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“The criminal. Some of the guys call him the Master. He gave us all a hundred and told us to stay down here. He calls us his eyes.”
Liam had to use all his willpower to not scream in anger. He let go of the man and clicked on his radio. It buzzed to life.
“Chief,” Liam said, “Tobias is long gone. He’s one step ahead of us.”
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Chuck Pierce hadn’t said a single word the whole journey back. Ella now stared at him through the bars of the solitary holding cell they had at the precinct, sitting, staring at the ground, refusing to acknowledge anyone.
Ripley, Cromwell, and two other officers walked into the holding cell area, beaming smiles all around. Ella was convinced they had their man too, she only wished she could coax a confession out of him.
“You nailed him,” Cromwell said. He put his hands on his hips and surveyed the man behind the bars. “Old Chuck Pierce. You were always a creep but I never suspected this. You gonna talk about it, or gonna stay quiet?”
Chuck shook his head, not looking anyone in the eye.
“How’s your wife?” Cromwell asked. “I heard she shacked up with the postman. That’s gotta hurt.”
Ella noticed a slight change in Chuck’s body language. The comment irritated him, but not so much that he started talking.
“Come on, Pierce, admit it. Admit you killed those women.”
Another officer joined in. “We got you dead to rights, Pierce. There’s no way out of this.”
Ella was a little confused by Chuck’s refusal to talk. According to her psychological profile, their killer would flaunt his crimes to the world. It didn’t make sense, especially considering the circumstantial evidence they had. She suspected it was only a matter of time before forensics found something in his van or shack that firmly linked him to the murders.
“Why’d you do it, Pierce?” the other officer asked. “You want fame? Is that it? If you wanna be famous, you gotta admit it.”
Suddenly, Chuck Pierce jumped off the bench and grabbed the cell bars. “Alright! I killed them! Is that what you want to hear? It was all me.”
Ella looked to the sky and breathed a sigh of relief. They had evidence. They had a confession. What else did they need? She eyeballed her partner, who for the first time in months had a smile on her face. Ripley gave her a hearty nod. The game was over. Beside her, the officers embraced each other in a brotherly hug.
“Wasn’t so hard, was it?” said Cromwell. “Now, let’s get a written confession and clear all this up. I’ll fetch the documents.”
Ella needed a moment with this man. She needed to dissect his mind, figure everything out. Most of the jigsaw pieces were in place but she needed to hear it through his own words. The clues, the crime scenes, the links, the zero victims. Leaving it untouched would claw at her for the rest of her life.
“Officers, can I take a moment to speak with Mr. Pierce? I’ll relay everything to you afterward.”
They agreed and left the agents alone. Ripley’s smile was beginning to turn the other way. She lowered her voice out of earshot of the captive.
“Dark, don’t even think about it. We’ve got our man. Let’s get the hell home and move on to our next problem.”
“It’s not that. I believe Chuck did it, but I need to hear him explain it all.”
“Fine, but I’m listening in. Anything that confirms this man’s guilt further is good by me.”
Ella approached the bars, slowly and calmly. He’d already confessed, so surely everything else would be surplus to requirement in his mind.
“Mr. Pierce, my name’s Ella Dark. I’m the one who tracked you down. I need to know why you murdered three innocent women. Was this a game to you? What are you trying to prove?”
Chuck fingered the wound in his leg, grimacing at the touch. Then he started laughing.
“I didn’t want to prove nothing, lady. Those bitches were asking for it.”
“The victims? They have names.”
“Not important. They meant nothing.”
Ella took a step back and considered something. Was it a coincidence that these victims’ names happened to match the victims of the original crimes?
