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A knock came on the door and Rowley poked his head inside. “Wolfe and the team have finished in the park. He said that they did a forensic sweep and found nothing of interest. The ground is frozen all around, and as it’s a public place, nothing would have been admissible evidence.” He took a breath. “They’ll be starting the autopsies as soon as possible. There is so much information on the file Kalo sent him about the missing persons, it shouldn’t take too long at all to get IDs. He’ll call you if there’s anything interesting to report.”
Relieved that Wolfe had everything under control as usual, Jenna smiled at Rowley. “Head on home and don’t forget to put in for overtime. We’ll be tying up loose ends for the next day or so. If you need a personal day before Christmas to go shopping, I’ll make sure we can arrange one for you.”
“Thanks, but I’ll work all the overtime you want without pay for the rest of my life if you need me. I can never repay the debt I owe you for saving my son.” Rowley touched his hat, turned and headed toward the stairs.
Emotion gripped Jenna and she sprang from the desk and ran after him. “Jake. Wait up.”
“I meant it.” He gave her a somber look. “I’ve lived through so many emotions today. I can’t imagine losing my boy. I couldn’t stand it.”
Tears streaming down her cheeks, Jenna hugged him. “Me neither. Look, it’s over. The man is dead and we’ll never have to think about him again. Go home and kiss Sandy and hug your kids.”
“Okay.” Rowley stepped away, his neck red. “I meant it about the overtime.”
Jenna smiled. “We owe you a ton of overtime, and you and Rio will be getting it before the holidays, that is nonnegotiable. There is one other thing I need to speak to you about, but with all the commotion, it slipped my mind.” She met his suddenly concerned gaze. “I sent the paperwork to the mayor last night about your position here.”
“You’re going to fire me… at Christmas?” Rowley dropped his gaze from her face and he drew in a deep breath.
Laughing, Jenna took him by the shoulders and gave him a little shake. “Heaven’s above, no. It’s a promotion. You’re no longer a rookie, Jake. Go home and tell Sandy. The increase in salary is substantial.”
“Thank you.” He removed his hat and tossed it into the air and caught it with a yip of excitement. “I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”
Jenna watched him go and walked back into her office. She’d just pushed the last piece of bagel into her mouth and swallowed when the desk phone rang. It was Maggie.
“Sam Cross is ready for you to interview Maisy Jones.”
Jenna stood. “We’re on our way.” She looked at the others. “Showtime.”
FORTY-ONE
Staring at the two-way mirror outside the interview room, Jenna turned to Kane. “I really want to be in there asking the questions.”
“If there’s something you need to ask her, we can always send in a note.” He pulled up a chair and handed her an earpiece to listen to the interview inside the room. “We know most of what she knows anyway. I doubt she’ll come up with any surprises.”
Jenna listened as Maisy recounted what had happened from the time she left the Triple Z Bar, until Matthew Oakley pulled up in his truck and offered her a ride to the motel. Jo was asking for detailed information. Had she seen the man at the bar during the time she’d worked there? Was there anything suspicious about him before she climbed into his truck?
“No, I didn’t see him at the bar and he seemed like a regular guy when he stopped to help me. He told me he’d been hunting and his truck was stinky.”Maisy’s voice was tinny through the intercom but clear. “It wasn’t until I got inside the truck that I noticed it was real bad. The doors locked as soon as I sat down. When I turned around to look into the back seat, I could see three obviously dead people through a Perspex screen. I opened my mouth to scream and was trying to get out of the door when he thrust a stinky rag into my mouth. I blacked out and woke up in a gurney in the place I told you about.”
“You mentioned that the bodies were there in the adjoining room.”Jo was all business.“Did you attempt to escape at this time?”
“Of course I did, but the doors were locked.”Maisy looked exasperated.“How did you think I felt being locked in a room with three dead bodies? All I could hear was a drip, drip, drip of their blood splashing into the buckets. It was a nightmare.”
“When exactly did he next speak to you?”Jo leaned forward and made notes on a legal pad on the desk.“Was he acting normally? Did he threaten you?”
“He never acted normally.”Maisy looked at Sam Cross and he gave her a ‘keep going’ motion with his hand.“He said if I didn’t do what I was told, he’d turn the lights off and let the rats eat me overnight. I was kept in the light twenty-four hours a day. I didn’t know what time it was, but he did bring me a meal. I don’t know how long I’d been there when he made me a proposition. He said he would give me a better place to live if I made a phone call to a woman to arrange the collection of a painting. I needed to get out of the room with the corpses. Surely you understand? I figured there may be a chance to escape from a different room, so I agreed to pretend to be his wife. I spoke to a woman called Ginger Vaughn, a local artist in Blackwater, and arranged for him to go by her house at Broken Wolf Forest to collect the picture.”
“Okay. How did he persuade you to help him kidnap Cooper Rowley?”Jo’s face was expressionless.
“He told me that the call to Ginger Vaughn was a test, and if I assisted him with the little boy, he would let me walk free. I agreed because I would be in town and could grab the kid and run straight to the cops.”Maisy reached for a glass of water on the table and sipped, as if trying to get a short break from the questioning.
“The sheriff was right there when the handover happened. All you had to do was stop and give her the boy and explain, but you didn’t, did you?”Jo hadn’t looked up from her notes.
“There were a ton of people on the street and kids all over. I didn’t see it was the sheriff.”Maisy lowered her eyes to her bound hands.
“When the sheriff grabbed Cooper Rowley from your arms, you had the chance to run away or ask her for help. Instead, you pushed her over to get away, didn’t you? You could have run in any direction and yet you jumped back in Oakley’s truck.”Jo’s hard gaze drifted over Maisy.“Can you see why I’m finding it difficult to believe what you’re saying?”
“I did try to escape. I was terrified of him. His eyes changed in a second. I could see that he was crazy.”Maisy grasped her hands together on the table.“You don’t understand. I was in fear of my life. I even climbed through an air-conditioning duct to escape, but it just took me back to another room and that door was locked as well.”
“So, if you were as terrified of this man as you say, it makes no sense at all that you didn’t ask the sheriff for protection. She was right there, carrying a weapon, and yet you jumped into the back of his truck. Why was that? Did you miss him?”Carter was leaning forward with both hands palms down on the table glaring at her.“You were home free. You’re lying now, just the same as you’re lying about killing Zander Hastings.”
