Humpty Dumpty: The killer wants us to put him back together again (Book 1 of the Nursery Rhyme Murders Series) (22 page)

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just this thing of mine.” He moved to change the subject. “I was actually coming in to see if we could set up an interrogation room with some of your guys. I just got word from Officer Chance over at the truck stop that he’s managed to find a couple of the suspects we’re trying to track down.”

“Right,” Reggie replied, her brow creasing. “We were talking about that earlier. Were you wanting to set up here, or over at the Iowa 80?”

That was excellent. Exactly what Joshua had been looking for earlier. “Well, if there’s a place there that would work, that’d be perfect.”

She nodded. “Oh, yeah. They have this area back behind the trucker’s lounge that would be perfect.”

“Oh, hey,” Had said. “I’ve got an idea.” He pulled out his phone and opened the Facebook messenger app. He’d added Preston, and they’d chatted back and forth a few times, mostly about curling. The guy had some wacky ideas about the Spirit of Curling. Must be the whole Detroit thing.

“I just texted someone at the truck stop. He should be able to help us coordinate the whole thing.”

“Perfect,” she answered. “Oh, there’s no observation room, but we could set up a video feed without any trouble.”

“Would that be you?” Had asked. He had a brief moment of imagining himself teaching Reggie how to dance the merengue during their down time. It was not going well, even in his mind’s eye.

What a freaking shame.

“Yeah. I usually help with any of the tech stuff that way. Audio visual’s totally included in I.T., didn’t you know?” She winked at him.

Well, at least the afternoon wasn’t a complete waste. They were getting an interrogation room right where they were doing their searching for suspects, he’d made a new friend, and he’d managed to stay away from the aftermath of the explosion. Not too shabby a list of accomplishments, even if he wasn’t all that proud of the last one.

The romance angle would just have to wait.

* * *

Sariah felt edgy.

Her ears still sounded with a high-pitched whine from the explosion that morning, and her ankle throbbed where the alcohol monitor had cut into the flesh of her calf. Getting tossed into the ground with that amount of force had not been the most pleasant experience of her life. It had also given her one more reason to be pissed off about still wearing the monitor.

And then she thought of the dead bodies that had surrounded them at the site, the corpses of the policemen that had been helping them track down a killer, and her complaints about her ankle seemed not just pathetic, but downright offensive. The stakes were getting higher by the moment, and Sariah could feel the weight of her inexperience.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the puppy nipping at the monitor on her ankle. She growled and barked at it, then looked up at Sariah with her head cocked to one side and her tongue lolling out. Cute.

She looked over at Joshua, who should have been minding the little devil of a mutt, but he was chatting with the young part-time policewoman who was setting up their audiovisual for the interrogation room. It was the first time Sariah could remember Joshua engaging with anyone on purpose. How she felt about it wasn’t as clear, especially with Bella doing what she could to tear the device off of Sariah’s leg.

At least they now had some suspects in custody. Officer Chance from the Walcott office had nabbed a third while they were setting up the space. Had was off with the officer, keeping tabs on the three individuals, two of whom had made the trip up to Cedar Rapids.

One of the other cops from the station, Officer Reggie Black, had come over to help convert one of the back rooms of the truck stop into a functional sweatbox. She looked up at Sariah from the installation she was performing.

“Could you step into the observation room and see if the feed’s working?”

Joshua stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

“Hey, thanks, Joshua.” Reggie smiled at him, a dazzling display of white teeth that was made all the more beautiful by the fact that it seemed to be genuine and unselfconscious. Bella trotted over to her, and Reggie reached down and scratched her behind the ears, while the puppy’s tail did what it could to wag itself off of Bella’s butt.

Sariah watched as Joshua darted into the other room. She was pretty sure she’d never seen him
dart
anywhere.

Strange.

He’d been crabby all day, and it had only gotten worse since the explosion. Now he seemed attentive, almost respectful. And it had started the second Reggie walked in.

Not a complete shocker, Sariah guessed. The girl was stunning. Flawless skin, radiant eyes, hair with a sheen that made it look like she had just stepped out of a commercial for deep conditioner.

