.
“Yeah, I mentioned it to Richards.” Kitteridge shrugged. “I’d finished my work anyhow. It’s not as if we had a show on. All the actors are still rehearsing for the big night.”
Making a note of Richards’ name, Jenna lifted her gaze. “Did you go home?”
“No, I went to buy something for my stomach.” Kitteridge frowned. “At the Triple Z Roadhouse.”
“Did you keep the receipt?” Kane opened the folder and glanced down at the photographs as if disinterested in his answer.
“Who keeps a receipt for a bottle of Pepto-Bismol?” Kitteridge looked from one to the other. “Give me a break. These questions are crazy.”
Unfazed by his irritability, Jenna didn’t react. “You know we’ll check the CCTV footage, so if you’re lying, you might as well tell us the truth and save us the time of dragging you back here.”
“I’ll be on the tape.” Kitteridge checked his watch and blew out a long sigh.
Reaching for the folder Kane had under his hands, she flipped through the photos and pushed one of a pair of axes in front of him. “I believe you have access to these axes?”
“Yeah, they’re props.” The suspect blinked and stared at the photo. “They get handled by everyone. We moved them into different sets depending on which scene we’re setting up.”
“We’ve determined that they’re the same type that were used in the Axman attacks.
” Kane slid the photo toward him. “Kind of a coincidence, don’t you think?
” He gave him a long considering stare. “You had access to them and then went missing. At the same time, innocent people ended up murdered. How do you explain that?” He placed the photographs of the decapitated victims in a line in front of him.
“Look at the photographs. They’ll never return to their families. ”
“I didn’t do that.” Kitteridge’s gaze passed swiftly across the images and then back to Kane’s face. “If you figure someone used those axes, maybe you should swab them. You won’t find anything.”
Slightly confused by this suspect, Jenna watched him carefully.
He came across as annoyed more than guilty.
She hadn’t seen the change in him she would normally see in psychopathic killers, but then again, this one could easily alter his body language.
His overexplaining of the use of the axes and his certainty of the lack of trace evidence concerned her.
Guilty men often overexplained. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.
There was just something about him that didn’t sit right with her.
“Oh, we’ll swab the axes. In fact, I believe they’re being swabbed as we speak. ”
Kitteridge gave no reaction—nothing.
Perhaps he’d made sure the axes were clean. Sitting them in bleach overnight would remove all traces of DNA. Anyone who watched a crime show on TV would know that. She needed to change tack. “I believe you drive a white pickup?”
“So do half the ranchers in this county.” Kitteridge shrugged and folded his arms across his chest. “Why?”
“Yours was seen on the fire road around the time of the second murders.” Kane pushed an image of the two men’s decapitated heads in front of Kitteridge. “Maybe you need to explain.”
“I drove home that way.” Kitteridge’s shoulders stiffened and then he relaxed.
“The mist was getting bad along the highway and the trees break it up some. It’s quicker, is all.
” He stabbed a finger at the images. “I had nothing to do with killing these men.” He sighed.
“Why would I want to kill them? I don’t know them and I’d need a reason—right? ”
“Did you stop anywhere along the fire road?” Kane ignored his question, collected the images, and tucked them back inside the folder.
“No.” Kitteridge looked from one to the other. “Why would I stop?”
“Did anyone see you taking the fire road?” Kane leaned back in his chair. “Or did you notice any other vehicles?”
“Well, somebody must have or you wouldn’t be asking me all these stupid questions—and no, I don’t recall seeing any vehicles. It was misty, I could have easily missed one parked alongside the road.” Kitteridge stared at his watch. “This is taking forever and you’re gonna get me fired.”
“You obviously know your way around the forest.” Kane suddenly leaned forward, both hands clenched into fists. “Someone lay in wait for these men and attacked them from behind. Only cowards attack from behind.”
“Do they?” Kitteridge met his gaze. “I wouldn’t know because I’m no coward.”
Jenna glanced at Kane and he gave a slight nod. She closed her notebook. They had nothing to hold him. “We’ll need to verify your movements. Until then, don’t leave town. Deputy Rio will see you out.”
“Oh, I won’t. My work isn’t finished here yet.
I have so many things planned for all next year.
” Kitteridge’s lips quirked up in the corners almost triumphantly.
“I’m sure you’ll both drop by to see the show.
I mean, after the dead body showing up last year, anything might happen.
” He stood, his chair scraping the floor, and Rio let him out.
Jenna switched off the recording device and turned to Kane. “What was that remark about?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe they have something really macabre for the new Haunted House attraction?” Kane rubbed his chin.
Unsettled by the look Kitteridge gave her as he left, Jenna rubbed the back of her neck. “Or it was a threat.”
“He isn’t easily intimidated.” Kane stood slowly, collecting the folder and legal pad.
“Which means he knows we have nothing on him, or he’s innocent.
I pushed but he didn’t bite, and he had no real reaction to the images, but then he does work in a gruesome industry. Maybe he is used to seeing gore?”
Jenna nodded. “Yeah, maybe, but he’s not getting off the hook just yet.”