“Can anyone confirm that?”
He shakes his head, his voice growing smaller. “No. I live alone.”
Kincaid leans back in his chair, letting the silence stretch. “You know what I think, Ben? I think you’ve been watching Elyse for a while now. And when that wasn’t enough, you started following her. Maybe you thought the texts were a way to get her attention. Maybe you thought scaring her would make her notice you.”
Ben’s voice cracks as he shakes his head vehemently. “No! I didn’t send those texts! I don’t even have her number. She only communicates with us through email.”
Kincaid’s expression doesn’t change. “But you have her picture. Plenty of them. And we’re pulling traffic cam footage from Friday evening. If we find a sedan matching the one Elyse described near her route home, and it ties back to you, we’ll know.”
My stomach knots as I watch the kid shrink further into himself. I’m not sure what I’ll do if this kid ends up being who I’ve been after this whole time. All I know is he’s lucky I’m not the one interrogating him. Kincaid is going easy on him, too easy for my liking.
Ryker’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “We’ll keep him here as long as we can, but if we don’t find anything concrete, we’ll have to let him go.”
I turn to him. “And what if he’s the one? What if we let him go and he comes after her again?”
Ryker meets my gaze evenly. “Then we’ll make sure hedoesn’t get that chance. But we don’t have enough to hold him indefinitely. You know that.”
I clench my jaw, my agitation simmering just beneath the surface. Turning back to the glass, I watch as Kincaid continues to press Ben when a knocks sounds.
Morales walks in, a grin stretched across her face. “You guys are going to wanna see this.”
CHAPTER 53
Dominic
I’LL DO ANYTHING
PRESENT
“Who the fuck is that?”
The image Morales has pulled up is a still from a traffic cam—a sedan matching the one that chased Ellie—alongside the DMV photo of the registered owner tied to the plates.
After Morales informed us we got a hit from the traffic cams, we gathered in the conference room to go over her findings.
“Name’s Matt Pagio.”
The name rings a bell. I stand, walking closer to the screens to get a better look at his picture.
“I think he was in my class,” I mutter.
Morales nods. “Based on his age, he likely was.”
Vorheis clears his throat. “Do you know of any ties he has to Elyse? Has she mentioned him recently?”
I shrug, unable to recall her ever bringing Matt up in conversation.
“Let’s ask her,” Morales chirps in. “She’s still in the lobby.”
Guilt twists low in my gut. Ellie’s got to be exhausted—working all day to pull off the wedding, only to end up at the station afterward.
If this doesn’t get resolved soon, it might kill us both.
I walk out to the lobby, where Ellie is passed out, sitting straight up in a chair. She looks so uncomfortable it physically hurts me to see her this way.
I cast a glance at the night shift clerk and she smiles politely.
“She fell asleep about thirty minutes ago,” whispers the clerk—Nora, according to her nameplate.