But this was Joshua. Not only was almost twice her age, he was still beating himself up for the loss of his family. Not exactly the type that she’d expect to get twitterpated over a girl.

“So, what’s the deal here?” Reggie’s voice intruded on Sariah’s thoughts.

“Sorry. What?” She shook her head to clear her thoughts out. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you guys are tracking a serial killer, right?” Reggie waited for Sariah’s head nod as confirmation before she continued. “But Joshua’s not an agent, and neither is Had.”

“No. Had’s a cop and Joshua… well, he’s a special consultant.”

“Exactly. So… are you like hard as nails or something?” Reggie’s question was direct, but her manner was almost shy. Like she felt that she was treading on thin ice.

“No. Not that I’ve noticed.” Sariah said, her tone wry. If only this woman knew how un-nail-like she felt the vast majority of the time. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, you have to be the one who’s in charge, since you’re the only agent here.”

Fantastic. Here was another person that thought Sariah wasn’t up to the task. One more voice that was screaming at her that she wasn’t good enough.

“Yes,” she answered, trying to keep her tone from becoming arctic. “I’m in charge.”

Reggie gave her a look that seemed sympathetic. “Must be tough.”

That was more than Sariah could take right now. Maybe on a day where she hadn’t gotten four people killed she’d be more polite, but at this particular moment…

“I can handle it,” she snapped at the woman.

Reggie’s eyebrows lifted in what looked like surprise. “Of course you can.”

“But…” Now Sariah was confused.

“I meant that it must be tough to be so young and beautiful and have everyone talk down to you.”

Sariah felt her cheeks flush, and she thanked providence for having blessed her with dark skin. Reggie thought she was beautiful? That was beyond a compliment.

“You must have the same problem,” Sariah replied.

The young part-time cop ducked her head. “You know how it is.”

Yes. She did indeed.

Joshua came back into the room, glancing from Sariah to Reggie and then back again. “Setup’s working.”

“Fantastic,” Reggie grinned up at him. Joshua fidgeted with his fingers. Wait. Did Sariah see that correctly? Joshua was nervous around someone?

“Would you mind watching Bella for me while we’re in there?” he asked the young cop.

“Sure, no problem,” Reggie said, scooping up the puppy and holding Bella’s face in her hands. “You’re a beauty. Yes you are,” she sang to the dog, then turned her attention to Sariah. “Wanna bring in the first guy?”

“On it.” Pulling out her phone, Sariah texted Had, letting him know that they were ready. They’d already decided on the order. They’d pull in the two that had made the trip up to Cedar Rapids first and see what popped.

The first one’s name was Keith Sanders.

As the suspect entered, framed by Had on one side and Officer Chance on the other, Sariah observed him. From what she had learned in her days at Quantico and from her limited field experience, the first moments of contact could tell her a lot about the person she would be interacting with.

Keith Sanders was a bundle of nerves, even his walk marred by a near constant twitching. He scanned the room, picking out every person within. His gaze flicked from Reggie to Joshua and then landed on Sariah. He made eye contact with her, then his eyes flicked down to the badge at her waist. He flinched.

There was something significant going on with this one. Whether or not it was something that related to their case had yet to be seen.

“It’s not him,” growled Joshua in her ear.

“What are you talking about?” Sariah answered back, irritated. “He’s almost vibrating he’s so nervous.”

“That’s speed.”

“What?”

“Amp, crank, ice. Whatever. He’s a tweaker.” Joshua sniffed, looking the suspect up and down. He kept his voice pitched only for her. “And he’s got the drug charges to prove it. Not only that, but if he were actually nervous, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be the guy we’re looking for.”

“Okay, that’s true, but—”

“Come on, you know the other guy’s better for it anyway. That hole in his rap sheet fits almost perfectly with the hiatus in killings.”

Much as it pained her to admit it, she knew Joshua was right. They were looking for someone capable of killing and dismembering person after person. Normal responses were not going to be par for this course. She might still want to talk to him, but if she was going to be honest about it, she was using him as a warm up.

She was afraid to screw up in the interrogation room.

Sariah moved in closer to the suspect. “Mr. Sanders, I’m sorry, but can we ask you to go back and wait for a bit? We would like to talk to someone else first.”

