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“With the cemetery dirt?”
“Yeah. My most vivid memory was sitting at her grave, telling her about the Colten case. I told her how I was going to solve it, become the most famous field agent in the world. I never did, and even though I say I don’t think about the past too much, that one always plagued me. I felt like I let her down, like I lied to her.”
“That’s so sad. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Now, thanks to you, I feel like I’ve fulfilled that promise. When my number gets called, I can look my mom in the eye on the other side and say ‘I told you I’d do it.’ I couldn’t do that if not for you and your stupid theories. Thank you. I owe you one.”
Ella pretended to be distracted by the paperwork, but it was just a front to disguise the tears. She pinched the bridge of her nose and pursed her lips, but it was no use. Her eyes welled up. There was no stopping it.
Ripley jumped out of her chair and gave her partner a hug, possibly for the first time in their tenure. Ella embraced it, the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to her. It meant the world, and Ella had no idea how to show her gratitude.
“It was a by-product,” Ella said. “I didn’t mean it to happen.”
“Don’t downplay it. You solved one of the country’s most famous mysteries. Accept it.”
“Thank you. It means everything to me. Not solving the case, I mean your respect. You were one of the reasons I wanted to become an agent. If I could frame your admiration it would go full centerpiece. And I really, really don’t want you to retire, but at the same time, I really do. The thought of you playing with your grandkids makes me happier than the thought of you catching killers.”
“Me too. If you ever need me, I’ll only be a phone call away,” Ripley smiled. “Just don’t give my number to Edis.”
Ella laughed just a little, the first time she hadn’t felt anything but absolute dread in as long as she could remember. “I guess we better pack this stuff up,” Ella said as she looked through the belongings on the desk. “Do we have enough evidence to make a compelling case?”
“More than enough,” Ripley said. “Colten is being interrogated as we speak, confessing to everything, including the 1988 murder of his dad. The guy who owns the house said that Colten even explained everything to him as he tied him up. He was even calling him ‘Dad.’”
Ella wanted to dissect the man’s brain, find out exactly where this hatred stemmed from and why he still possessed it three decades later. The man was a psychological anomaly, but right now she had neither the energy nor interest to dig into another psycho’s brain.
“Weirdo,” she said.
“Too right.”
Ella reached into one of the boxes and pulled out the noose from the killer’s third victim. “Guess we need to get this to evidence.”
“You don’t want to keep it as a memento?”
“Like those murderabilia creeps? I’ll pass.”
“Good.”
Despite the hour, Ella’s phone began to ring. Ben’s name flashed up. She answered on the first ring.
“Hey, I’m coming home!” she said.
“Hey, Ella, are you still in Maryland?” Ben asked. His voice was rushed, panicked. She didn’t like the sound of it.
“Not for much longer. Is everything okay? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, but listen. I’m with D.C. police. They have something.”
Ella quickly turned her phone to speaker to Ripley could hear. “Mia, we got something,” she shouted. “You’re on speaker. What’s the news?”
“Cops recovered my phone from your apartment. They need to take it into evidence but they’ve let me call you once. After this, I gotta hand it over. But remember how I said my phone records everything?”
“Yeah. What’s it picked up?”
“A conversation from when those guys had me in their SUV. Real faint voices, but cops enhanced it and it’s definitely there. I’m going to send you a file right now, okay?”
The work never stopped, Ella thought. One serial killer down, an even more dangerous one to go. “Absolutely. Send away,” she said.
Ella opened up her messages screen and saw an audio file downloading from Ben’s number. It pinged to life. She played it and turned the volume up to the max. She and Ripley leaned in closer to the speaker. Ben went quiet.
