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“Easy, Glen,” Valerie said. “I’d like to still have my head on my shoulders when we question the suspect.”
“Sorry,” he said, easing off on the gas. “I just want this to be over.”
Valerie felt the weight of it pressing down on her new colleague. It was a reminder to her that everyone has their pressures. Theirs overlapped, but a sheriff was someone the community looked to for protection. Sheriff Carter had been lost the last few days, unable to offer that shield because the killer was one step ahead of him.
Valerie had studied the texts Charlie had sent to her phone, and she was keen to question Lance Nielsen face to face.
The quiet streets of Turnberry had been kissed by a thin veneer of icy rain. The roads reflected up at the swirling clouds above and, for a moment, Valerie couldn’t tell which was the real world—the one in which she traveled, or the reflection beneath their feet.
“We’re here,” Sheriff Carter said, pulling into a half empty parking lot. Valerie saw several police cars in bays, and it was only then that she got a true taste of the sedate world in Kerry County.
A large store selling everything from clothes to novelty Christmas decorations was, at three stories high, a whole one story taller than the HQ for Kerry County’s Sheriff Department sitting next to it.
She didn’t comment on this, but Valerie felt sickened by the world’s priorities. If more infrastructure was in place up and down the country, she felt some serial killers wouldn’t get a chance at a second, third, or fourth victim.
The car stopped and Sheriff Carter turned to Valerie.
“Agent Law … Valerie,” he said. “I want you to know that I have complete faith in you and your team.”
“I sense there’s a ‘but’ coming,” she replied, picking up her bag from the car floor.
Carter sighed. “Yeah, there is. People expect me to be at the forefront of this,” he said. “They look to me, and I have to make them feel like they’re in safe hands.”
“You want to take point on the interview?” Valerie asked, surprised.
“Oh, God no!” he laughed. “You’re the expert, but if you don’t mind, I know people will feel more at ease in the community if I’m at least involved. And believe me, I’m not saying this to get my face in the paper or to climb any career ladder. To tell you the truth, I reckon I’ll quit the Sheriff’s Department after this.”
“And go into politics?”
“No,” he said, looking embarrassed. “Now, don’t laugh, but I love building furniture. I want to work with my hands and actually make something. I think I’ve had enough … of this.”
“Don’t worry,” Valerie said softly. “We’ll end this soon, Glen.”
She had never asked to use his first name, but it just sort of felt right.
They left the car, stepped into the biting cold air, and then headed into the sheriff department.
***
Charlie looked like he was on guard to Valerie, standing as he was in front of the interview room door, his arms crossed. He nodded as soon as he saw Valerie and Sheriff Carter walking towards him.
“Where’s Will?” Valerie asked, concerned.
“We’re going to need to do this one without him,” Charlie said. “The perp, Lance Nielsen, attacked Will with a hammer. His left arm is broken. He’s still at the hospital. I would have stayed with him, but we’re against the clock here, and he was adamant that for Jackson’s sake, we grill Nielsen as quickly as possible.”
“I don’t like the idea of Will being on his own,” Valerie sighed.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Carter said, encouragingly. “He seems like an incredibly intelligent man.”
“Intelligent, yes,” Valerie said. “But genius sometimes comes at a price.”
“Yeah,” Charlie said, letting out a low laugh. “Will is one of my closest friends these days, but he once got lost in his own museum.”
“Museum?” Carter asked. “I thought he was a psych guy?”
“He’s got enough degrees to fill a thermometer,” Charlie said. “But we sure will miss him here today. The second-best profiler in the world … Just lucky we still have number one.”
Valerie laughed. “Don’t listen to him, Sheriff Carter, his birthday is coming up, and he’s just trying to get a better gift out of me.” Valerie looked at the door behind her partner. “Is he in there?”
