Presumed Guilty: (A Jefferson Winter novella) (7 page)

Yoko surprised herself by laughing out loud. Sudden displays of emotion were not her style, and actual laughter was rare. But what Winter had said was so ludicrous that she couldn’t help herself. She sucked the laugh back in and composed herself.

‘And what makes you think you can help us catch Valentino?’

Winter shrugged, then reached for his empty Coke can, twirled it through a full three hundred and sixty degrees, only stopping when the logo was facing him again.

‘You need all the help you can get. Admit it, you’ve made a complete mess of this case. This guy’s struck four times, and are you any closer to catching him? No. Not only that, you’ve just spent the last five and a half hours questioning the wrong person. You know, Agent Tanaka, you really should have had more faith in your original profile.’

‘How do you know what was in my original profile?’

‘Are you really going to listen to this bullshit?’ Dumas cut in.

Yoko turned to the detective. ‘Now it’s your turn to speak when spoken to.’ Dumas scowled but didn’t argue. She turned back to Winter. ‘Answer the question.’

‘You speculated that the unsub was a white male, late thirties or early forties. This was based on the fact that the crimes scenes were so elaborate, and the victims were all white. An organised offender like this one is going to stick to his own racial group, right?’

The kid paused, and Yoko nodded for him to continue.

‘I’m white, so, yeah, you got that much right. But you’re out on the age by two decades. Like I said, you should have trusted your profile. If you’d done that you’d be a whole lot closer to catching this guy.’

‘You could have got that from a textbook. Hell, you probably did get it from a textbook. It’s profiling 101. You’re going to have to do better than that.’

‘You’re seriously giving this asshole the time of day?’ said Dumas.

Yoko showed him the hand. ‘What else have you got, Jefferson?’

‘Based on the way the bodies were displayed, you think the unsub is an artist.’

Yoko was slightly taken back by the kid’s level of insight. He obviously had some talent for this. Granted, it was raw talent, but talent nonetheless.

‘That’s pretty impressive,’ she admitted.

‘Not really.’

Yoko took a drag on her cigarette. ‘Modesty really doesn’t become you.’

‘This has nothing to do with modesty, and everything to do with the fact that you’re wrong. This unsub is not an artist. Not now and not ever. You’re obviously good at what you do, otherwise the FBI wouldn’t have hired you, but you’re way off the mark with this one.’

Yoko’s stomach tightened into knots. Her heart swelled until it felt uncomfortably large inside her chest. According to the one-way mirror, none of this showed.

She could relate to why Dumas had pinned Winter up against the wall. If she’d been taller and stronger she would have done the exact same thing. The arrogant prick.

The moment passed.

‘Why are you so convinced I’m wrong?’ she asked calmly.

‘You say that like you’re humouring me, which is understandable. There you are up at the top of the FBI mountain, you’ve got all that experience under your belt, all those cases, and here I am at the bottom, a college kid who couldn’t possibly know something you don’t. Your ego’s stopping you from solving the crime.’

‘Okay, let’s assume for a second that I know nothing and you know everything. If this unsub isn’t an artist, then what is he?’

‘I’d have to see inside Alice’s apartment before I answer that.’

Yoko shook her head. ‘Not going to happen, Jefferson. It’s a crime scene.’

He said nothing.

‘I can’t let you inside Alice’s apartment.’

Winter turned the coke can through another three-sixty degrees, mouth shut, eyes locked on Yoko’s.

‘If you know something that can help the investigation, you need to tell us.’

‘No I don’t,’ he said. ‘I’ve read the Constitution, and all the amendments, and there’s nothing in there that says a citizen is compelled to help the cops.’

‘He doesn’t know anything,’ said Dumas. ‘He’s screwing with us. Just like he’s been screwing with us all along.’

‘Is that so, Detective Dumbass? Okay, if my insights are so far off the mark how did I know what the unsub got up to in the victims’ bedrooms? After all, that’s the detail you held back from the media, isn’t it? That small fact you use to separate the real crazies from the pretend crazies. How could I know something like that?’

‘You are so going down, you little shit.’

‘So, how did you know?’ Yoko asked, ignoring Dumas.

‘Show me Alice Harrigan’s apartment and I’ll tell you.’

