Allison Brennan - Killing Fear

“If the police suspected Glenn after Brandi was murdered, why didn’t they put a tail on him? Jessica was killed four weeks later.”

“You’ll have to ask Will Hooper about what the police did and did not do.” Julia averted her eyes.

“I know what happened, Julia. I just wanted to know what you knew.”

Julia was about to respond when her door burst open and both women jumped. Trinity turned to see Connor Kincaid, a local P.I. who’d been a cop years ago. She’d heard he and Julia were involved.

Right now, Connor looked like he wanted to hit something.

“Frank Sturgeon is dead.” He faced Julia. “No arguments. I’m taking you to a safe house. Far from San Diego.”

Will had first sat face-to-face with Theodore Glenn after Brandi Bell’s murder. His partner Frank Sturgeon leaned against the interrogation room wall, glowering.

They’d thought they had a solid case and could keep this twisted killer in prison. Will had also thought he was dealing with the typical, arrogant killer who would talk himself into a confession if Will played him just right.

By the end of the interrogation, Will knew he had a different breed of sociopath on his hands.

Two women were dead and Will faced their killer.

They’d kept Theodore Glenn in lockup overnight. The day before, a witness during the canvass had come forward with a description of a man who had left Brandi Bell’s house early that morning. According to Robin McKenna, the description matched a regular patron of RJ’s, a man who had dated both victims.

Theodore Glenn.

They’d arrested Glenn at his home without incident. In fact, he almost seemed to enjoy it. “I’m sure we’ll get this all straightened out soon enough,” he’d told Will.

Now, the bastard was looking at him with idle curiosity. He didn’t fidget. He didn’t talk nervously. He didn’t fume. He looked as crisp and neat as when they’d brought him in the day before.

“What can I do for you?” Glenn asked, a faint smile on his lips.

“You’re a regular at RJ’s, a club in the gaslight district, correct?” Will asked.

He nodded.

“Please speak your answers out loud for the recording, Mr. Glenn.”

“Yes, I go to RJ’s once or twice a week.”

“How long have you been a regular customer?”

“About a year, maybe a little longer.”

“Why?”

“Why do I enjoy going to a strip club?” Glenn raised an eyebrow, smiling.

“When did you first go to RJ’s?” Will asked.

“A colleague of mine had his bachelor party there last year. I thought the dancers were quite talented. And very attractive. Not like some of the clubs in town showing only old, tired women with sagging breasts and no attitude.

“I particularly enjoyed Brandi. She was the head dancer, very gifted. I’m sorry something happened to her.”

Will watched carefully as Glenn put a frown on his face and shook his head back and forth. There was a falseness to Glenn’s actions, as if he were an actor following a script.

“I also enjoy watching Robin McKenna.”

Will kept his expression in check. Why would Glenn mention Robin specifically? To play with him? A tickle of fear crept up his spine. What if this bastard was watching Robin? What if she was his next target?

Had Will been so wrapped up in Robin that his instincts went south?

“Where were you last night?” Will asked.

“With a lady friend of mine.”

“A dancer at RJ’s?”

“No, not last night. A colleague. Ingrid Vanderson.”

“How long?”

“All night.”

“Where?”

“At my home.”

“Do you have contact information for Ms. Vanderson?”

“Of course. It would be in my address book. I believe you took that from my house.”

Too cocky, overly confident. Most innocent men would be protesting. Upset. Especially at having been kept in jail overnight.

“When was the last time you were at RJ’s?”

“I don’t think I need to answer any more questions, do I? I’ve given you my whereabouts last night, and the woman I was sleeping with.”

Frank suddenly slammed his fist on the table, always the one to play bad cop. “We have a witness who places you at the crime scene at the time Brandi Bell was tortured and killed.”

Glenn didn’t even blink. He showed no reaction to Frank’s temper, and in fact didn’t even look at him, responding instead to Will. “Your witness is mistaken.”

Will knew from Robin that both Bethany and Brandi had had a sexual relationship with Theodore Glenn. “Did you know Brandi Bell outside of her employment?”

“Do you mean did I see her outside of the club?”

Will nodded.

“Yes.”

“Did you have an intimate relationship with her?”

Glenn nodded with a sly smirk. “Yes, I had sex with her.”

Will tried, but knew he failed, to contain his surprise at the admission. Killers with personal ties to the victim often denied it until confronted with solid evidence. Even then, they often continued with the lie or made excuses. “When was the last time you had sex with Ms. Bell?”

“Hmmm, about a month ago. Let’s see. February second. Yes. There was a rerun of that movie Groundhog Day on one of the cable stations. They play it every year now, don’t they? It gets tiresome, but Brandi enjoyed it. We had sex once during the movie, on the floor of her living room. Then afterward, we had a late dinner. Sex on the kitchen table-have you ever done that, William? Sex on the kitchen table?”

Will gritted his teeth. Glenn was toying with him. There was no way he could have seen him and Robin. No way. They had been in his town house. The blinds were closed…

“When was the last time you saw Brandi?” Will asked Glenn.

“Last week. At the club. Friday. I’m there every Friday, and most Wednesdays. Ask Robin. She always makes a point to come by my table and say hello. Now there is a beautiful woman. I’ve often wondered, as I watch her remove her clothes, why such an attractive, smart woman would take the job of a slut?”

Will’s fist hit the steering wheel.

Carina was in the passenger seat. She turned and frowned at him, but said nothing.

He drove directly from Frank’s house-where his former partner had been gunned down sitting at his kitchen table-to The Eighth Sin. He’d had a call from dispatch that Robin McKenna had left a message for him, but when he tried her number no one answered. He called the unit watching her loft and learned the uniform had driven her to the Sin for a meeting.

“I’m sorry, Will.” Carina thought he was thinking about Frank and how his former partner died. But Will had been remembering that first interrogation. Glenn had controlled it from beginning to end. Will took another shot at him later that day, but the damage was done.

Glenn had sabotaged his relationship with Robin. Planted seeds of doubt in his head about her. After Anna’s murder, Will had been too ready to believe that Robin had been the intended victim, that she had slept with Glenn, just like the first three victims. Because it was Glenn’s M.O., and Anna didn’t sleep with men. She was a lesbian.

“I’ll kill him,” Will muttered.

“Stop.”

Will swallowed, pushed Robin from his mind and focused on what Glenn had done to his retired partner.