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Ella kept cool again. Their killer might have kept these acquaintances secret. “Was he affiliated with Saint Paul’s Church in any way?”
“No. He never went to church. I tried to make him, but...”
Now Ella’s nerves were beginning to shake. Lastly, she asked, “You know Jasper better than anyone. Nine years together. You know what he’s capable of. You’ve seen him at his highest and lowest. Do you think he could have stabbed and killed three people, nearly four, including his ex-wife?”
Patricia clutched her forehead with one hand and began circling again. The tears came, thicker and faster this time. She grabbed a mass of blonde hair and tugged, like a masochist trying to get her fix. “No I don’t,” she cried.
Ella embraced the woman with a tight hug. Doubts began to take root, snaking around her short-lived joy like an insidious weed. She caught a glimpse of Ripley standing beside the car, hand on her pistol, watching Jasper Edwards like a hawk.
They needed to talk.
“Thank you for your help,” she said. “I just need to see my partner. I promise you’ll be safe from here.”
Their hug broke apart as Ella edged back towards a waiting Mia Ripley. She double-checked the car door and the windows were shut. She didn’t need Jasper Edwards to hear any of this.
“She going to be okay?” Ripley asked.
“Mia, you’re not going to like this, but I don’t think Jasper is our man.”
“What? We profiled he’d target this house and he was in the garden. He’s got a connection to our first victim. Dark, he’s looking pretty damn good to me.”
“Agreed, but that’s all we’ve got. Patricia said he’s not religious, never has been. No connections to the other victims that she knows of. No involvement with the church. Plus, I think we’ve done it again. We’ve missed something obvious.”
Ripley sighed. “Go on. Tell me.”
“I’m going to ask him a few questions. Watch him closely. Listen closer.”
“Shouldn’t we do this back at the precinct? We can document everything there. If we do it here, it could be inadmissible.”
“And if we take an innocent man back to the precinct, we’re leaving Patricia alone, maybe to be attacked by the actual unsub.”
Ripley nodded, but it was obvious she didn’t like it. “Go, but make it quick.”
Ella unlocked the back door. Jasper Edwards slumped forward, his forehead pressing against the headrest of the seat in front. All the life had drained from him, leaving behind a vision of defeat that had seemingly accepted his fate without much of a fight.
“Jasper. We need to ask you a few things.”
The suspect muttered incoherently, muted by the fabric against his mouth.
“Look at me,” she demanded.
Jasper slowly turned his head. “What?”
“Why did you do this? Explain your reasoning and you might not go to jail for life.”
“Life?” Jasper spat. “I wanted my things back. You can’t put me away for that!”
“Sure. What about the others?”
“What others?”
“Don’t play dumb. Joanne, David, Gary.”
Jasper’s face as an inscrutable mask. The needle pricks of the victims’ names did nothing to alter his composure. Not even a slight shift of weight or an involuntary twitch. “I was only seeing Joanne. I don’t know a David or Gary.”
“Joanne Gustafson is dead,” Ella said bluntly, invoking the shock factor.
“I know,” Jasper said. “Everyone knows. It wasn’t me. I haven’t seen her in months.”
