Ella saw it from Stockley’s point of view, but she didn’t have to like it.She was convinced that within two minutes of being in that room she could make Doyle spill her guts, but she had her reasons to stay back.She wanted Doyle the serial killer, not Doyle the home invader.
‘Fair enough.’
‘I’m sure we’ll see each other again.Have a good day, Agent Dark.’
‘You too.’
Stockley left, and Ella was alone in the waiting room.Doyle was in the same building, probably about fifty feet away, behind concrete and steel, but within spitting distance.
Silent.Not even confirming her own name.
Why?
Ella needed to speak to Director Vernon and Agent Dever right away.
CHAPTER THREE
Since Terrance Dever – the head of the Doyle investigation – was now full-time at HQ, he’d been awarded an office on the fourth floor.Ella was standing in there for the first time now, and she was less than impressed with what he’d done with the place.
‘Ella, take a seat, would you?’Dever asked.Richard Vernon, known around these parts as Slick Rick, was in there too.
‘If I must,’ Ella said.She took a seat in one of the chairs against the far wall, which faced not the desk but a filing cabinet.The desk itself was pushed into the corner at an angle, like it had been shoved there during a move and never corrected, and Dever’s chair was wedged between the desk and the window so that he sat with his back to the room.The layout of this so-called office confused her, but a lot of things about Terrance Dever confused her.
‘You probably want some answers,’ Dever said.
‘It would be nice, yes.’
‘Well, where do I start?’
Ella looked at Vernon, who was idling against the door.‘You could start by telling me why you sent me to see a woman we don’t legally have access to, and why you made me look like a jackass in front of Doyle’s lawyers.’
‘That’s my bad,’ offered Vernon.‘I thought you just being you would be enough.But I guess the prison informed the lawyers you were visiting, so they came down just to put a stop to your meeting.Those rat bastards.’
‘Fine.I don’t care that Doyle’s off limits for the time being, but you couldn’t have waited until she was definitely accessible?Why’d you send me there if you knew I was going to get turned away?’
‘We were hopeful,’ Dever said.
‘Hopeful?Right.How long have you known she was off limits?’
‘Two days.’
‘Great.And what about the other thing?’
Dever waved off the question and said, ‘It’ll sort itself out.’
Ella peered over at Vernon, who looked as reluctant as she felt.Ella wasn’t sure what the hell Dever actually did around here, because by her math she and Luca had done everything to catch Doyle themselves except physically put her in chains.‘How do you mean?Doyle’s lawyer told me they don’t know who she is.Wehave to sort that out.’
‘I’ve got guys at Doyle’s house right now.They’ll find something that confirms her identity.’
‘Terrance, what does it even mean that you can’t confirm her identity?There are pictures of the woman online.She’s on the Louisiana prison website for God’s sake.Match her face to the woman sitting in that prison cell.’
‘We did, but it’s not as simple as that.Doyle had no ID on her.The car she was driving wasn’t registered to her.The fingerprints we took from her don’t match the fingerprints she submitted to the prison when she first joined.Her face looks the same, but the DNA and circumstantial evidence say otherwise.’
Ella was just about ready to stomp a hole through the hardwood and push Dever down to the third floor.‘Terry, I’ve seen that woman twice before in the flesh.She was sitting next to me in that courtroom.She was in Austin Creed’s interview room.Yes, her hair is different and she’s done something to her face, maybe prosthetics, but everything else is exactly the same.Face, bone structure, height, build, profile, you name it.I might have only seen her through a car window but it was enough to know I was staring at Lindsey Doyle.’
‘Well,’ Dever began, scratching his jaw, ‘there is another issue there.’
‘Of course there is.’
