Jeffery Deaver - XO

And that smile…

“Nobody as smart as you. That’s a fact and a half. And the other thing is you don’t have an agenda.” He grimaced and his brows furrowed even more. “Don’t you hate phrases like that? ‘Having an agenda.’ ‘Sending messages.’ ‘Drinking the Kool-Aid.’ Clichés. I regret saying that about the agenda. Sorry. Put it another way: You’ll stay focused on the truth. You won’t let your… let’s say ‘patriotism’ for Kayleigh mess up your judgment, like’s happened with the deputies here.”

She noted he was articulate, which she recalled was true of his emails as well. Most erotomanic or love-obsessional stalkers were above average in intelligence and education, though Edwin seemed smarter than most. Lord knew, if he was behind the killings, he was clever. This, of course, had nothing to do with a completely skewed sense of reality-like believing Kayleigh would actually be touched that he’d murdered her stepmother or a file sharer stealing her songs.

He continued, “Officers here, they won’t listen to me. End. Of. Story.”

“Well, I’ll be happy to hear what you have to say.”

“Thanks, Kathryn. Basically, it’s real simple. I didn’t kill Bobby Prescott. I don’t believe in file sharing but I wouldn’t kill anybody because they did it. And I didn’t attack Sheri Towne.”

He would have learned about the second and third attacks in the press. And she noted that he didn’t say, “or anyone with her.” The stories had not reported Dance’s own presence at the incident involving Sheri.

“You tell me that, Edwin. But everyone I interview denies the crime, even when we have them dead to rights-”

“Hey! Another expression of my mother’s.”

“I don’t really know you well enough to determine if you’re capable or inclined to hurt anybody or not. Tell me a little about yourself.”

Again, a knowing look, eerie. But he played along. And for five minutes or so he went through facts that she largely knew-his unfortunate, but not tortured, family history. His jobs in Seattle. His impatience with formal education. He said he often got bored in class; his teachers and professors were slower than he was-which might explain his checkered record at school.

He downplayed but didn’t deny his skill at computers.

He didn’t mention his romantic life, past or present.

“You have a girlfriend?”

That caught him a bit off guard as if he was thinking: Obviously, I do. Kayleigh Towne.

“Last year I dated somebody in Seattle. We lived together for a while. Sally was okay but she wasn’t into doing anything fun. I couldn’t get her to go to concerts or anything. I had to break up with her. Felt kind of bad about it. She really wanted to get married, but… it wouldn’t’ve worked out. I mean, is it too much to ask to have fun with somebody, to laugh, to be on the same, you know, wavelength?”

Not at all, Dance reflected but gave no response. She asked, “When did you break up?”

“Around Christmas.”

“I’m sorry about that. It must’ve been tough.”

“It was. I hate hurting people. And Sally was real nice. Just… you know, with some people things click, some not.”

She now had enough information and decided it was time to start her kinesic analysis. She asked him again what specifically she could do for him, noting his behavior closely.

“Okay, I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree. Another Mom expression, ha. And I’m not very ambitious. But I’m smart enough to figure out that I’m the victim here and I’m hoping you’re smart enough to take that seriously. Somebody’s setting me up-probably the same people who were spying on me last weekend. Behind the house, checking me out, my car, even my trash.”

“I see.”

“Look, I’m not the ogre everybody says I am. Deputy Madigan and Lopez? I’m sorry I had to have them arrested but I didn’t start it. They broke the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and some other state statutes by detaining me and searching my house. Those souvenirs were important to me. If you break the law there have to be consequences. That’s exactly what your job is all about. I read that article you wrote when you were a reporter a few years ago, about the justice system? In the paper in Sacramento. That was a good article. All about presumed innocence.”

Again, Dance struggled to keep the surprise off her face.

“Did you get a look at who was watching you?”

“No. They stayed in the shadows.”

Did his smile deepen at the word “shadows”? Just a faint reaction? She couldn’t tell.

“Why didn’t you call the police?”

“Why do you assume I didn’t?”

She’d known that he had; he’d told Madigan about the incident when she’d been observing in the interrogation room when Edwin was detained. She’d wanted to see his consistency. “You did?”

His eyes narrowed. “Nine-one-one. And they asked me if the man was trespassing and I guess technically he wasn’t.”

“You’re sure it was a man?”

A hesitation. “Well, no. I just assumed.” His odd smile. “That’s good, Kathryn. See, that’s what I mean. You’re being smart.”

“Why would somebody make you a fall guy?”

“I don’t know. It’s not my job to prove my innocence. All I know is I haven’t hurt anybody but someone’s going to a lot of trouble to make it look like I have.” His eyes scanned her face closely. “Now, here’s where I need your help. I was by myself when Bobby was killed and the file sharer too. But when Sheri Towne was attacked, I have an alibi.”

“Did you tell the deputies?”

“No. Because I don’t trust them. That’s why I wanted to talk to you now. I wasn’t sure it was a good idea-because you’re a friend of Kayleigh’s-but after reading that article you wrote, after meeting you, I decided you wouldn’t let your friendship interfere with your judgment. Maybe that comes from you being a mother.” He dropped that sentence without adding anything further or even looking for a response. Dance wondered if her face ticked with the alarm she felt.

“Tell me about the alibi,” she calmly asked.

“I was going to go to the luncheon, for the fan? I didn’t think they’d let me in but I thought I could watch from a distance, I didn’t know. Maybe hear Kayleigh sing. Anyway, I got lost. Around Cal State I stopped and I asked directions. It was twelve-thirty.”

Yes, just around the time of the attack.

“Who’d you talk to?”

“I don’t know her name. It was a residential area near the sports stadium. This woman was working in a garden. She went inside to get a map and I stayed at the door. The noon news was just finishing.”

At the time I was dodging bullets and being hit by fire extinguisher shrapnel.

“The street name?”

“Don’t know. But I can describe her house. It had a lot of plants hanging from baskets. The bright red little flowers. What’re they called?”

“Geraniums?”

“I think so. Kayleigh likes to garden. Me, not so much.”

As if he were talking about his wife.

“My mother did too. She had-cliché alert!-a real green thumb.”

Dance smiled. “Anything more about the house?”

“Dark green. On the corner. Oh, and the house had a carport, not a garage. She was nice so I moved some bags of grass seed for her. She was in her seventies. White. That’s all I remember. Oh, she had cats.”

“All right, Edwin. We’ll look into that.” Dance jotted down the information. “Will you give us permission to search the yard where you saw that intruder?”

“Of course, sure.”

She didn’t look up but asked quickly, “And inside your house too?”

“Yes.” A microsecond of hesitation? She couldn’t tell. He added, “If Deputy Madigan had asked in the first place I would have let him.”