“Really? I thought she saw it as her safe space. And she likes teaching the kids.”
“She can teach kids anywhere. Putnam is where someone raped and nearly killed her. Do you really think she wants to be reminded of that every damn day?”
“Interesting choice of words, since she doesn’t remember the attack.”
“But people have told her what happened. Every time she passes by that spot she probably has all that horror rushing back to her, even if she can’t technically ‘remember’ it.”
“She didn’t know where it happened, until very recently. And now that spot will also always be the place where Jenny’s body was found. Don’t you find that curious? All the possible locations to leave Jenny’s body, and they chose that one?”
“I don’t know what to think about that. It does seem weird, but hell, life is weird.”
“I need something more definite than that.”
Dak rose. “Well, good luck on that. I’ve got to get back to making money.”
Outside, Devine found Harper and Fuss waiting next to his SUV. Their expressions were tight, focused, and grim, none of which he cared for, not a single one.
“What’s up?” he asked, half expecting them to say that someone else was dead.
Harper nodded at Fuss, who slowly took out her cuffs and said, “Travis Devine, you’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent.”
“What?” said a startled Devine, who took a step back.
“Anything you say can and may be used in evidence against you in a court of law.”
Devine took another step back. “What the hell is going on here?”
Harper said, “Do not resist, Devine, it’ll only make it worse.”
“What am I being arrested for, exactly?”
“On suspicion of theft of police evidence,” replied Harper.
“What evidence?”
“Alex Silkwell’s rape kit.”
“Bullshit!”
Harper put his hand on top of his baton. “Do not be stupid. I do not want to hurt you.”
Devine almost laughed at that one.
Fuss seemed to read his mind and said nervously, “Look, I know you could kill both of us with just your pinkie, but we’re only doing our job.”
Devine glared at Harper as he slowly put his hands behind his back. Fuss cuffed him while she finished the Miranda warning. “You’re making a big mistake,” Devine said to Harper.
“Just doing my job.”
“And I’ll do mine,” retorted Devine. “And then maybe you’ll be the one with the cuffs on.”
Chapter 46
The two men stared at each other over the width of a table in the small interview room of the police station. A Bell and Howell surveillance camera that looked to be from the 1980s hung in the corner like a deflated party balloon.
Harper looked both cagey and pensive as he turned on a recorder and stated the date, time, and the identities of the two parties in the room.
Devine said, “Why are you doing this?”
“Are you having a relationship with Alex Silkwell?”
“What does that even mean?”
“I understand that you slept at her place one night, the night you were attacked.”
“Who told you that?”
“Is it true?” demanded Harper.
“I stayed in her art studio that night. I thought it would be safer than my place since someone has tried to kill me twice, including once there!”
“You stayed there with her permission?” said Harper impassively.
“She found out about it afterward.”
“So you broke in?”
Devine slammed his fist down on the table. “Are you really going down that road?”
“Breaking and entering is a crime, Devine,” Harper said calmly.
Devine struggled to get his temper under control, but the smug look on Harper’s face made it easier. And he’d been grilled by the best of Army CID agents.
“She approved of what I did after the fact, so I don’t see what the problem is. And I thought you were trying to nail me on stealing her rape kit?”
“Why does it have to be just one crime?”
“I’ve committed no crime.”
“Why did you want to look at that evidence file?”
“Because I think whoever killed Jenny also attacked Alex fifteen years ago. I already suggested that theory to you.”
“I don’t agree.”
“You don’t have to. But you didn’t have to drag me in here on some trumped-up charge.”
“The rape kit is missing.”
“Yeah, I know. It was missing when I opened the box. Mildred James knows that, too.”
“No, she looked at the box after you told her it was missing.”
“Why would I take it?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
“Why did you look at the box ten years ago? You were the last one to sign it out before I came along.”
“I’m asking the questions here, not you!”
Now Harper was struggling to get his temper under control while Devine gazed at him placidly.
“Answer my question,” demanded Harper.
“I already did. I didn’t take it, so I can’t have a reason why I did. But I am puzzled.”
“About what?”
“Did you have doubts about the case? Did you wonder why it was never solved? Did you wonder why there was never a suspect to match the forensics to?”
“You’re not listening, Devine.”
“Did you take the rape kit?”
“No, I didn’t,” huffed Harper.
“Good, neither did I. I think we can call it a day.”
Harper pointed a finger at him. “You were the last person to access that box.”
“After you did, a long time ago. When you were still a sergeant.”
Harper shifted in his seat and shrugged. “Okay, you’re right. It was unsolved. I wanted to see if something clicked. It was part of my job.”
“Did anything click?”
“No.”
Something occurred to Devine. “Was the rape kit there when you accessed the box?”
Harper didn’t answer right away. “Y-yes.”
“Would you swear to that on the witness stand?” asked a clearly incredulous Devine.
“I’m not on a fucking witness stand,” roared Harper.
“You might be one day,” Devine shot back. “If you push this.”
Harper sat there for a few moments before ending the interview and turning off the recorder. “Get out of here.”
“You read me my rights. Am I being formally charged?”
“We didn’t process you yet, and you haven’t been officially booked or arraigned. But we can pick you up anytime. So much as a parking ticket.”
Devine rose. “I’m not the enemy here.”
“The enemy is who I say it is.”
Devine walked out. In the lobby he saw Mildred James. She looked up at him guiltily. In a low voice she said, “I am so sorry about all this.” Her gaze darted toward the hall where the interview room was. “I know you didn’t take that rape kit. The rear doors are alarmed. You would have had to pass me with it, and you didn’t. It’s not like you could have hidden the dang thing in your pants. I told the chief that.”
“I appreciate that. Well, at least I’m free to go, for now. Where is Sergeant Fuss?”
“She got called out on something.”
He nodded and glanced through the glass partition into Harper’s office. He eyed the line of photos on the wall of former police chiefs he had seen before. As he looked more closely, the picture of the man next to Harper seemed familiar for some reason.
He pointed at it. “Who’s that man? The one who was chief before Harper?”
James glanced at it. “Oh, that’s Benjamin Bing.”