‘Why do you want to see it so badly? And I want the real answer, Jefferson. The truthful one.’

Winter swivelled the empty Coke can, then said, ‘Because I have a theory, but before I share it I need to check a few things out. Unlike, you guys, I like to check my facts thoroughly.’

‘Are you buying this?’ Dumas asked Yoko.

A shake of her head. ‘No, Detective, I’m not.’ She turned to face Winter. ‘You’re just another voyeur. Every big murder attracts them. The difference here is that you’re a bit smarter than your average voyeur.’

They locked eyes for a minute, then Winter stood up. ‘Well, I guess my work here is done. I’ll see you both next full moon when victim five turns up.’

He headed for the door and Dumas said, ‘Not so fast. We’ve got this whole matter of wasting police time to deal with.’

Yoko laid a gentle hand on the detective’s arm. ‘That one can wait. Right now, our priority is catching Valentino.’

‘Yeah, I guess.’ Dumas didn’t look convinced. He glanced over at Winter. ‘This isn’t over, asshole. Not by a long shot.’

Winter paused at the door and flashed a grin. ‘Later,’ he said, and then he was gone.

Yoko hurried outside, hoping she wasn’t too late. She’d asked Dumas for directions to the nearest pharmacy, and when he’d asked if she was okay, she’d uttered four words that could strike fear into the heart of any man:
I got my period
. She’d opened her mouth as though she was about to go into graphic detail, and Dumas had quickly reeled off a list of directions that she promptly forgot.

She stood in front of the station house, hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun, and looked around for Winter. There were plenty of reporters, but no sign of the kid. She swore to herself and ran to the parking lot.

Chrysler Way was right out on the edge of Upper Marlboro, too remote to be on a bus route. The kid would have to walk into town to catch a bus back to College Park, which worked to her advantage.

Yoko climbed into her Crown Victoria, started the car, hit the gas and reversed out of the slot. She stopped at the entrance to the lot and saw Winter sitting on the kerb a couple of hundred yards away.

His ass was on the pavement, his feet on the asphalt, and he was nodding in time to a piece of music. He was sat there like had all the time in the world. Yoko hit the blinker and turned into the street.

When she’d got to within twenty yards, she noticed that the jacket and baseball cap he was wearing were decorated with sheriff’s department badges. She also noticed that he didn’t have any earbuds in.

The way he was sat there nodding and staring blankly into space made her think of a doped-up asylum inmate. Just when she thought this kid couldn’t get any weirder, he did.

She pulled over to the kerb and he stopped nodding. He jumped to his feet, stripped off the cap and the jacket and dumped them on the sidewalk. Then he let himself in the passenger side and got buckled up.

Yoko was staring past him at the baseball cap and jacket.

‘What? Didn’t you see all those reporters?’ he asked. ‘If they’d worked out who I was, they’d have been all over me in no time. The disguise worked like a charm. I breezed straight past them and no one suspected a thing.’

Yoko was still staring.

‘You’re pissed because I borrowed a hat and a coat? I think you need to get some perspective here, Agent. There’s a bad guy out there who likes to play bedroom games with his fun-buddies then leave them dangling from the ceiling, and you’re worried about
that
.’

‘First off, you didn’t borrow them, you stole them. Secondly, pick them up.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Seriously.’

Winter laughed and shook his head. He got out of the car, dumped the baseball cap and jacket on the rear seat, then got back in.

‘There’s no excuse for littering,’ Yoko said with a completely straight face. There wasn’t even a hint of a smile.

‘So, where’s Detective Dumbass?’

Yoko ignored the question. ‘Okay, Jefferson, here’s how this works. I’m going to drive you to Alice Harrigan’s apartment. You can have a look around but you don’t touch anything. Not a thing. You do what I tell you, jump when I say jump, breathe only when I tell you to breathe. You need to take a leak, you cross your legs. Nod if you understand.’

He smiled then nodded.

‘One more thing. If you are screwing with me then I’ll find a federal offence to charge you with and you will do prison time. Someone like you, you’d get eaten alive in a federal prison. Am I making myself clear, because I’d hate there to be any room for misinterpretation. Remember: Bubba’s out there waiting, and he’s real anxious to meet his new buddy.’

‘Are you quite finished, Agent Tanaka?’

‘Yes, Jefferson, I’m quite finished.’