Had looked a question at her, but she shook her head, asking him with her eyes to keep quiet, at least until they could speak without any of the suspects present. He nodded.

“What’s this all about?” Sanders snapped, a tic starting in his cheek. “I got places to go. You can’t hold me.”

“No, but we can ask you for a drug test, then take you down to the station until we get the results back.” She let that sink in for a moment, then continued. “Or, you could wait for a bit and then just talk to us.”

The man looked all around the room before his gaze settled back on Sariah. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll wait.” He turned around, then whipped back. “Can I get some coffee?”

“Go back and bring in Curtis Howse,” Sariah spoke to Had. She then turned to the other cop. “And could you get Mr. Sanders some coffee?” She hesitated, then added. “Decaf.”

“Will do,” Officer Chance responded.

They filed out, Had to get the next suspect, Chance to get coffee while trying to keep his man from vibrating out of his grasp. It wasn’t looking like he was succeeding.

“Not the guy?” Reggie asked. When Joshua and Sariah turned to look at her she turned red. “Sorry. You don’t mind if I stay and observe, do you? We don’t get to question too many people around here.”

“Sure,” Sariah answered.

“No prob,” Joshua said at the exact same moment. Each of them turned to stare at the other one.

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like,” Sariah told her, after an uncomfortable moment spent staring up at Joshua.

“But that wasn’t him, was it?” Reggie asked again.

Sariah started to respond, but Joshua cut her off. “No, it wasn’t.”

“Well, we’re not sure,” Sariah corrected him. “But there were some indicators that made us want to talk to someone else first.”

“The fact that he was high,” she stated. It wasn’t a question.

“Um. Yes, as a matter of fact. Good call.”

“Better than yours,” Joshua muttered at her in a stage whisper that was a bit too loud for Sariah’s taste. She ignored him.

“Why don’t you set up in the observation room, Officer Black.”

“Please. Call me Reggie. Or Reg. That works too.” She gave Sariah a smirk and disappeared into the back room where the monitor was set up.

At that point, Had was returning with the next suspect. Curtis Howse wasn’t at all like the man they’d brought in first. He was fairly short, with coarse and wavy dark hair. He moved like a stunt man, with a rolling gait that seemed to keep his feet in constant contact with the floor. There was something grounded about him. Confident.

“That’s more like it,” Joshua whispered. “Get this guy in the box.”

“Yeah,” Sariah answered, her tone pitched to match his. “I think you’re right.”

As they faced off across the table from the man, Sariah met his gaze. It was steady and even, and she felt a cold surge trickle down her back. This was someone who was used to getting things done.

Now it was time to figure out exactly what those “things” might be.

* * *

Had settled in next to Reggie, whose attention was divided between the screen and Bella. He watched as she lifted up a hand to brush her hair away from the side of her neck, moving it around to her other shoulder. Bella thrust her nose into Reggie’s face and licked her, which made Reggie smile and reach up to scratch her neck.

Man, this girl was gorgeous. And, unlike Agent Cooper, she seemed to love animals. Such a crying shame about the dancing. Maybe she made up for it in the math department? But still, how could he be expected to live a life without Latin dance?

He cleared his throat, and Reggie jumped about a foot out of her chair with a tiny scream. Jumping up, Had held out a hand as if to soothe her.

“I’m sorry. Sorry. Thought you knew I was here.”

“No, it’s me. I was so engrossed in what’s going on in there that I wasn’t paying any attention to anything else. Well, except this little one.” Bella had flopped over onto her back on Reggie’s lap and the young cop obliged by rubbing the puppy’s belly.

“I can see that,” Had answered, teasing her. She looked back with an exaggerated pout.

“You know better than anyone how cool this is,” she scolded him.

“Right? This is better than watching a movie,” he agreed.

They turned to stare at the screen, the sound a bit tinny as Coop introduced herself and Joshua, but it was intelligible. Reggie had set up three cameras, so they could see the suspect from a variety of angles. She seemed to know what she was doing.

“Nice set up,” Had whispered, trying not to distract her too much from what was happening on the monitor. Bella sat up and wagged her tail at him, possibly thinking he was talking to her. He reached out and rubbed her nose.