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“We ready to do this?” Ella asked.
“Always. Want me in there?”
“Please. This was a team effort. Gameplan?”
“Open-ended questions. We’ll present him with the facts and let him incriminate himself. I’ll bring in a folder of crime scene photos. Keep a close eye on his non-verbals. And for God’s sake don’t mention the stairs thing.”
“Got it.”
Sheriff Hale rushed back after his brief phone call. “Ladies, that was one of my guys. They found a stash of newspaper articles in Ted’s office, all relating to the murders. He’s been collecting them.”
Ella and Ripleybeheld one another in disbelief,theireyes wide with awe. This fortune was a gift from the heavens.
“Wow,” Ripley said. “Names have not been made public, right?”
“No. Just general details. Still haven’t got the names or footage out there.”
“Thank you, Sheriff,” Ella said. “Great find.”
Ella led the way into what passed as an interrogation room, eager to get this case over with, ready and willing to leave it in the past where it belonged. She sat down opposite a damaged Ted Kowalczyk, still reeling from his violent descent fifteen feet to the cold ground below. She couldn’t lie, it felt good to throw a cowardly serial murderer down a flight of stairs. Ripley sat beside her and began the proceedings.
“I can’t pronounce your last name, so I’m just going to call you Ted.”
“It’s Polish,” spat Ted. “Some culture might do you Americans good.”
Ella said, “I love Poland. Fantastic buildings. Tragic history. Highest number of Christians of any country in Europe, apparently.”
Ted held her gaze. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Sure you wouldn’t. Want to tell us what happened back there in your office?”
Ted shrugged off the question, his face betraying no emotion.
Ripley asked, “Oh come on, Ted. Does that kind of thing happen often?”
“More often than you’d imagine.”
“And why’s that? Get yourself into a lot of fights?”
Ted smirked. “I know what you’re trying to do. You want me to talk about my past. Well, I won’t. That was all settled back then.”
“No, no,” said Ella. “We’re here to talk about your future, and I see a lot of iron bars and handcuffs. Back there, you said “because you know.” Want to tell me what that meant?”
Ted’sgaze flittedaround theoffice, legs jittering,historso buzzing with nervous energy. “Don’t pretend that you don’t. Why else would you drag me here?”
“David Harper, Gary Weathers, Joanne Gustafson,” said Ella. “Those names are why we dragged you here. Mean anything to you?”
Ted’s lips pursed at the mention of David’s name, then went back to their baseline. He slowly nodded, rubbed his forehead, and said, “Yes, I knew David Harper.”
“Knew?” Ripley asked. “Interesting you’d speak of him in past tense.”
The suspect smirked. “Oh come on. Everyone knows what happened to him. He’s dead.”
“Funny you say that, because that information has never been made public.”
“David used to come and see me for sessions every Monday. When he didn’t show up, I tried to call him, find him. Went to the church, paid a visit to that little unit where he was hiding out, and saw police tape. I just put two and two together.”
Ella was a little taken aback by the man’s honesty. She at least thought he’d try and skirt the topic, but this little reason gave Ted an excuse to be at the crime scene when they eventually found evidence of his presence there. “And you just assumed it was David? Could have been any number of reasons for police tape there.”
