Allison Brennan - Cutting Edge

“Please bring Cole to interview room two,” Sanger ordered the desk sergeant.

“He’s with his attorney in interview four.”

“That was fast,” Sanger said.

“It’s better this way,” Nora said.

“How the hell is it better?” growled Sanger.

She motioned for the sheriff to follow her, and the desk sergeant buzzed them into room two.

Nora faced Sanger and leaned against the table. It was better not to be too aggressive with him, but she couldn’t deny she was in a fighting mood. “Cole has never spoken to us without his attorney present. You think he’s going to suddenly open up after you arrest him?”

“I’ve known Leif Cole for years. I can get him to talk.”

“Great. Talk about conflict of interest.”

“What’s your point?”

“You and Cole have a history.”

“That has nothing to do with this.”

“Maybe not,” she said, not believing him, “but we still need information and evidence. If you honestly believe that Cole is responsible, then we need to find that evidence, because he’s sure as hell not going to confess when we have nothing.”

“But he doesn’t know what we do or don’t have.”

“If you play him wrong, he’ll never talk. He would love to bring the ACLU down on your ass, Lance. And neither you nor I want to spend our limited resources battling that giant.”

“You know what I think?” Lance said. “I think that they killed themselves to protect Leif Cole and that maybe he was the one who told them to kill Payne. Payne was a thorn in his side for years.”

If Leif Cole was guilty, Nora had been working off the wrong profile from the beginning. That was a poor excuse.

Any decent profiler knew that a psychological assessment of a suspect when you didn’t have a suspect was nothing more than a guideline; it wasn’t rigid. She’d adapted when she learned Payne had been tortured-adding in the psychopathic factor. Was Cole a psychopath? If so, she’d missed it during their previous interviews. If not, which of the three students had killed Payne? Had they been in it together? Who had been the instigator? Groups behaved differently from individuals, and anarchist cells had a small-group mentality, each member goading the others into acts of civil disobedience and felonies.

“Maybe you’re right.”

Sanger was surprised. “I didn’t think you would cave that easily. You were certain he wasn’t responsible.”

“I said maybe and what I’ve always said is that Leif Cole wasn’t involved in the arsons, but that he suspected who was. Sean Rogan said Professor Cole was involved with the student Anya Ballard.”

“We’ll have a hard time getting that admitted into court. His defense will argue that it’s hearsay.”

“Sean Rogan will make a good witness on that point,” Nora said. “Let me be the lead on this, okay?”

Lance didn’t want to cede control-Nora saw it in his face and posture-but he reluctantly relented. “All right. I wouldn’t mind seeing you in action, anyway.”

Before she could respond to that surprising statement, Leif Cole walked in with his attorney. The lawyer introduced himself as Gavin Shepherd.

Shepherd got right to the point. “My client may or may not answer your questions, depending on whether he believes it’s relevant to determining what happened to the three students in question. You should also know that I am petitioning the court for immediate release for false arrest.”

Sanger said, “False arrest? He refused to answer questions at the college, and I offered to interview him at the station. He got in my face, so I arrested him for attempting to intimidate a police officer.”

That was interesting, Nora thought. Sanger hadn’t told her the charges. And Nora thought Shepherd had a point, especially if Sanger told the judge that Cole “got in his face.” Intimidation wasn’t the same as assault, and Sanger had forty pounds and two inches on the professor.

Leif Cole slammed his palm on the table. “I asked you one simple question and you refused to answer.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Sanger said. “I ask the questions, you answer-or refuse to answer.”

Nora cleared her throat while Gavin admonished his client. “Professor, what was your question?”

“Is Anya okay? She was taken away in an ambulance. I just want to know if she’s going to be okay.”

Sanger shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Nora realized the importance Sean Rogan’s observations yesterday had on why that information was important to Cole.

She said, “I’m sorry, Professor. She died en route to the hospital.”

Cole’s body shook, his hands fisted, and his jaw moved, trying to prevent a sob from escaping. He lost that battle and the gut-wrenching cry that was pulled from his heart brought goose bumps to Nora’s skin.

She waited a long moment to give Cole time for initial grief. Her opinion about the propriety of a professor’s relationship with a student was put on the back burner; there was no doubt in her mind that Leif Cole cared deeply about Anya. This was no act.

“Why?” Cole asked, his voice rough. “Why would she kill herself?”

“Professor,” Nora said gently. “I’d like to ask you some questions about Anya and the others.”

He didn’t respond.

She plunged in. “I have a witness who said that you and Anya had an intimate relationship. Is that true?”

“That has nothing to do with this,” Shepherd said. “It is irrelevant whether my client had a sexual relationship or not with Ms. Ballard.”

“I’m trying to establish the relationship between Professor Cole and a student who died under suspicious circumstances. Let me ask it this way: Did you know Anya, Chris, and Scott outside of the classroom?”

“Yes,” Cole said.

“Did you ever think for a minute that one of them was contemplating suicide?”

“Never. Especially not Anya.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I did have a relationship with her. I loved her. She was going to move in after graduation. I know what you’re thinking, I’m forty-two and she’s twenty-two, but it worked.”

Sanger shifted in his seat and Nora shot him a look. He’d better not blow this.

“When was the last time you spoke with Anya?” Nora asked.

“Monday afternoon. In the organic garden. I tried calling her later that night, about ten or ten-thirty, after I got home from the meeting, and she didn’t answer. I knew-I didn’t think anything of it.”

“How was her disposition in the garden?” Nora asked.

“She was upset about something.”

“Do you know what?”

He didn’t answer.

Shepherd said, “My client doesn’t have to answer that.”

“If Professor Cole has information on why Anya Ballard killed herself, then yes, I think he should answer it.”

“Should is not a compelling reason,” Shepherd said.

“Did you know that Anya and the two boys were arsonists?”

“We’re not going to answer that,” the lawyer jumped in.

“Did you know that there was a fatality in the Butcher-Payne fire? That Dr. Jonah Payne died?”

Cole said, “A reporter called me Monday morning and told me about that.”

“Why would a reporter call you?” asked Nora.

“Because of you,” Cole snapped. “Your investigation keeps sniffing around me, and I’ve told you time and time again that I had nothing to do with the arsons, and I certainly had nothing to do with the Butcher-Payne arson or the death of Dr. Payne.”

“When did you find out he was murdered?”

“We’re not going to answer-” Shepherd began, but Cole cut him off.

“You would be hard-pressed to get first-degree murder from an accidental death,” Cole said.