CHAPTER 46
“Did you get any information from the old woman?” Giovanni said.
I spent the next several minutes going over what Sinnerman’s grandmother told me and my theory about who he was.
When I finished he said, “Are you certain about this?”
I nodded.
“That boy’s our killer,” I said. “Only he isn’t a little boy anymore. I don’t envy his poor upbringing or what he must have suffered as a child, but it doesn’t excuse him from his actions. You can’t just go around killing people because you hate your mother and the rest of the world.”
“So where to now?” Giovanni said.
“I’m sure I won’t score any points with your brother for what I’ve done, but he needs to know all that’s happened.”
“Let me worry about him, and since it’s late, he can wait until tomorrow.”
The next day we parked in front of the last place I wanted to be, and I hoped the backlash of not letting them in on what we’d been doing wouldn’t bite me too hard in the ass. If it did, I didn’t care. It was worth it.
I pulled the notebook from my bag.
“What have you got there?” Giovanni said.
“I found this in the boy’s room. I didn’t want to hand it over until I’d had a chance to look through it.”
“They’ll want it.”
“I know,” I said. “I’ve only had the chance to flip through the pages, but it looks like a bunch of scribbled words.”
“Shove it under the seat,” Giovanni said.
“What?”
“Do it—now.”
I did what he asked, and five seconds later, Giovanni’s brother tapped on the driver side window.
“What are you two doing here?” Agent Luciana said.
“Came to see if you had lunch yet.”
“I haven’t.”
“Care to join us?” Giovanni said.
“Sure. Let me grab something from my car, and we’ll go.”
“I need to run Sloane somewhere,” Giovanni said. “Can you meet us in thirty minutes?”
We set up a place for lunch and then said goodbye.
“Thanks for the quick save,” I said when Agent Luciana had gone.
“I didn’t mean to be so firm with you, but there wasn’t time to mince words.”
“I would have done the same thing,” I said and winked at him. “Let’s run this errand.”
Giovanni took me to the local office supply store, and I photocopied all the pages in the notebook. Ten minutes later we took our places on the patio of my favorite restaurant in Kimball Junction where Agent Luciana sat in wait.
“What have you two been up to?” he said.
Giovanni crossed one leg over the other and behaved like we were a few old friends just passing the time with a casual lunch. I wondered how he stayed so calm all the time. I felt like a freight train was trying to pass through me, and I just wanted to pull on the horn and blurt it all out, consequences or no.
“I know who Sinnerman is,” I said.
I hadn’t meant to put myself on blast, but now I’d released it, and there was nothing left to do but press on. Giovanni glanced over to the side at nothing, but I could see the smirk on his face.
“You’re not serious?” Agent Luciana said.
“I assure you, she is,” Giovanni said.
“Are you going to tell me what the two of you have been up to, or do you expect me to sit here and believe it just came to you in the middle of the night?”
I explained the series of events that took place the day before which started with the discovery of the pink paper at the art school and ended with our trip to Declan Reids’ house.
“And neither of you thought it would be a good idea to inform me of this before now?” Agent Luciana said. “I can’t believe you, either of you.”
“I fail to see what the value would have been in dispersing the details until we had something solid to give you,” Giovanni said.
“And I’m supposed to be fine with that? This is my investigation, Gio. I mean, that’s great that you like this girl but that doesn’t mean you need to lose your head over her.”
Giovanni slammed his hand down on the table and fragments of bread crumbs shot through the air and landed on the pavement below.
“Watch yourself, brother,” Giovanni said.
The two stared each other down for what seemed like a full five minutes even though it couldn’t have been more than one. I’d watched a dog training show once on TV that said to establish dominance when engaged in a stare-off as these two were doing now, never to be the first one to look away; that signaled weakness. The one who held the stare without breaking first became the dominant, the leader. And Agent Luciana might have been angry, but he and I both knew who would be the first to look away.
Several seconds later, Agent Luciana turned toward me.
“Can you understand why I’m frustrated?”
I nodded.
“I expected it. I never meant to disregard you or your position; I just—”
“Can’t help yourself?” Agent Luciana said.
“I know I jump the gun sometimes, but in the past I’ve always felt like everyone wanted to know what information I had, but once I gave it, I was rewarded by being ushered to the sidelines. All that sitting has made my butt sore, and I can’t sit back—not on this one.”
“I’m not like every detective you’ve worked with,” Agent Luciana said. “Maybe if you gave me a chance, you’d know you could trust me.”
“That’s just it,” I said. “I don’t trust anyone.”
“What you’ve told me gives me a lot to look into, but we’re still talking about a simple piece of paper here. There’s no other evidence that he’s our killer.”
I reached down and picked up the notebook and plopped it down on the tablecloth in front of him.
“There’s this,” I said.
I waited for the backlash that I was sure would ensue, but it didn’t.
“Where’d you find it?” Agent Luciana said.
“In the boy’s room. No one else knew it was there. It was so dusty when I picked it up I couldn’t even tell what color it was at first. And now that I’ve given you much more than evidence of a match to some silly piece of pink paper, I hope you can use it.”
CHAPTER 47
“Blows my mind,” Maddie said. “It must have felt weird to be in that house.”
“I was fine until I made the connection. And then once I realized where I was—it’s hard to describe. I’m looking at all these pictures of a young innocent kid knowing what he grew up to be. Agent Luciana can run all the tests he wants, he’s the one.”
“It’s twisted, you know? I mean this guy is one messed-up freak show. To be rejected by everyone around you except your grandmother, that’s harsh.”
“To a degree, she pushed him away too. It was obvious she had genuine feelings for him, but when it came right down to it, she was too worried about what Decklan wanted than doing what no one else would do—standing up for the boy.”
“What a nightmare,” Maddie said.
She glanced at the time on her cell phone.
“Ooh—I have to go. I’ve got dinner with Wade in an hour.”
She stood up, grabbed her bag and said, “Give Gio a big kiss for me and tell him I said bye.”
“Hilarious,” I said.
“Life’s no fun if I can’t tease you once in a while.”
After lunch was over, Agent Luciana got a warrant to search Decklan Reids’ house which I’m sure came as a shock to both him and his mother.
Surprise—your son grew up to be a fine serial killer, well done, nice job. You don’t just deserve a pat on the back for your achievements in the non-parenting category, you deserve two. Wait a minute while I find my bat so I can give them to you and then we’ll toast to Decklan and Laurel, parents of the year—thirty-plus years running.