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“Just sit for a while.” Jo opened the back door of the cruiser and urged him to sit inside. “Is your wife at home?”
“Yeah.” Bret Carson dashed a hand through his hair. “I come by as regular as clockwork every Friday. I was heading out to the grocery store when Harriette Jefferson dropped by and told me about seeing you here. After hearing the news about locking our doors, I came straight away.” He clasped his hands together staring at them. “Harriette comes by on Thursdays to visit her. She lives two doors down from me. I told her I’d drive out and see what was happening.”
Seeing Deputy Walters pull up behind her, Jenna sighed with relief. She looked at Bret Carson. “I’ll be right back.”
After bringing Deputy Walters up to speed, she took Bret Carson to his truck and slid behind the wheel. They drove in silence, with Jo driving the cruiser close behind. When Jenna pulled up outside Carson’s house, she looked at him. “Will you be okay? Do you want me to come in and speak to your wife or call another family member to sit with you?”
“No, I’ll wait by the phone for Dr. Wolfe to call.” Carson gave her a red-eyed look. “We will be able to see my grandma, won’t we? We’ll have to identify the body.”
“No, that won’t be possible.” Jenna blew out a sigh. “If you can give me the name of her dentist, Dr. Wolfe will use her dental records for comparison.” She touched his arm. “It’s really better if your last memory of her isn’t at the morgue.”
“Yes, I can understand that, and I thank you for considering our feelings.” He climbed unsteadily from the truck.
Jenna followed him to the front door and stood in the hallway as he gave his wife the dreadful news. She left them and walked with leaden feet to the cruiser, more determined than ever to find out who was killing grandmas in her town.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Bringing in a team member as a suspect concerned Kane. He’d interviewed Rio and found him to be solid. He’d given Rio the same background and psych tests he’d ordered for his team during his tour of duty. Living in serial killer central meant they needed to trust everyone—boots on the ground and men in the air. He’d not risked giving Jenna the wrong advice. He’d called the LAPD and spoken to Rio’s superior, and had Wolfe and Bobby Kalo check him out to ensure they’d chosen the right guy for the job. Nothing in his background led him to believe Rio had any evidence of instability. His sudden change of behavior notwithstanding, it was obvious when Cade went missing that Rio placed his brother’s welfare over his job.
He thought back to his own situation during the time after a car bomber had murdered his wife. He’d been a mess, but anger hadn’t been a part of his despair. Could he, if he’d not been in a hospital with a metal plate in his head, been able to function in the field? He dropped into the zone and nodded to himself. He’d never lost the mental discipline to block emotion and control his body. He recalled the training to bring him to this state of mind. Submerged repeatedly in freezing water, the only way to survive was to relax and not fight the panic. It took a body ninety seconds to adjust to the shock—get through the first ninety seconds without panicking and a person should adapt to the cold. During his ordeal, his training officer would bark questions at him to test just how resilient his mind had become. Most normal people couldn’t think straight but he never had that problem. They’d dunk him repeatedly and then on the point of hypothermia they’d allow him to climb out and run a mile or so to warm up before enduring the process again. This and waterboarding, being left in dark confined spaces, and other training exercises made his mind strong. It had given him the ability to drop into the zone at will and slow his heartbeat. In this state everything around him dropped into slow motion and he moved and processed threats in a blink of an eye. Jenna had asked him once why he needed to be in the zone before taking out a target with a sniper rifle. He’d explained how a flinch or the slightest movement could mean a bullet missed the target by a wide margin. There was no place for nerves in the world of a sniper.
He caught Carter frowning at him and snapped back to the now. Pushing off the wall he walked to the table and dropped into a seat opposite Rio in the sterile room. He allowed a smile to crease his lips at the sight of Carter dressed in scrubs, his hair tucked neatly under a cap. “We all look as if we’re going to perform surgery.”
“Well, if you’re planning on dissecting me, go right ahead.” Rio leaned on the table looking pale and drawn. “I wave my rights to an attorney. Let’s get this shit over with.”
“I wouldn’t mind asking you a few questions.” Carter looked at Kane. “If you don’t mind?” He pulled out his phone, wrapped in a plastic bag. “We can record the interview on my phone.”
Kane shrugged. “Fine by me but Jenna will want to be included.”
“Jenna’s not here.” Carter raised an eyebrow. “Let’s get this done. Wolfe has likely finished with all the tests he needs to do on him. We have a duty of care to Zac and he hasn’t eaten since last night and he’s sitting here covered in a victim’s blood.”
Leaning back in the uncomfortable plastic chair, Kane nodded. “Sure, get at it.”
“You can’t remember anything since you answered the door to a kid, right?” Carter drummed his fingers on the white plastic table. “So, if you were drugged, how was it administered? You were at home since leaving the mountain. Did anyone come by or did you order takeout?”
“Nope.” Rio looked at his blood-soaked hands and shuddered. “I don’t know what happened. I keep getting flashes of disjointed memories. Nothing makes sense right now.”
“Okay, think back to when the kid came to the door.” Carter sat back and inclined his head, looking at Rio. “Did you know him? Did he give his name? Would you recognize him again?”
“No, no, and no.” Rio shrugged. “He was sitting astride a bicycle under the tree out front. “He called out, ‘Flora Carson out of 3 Buffalo Trail told me to come get you. She’s seen a prowler.’ Then he took off in the dark.”
Kane calculated the distance between Buffalo Trail and Stanton to be about five miles. “That’s a long way for a kid to ride at night. Can you remember what he was wearing?”
“A ballcap and dark clothing. I didn’t get a good look at his face. It was in shadow.” Rio sighed. “I went inside and made a note in my daybook. I told the twins I was heading out and left.”
“Did it occur to you that Buffalo Trail is an isolated area? Or what was a kid doing way out there alone at night for Mrs. Carson to ask them for help?” Carter opened his hands. “Can’t you see how sketchy this looks? The prosecution would tear you to shreds. No one is going to believe there was a kid, let alone one that rode five miles to specifically get you.”
“There was a kid. I called out for him to stop, but he rode off into the dark, and at the time I didn’t know where Buffalo Trail was.” Rio glared back at him. “You know darn well I’ve not lived here long. My priority was a woman in danger, not getting the name of a kid on a bicycle.”
“If she had been living in suburbia, wouldn’t she have run to a neighbor before sending a kid five miles to get help from you? And why you in particular? Why didn’t she ask the kid to call 911? Most kids carry phones.” Carter shook his head. “You’re a smart guy. Think about it. Did you honestly believe an old lady ran down her driveway in the dark with a prowler hanging around, in the hope someone might happen by?” His brows met in a frown. “No, she’d have locked all the doors and armed herself. And for your information, Mrs. Carson’s phone and cell were both working just fine when we arrived.”
“I didn’t think it through.” Rio let out a long sigh. “I was exhausted and I guess I assumed the kid came from close by. With two murders in town, my focus was getting to the woman and keeping her safe.”
Kane stared at Rio’s confused expression. “Why didn’t you call for backup?”
“The old folks are on edge since the media release. It could have been someone hearing things or a hoax callout for a prowler.” Rio snorted. “Give
me a break. I was planning on doing a drive-by, if everything looked okay. I would have checked on the woman.” He shot a long look at Kane. “Her place isn’t posted. It wasn’t like she planned on shooting me when I drove in her gate.”
