“Because he’s a suspect. And I couldn’t very well have Spidey Guy’s casual hookup or girlfriend or ex-girlfriend, or whatever you are to him, here interviewing his family with me, now could I?”
As much as I hated to admit it, Russo made an excellent point. If I’d gone with him, a defense attorney down the line would argue I could’ve tampered with evidence, maybe. Or a prosecutor maybe wouldn’t want the testimony of family members influenced by an ex-girlfriend.
“What did you find out?” I asked.
“Some interesting things,” Russo said. “Spidey could be our guy.”
I still couldn’t imagine Mateo as a murderer. “Why do you think that?”
“He was pretty troubled as a kid. Always started fights. Had a pretty bad temper. Plus, the family pets always went missing. And he set fire to his neighbor’s garage when he was seven.”
That did not sound like the Mateo I knew. Not at all. Then again, I remembered the cold look on his face when he killed that spider. And, I bet, not all the girls loved a guy who liked to spar as foreplay.
“But FBI profilers say serial killers are all about power, dominance, and control,” I argued. That’s not Mateo. Even a little bit.
“And HotSpidey’s mother says he has issues with all three. Also, did you know he was a stuntman in a couple of spy thrillers a few years back? He worked pretty closely with some Navy SEALs.”
I was embarrassed to say I didn’t know that.
“He’s had a ton of combat training,” Russo said, which also made me wonder if he’d been holding back when we sparred. “And have you seen HotSpidey’s social media accounts?”
I hadn’t. Maybe there was a lot to the man I didn’t know. I felt like a fool.
“He’s got some pretty strong feelings about the canceled victims. Go check out his comments. His accounts are under Mateo Rivera.”
“I still just can’t… see him as the killer. He could barely get to his TGI Fridays shifts on time two days in a row.”
“Serial killers aren’t always great at holding down jobs,” Russo pointed out. “Jeffrey Dahmer couldn’t keep a job to save his life—or anyone else’s.”
Russo made a good point.
“Self-control and self-discipline aren’t usually at the top of any killer’s list,” he reminded me. “You gotta put aside your bias, kid. Let the evidence talk to you. And in this case for Spidey, there seems to be plenty of evidence.”
“I guess that’s true.” I couldn’t argue with that. And I had been wrong before. Russo laid doubt in my brain. Maybe I shouldn’t trust my instincts.
“But I don’t like how this guy is escalating,” he said. “Maybe it’s too dangerous to rely on the extra time on the clock.”
“No. Stay there. Get your evidence,” I said. “I’ll tell Oscar to be on the lookout for Spider-Man, and I will be, too.” And if I did see him, I planned to make him regret ever showing up in my town.
Oscar made a whole lot more noise about me sleeping in the sheriff’s station. I didn’t want to do that. But I didn’t want to stay at Koi, either, because if the Canceled Killer were staking it out, then I was putting Mom, Dad, and Olivia in danger by even being here. I already felt terrible that I could’ve lured the killer right to their backyard.
“You can stay at my place,” Jude offered, out of the blue.
“No!” Oscar said, a little too forcefully, then glared at me. I wanted to tell him that I could keep my hands to myself, even if I wasn’t 100 percent sure I could.
“Why not?” Mom asked. “That sounds like a decent idea. Plus, Jude’s house is two doors down from the sheriff’s station.”
“It’s not a good idea,” Oscar said, still glaring at me.
“It’ll be fine,” I grumbled back to Oscar.
“Will it?” Oscar demanded.
“I’ve got a state-of-the-art security system,” Jude offered.
Oscar’s shoulders sagged. “He does, actually,” Oscar admitted.
“Why so much security?”