‘Detective Dumbass doesn’t know you’re here, does he?’

‘No, Detective
Dumas
does not know I’m here.’

The kid’s smile was wider than ever. ‘Oh, this is so cool. You’ve got that whole ice-maiden thing down to an art, but scratch away at the surface and there’s a bad, bad girl lurking just beneath.’

Yoko almost smiled. She managed to reel it back in at the very last second. ‘No, Jefferson, this is anything but cool. And whenever you start thinking this is some sort of game, just remember that Bubba’s waiting, and he’s so lonely.’

Winter laughed, his face lighting up. For once he looked his real age. ‘You know, I’m really starting to warm to you.’

‘I wish I could say the feeling was mutual.’

They drove the twenty-one miles to Greenbelt in silence.

Traffic was light, and thirty minutes later they turned into Darnell Avenue. Yoko stopped outside Alice Harrigan’s apartment and killed the engine.

There were three police vehicles on the street: a sheriff’s department car and a couple of black vans belonging to the crime-scene investigators. There were a couple of TV vans, but nowhere near as many as earlier. The rest of the pack was back in Upper Marlboro, since that was where they thought the kid was.

She looked over at Winter. ‘Remember what I said. When I tell you to jump, you jump.’

‘Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. It’s not like you’re talking to some kid.’

‘Actually, that’s exactly what you are. A nineteen-year-old snot-nosed kid who’s way too smart for his own good.’

He made a sad puppy-dog face. ‘I’m hurt, Agent Tanaka. Really and truly hurt.’

‘Sure you are.’ She nodded to the media vans. ‘You’re going to need that baseball cap.’

She got out of the car and he caught up with her at the entrance to the apartment block. He had the baseball cap tipped forward, hiding his scruffy black hair and those bright green eyes. The cop on the door was checking her ID, scrutinising it like he actually knew what he was looking at.

‘Who’s this?’ he asked with a nod towards Winter.

‘Someone who’s helping with the case.’

‘ID please.’

Winter shrugged. ‘Must have left it in my other jeans.’

‘I’m under strict instructions not to let anyone in without seeing their ID.’

Yoko glanced at the name tag above the Prince George’s Sheriff’s Office patch.

‘Officer Brownlow,’ she said, ‘as you can imagine Chief Detective Dumas is pretty busy at the moment. Now, if you want, I can call him and tell him we have a problem here. I’m sure he’d appreciate that.’ Yoko moved her head until the cop was forced to meet her eye. ‘Do we have a problem?’ she asked sweetly.

The cop thought about this for all of two seconds, then said, ‘No, Ma’am, we don’t have a problem.’

Yoko took her ID back and walked inside, Winter following at her shoulder.

‘You’re a bad, bad girl,’ he whispered.

Because Winter couldn’t see her face, Yoko allowed herself the slightest of smiles.

‘Anyone home?’

Yoko stood in the doorway of Alice Harrigan’s apartment, watching as four white-suited crime-scene investigators appeared from various rooms. She left it a moment to make sure no one else was about to appear, then flashed her badge and asked if they could give her a few minutes.

The door had just closed behind the investigators when her cellphone rang. She fished it out, checked the caller ID, saw it was Charlie Dumas. She told Winter to stand still and keep his mouth shut, then hit the button to connect the call.

‘It doesn’t take forty minutes to make a round trip to the pharmacy.’ Dumas sounded pissed, and understandably so.

‘It does when you’ve got a lousy sense of direction.’

‘Which you don’t. You’re in Greenbelt, aren’t you? You’re at Alice Harrigan’s place with Winter.’

‘He says he can help. What have we got to lose?’

‘We’ve already wasted more than enough time with this kid. Too much time.’

Winter started walking along the hall, and Yoko covered the mouthpiece of the phone and hissed for him to come back. He ignored her and kept walking.

‘Look, Detective, I really don’t have time for this. I’ll be back in Upper Marlboro in an hour. If you want to pursue this, do it then.’

Yoko hung up and hurried after Winter. She found him standing in the middle of the living room with his eyes shut. His breathing was shallow and he looked completely relaxed. His face was blank and emotionless.

‘I told you to wait in the hall.’

Eyes still shut, Winter pressed a finger to his lips. Ten seconds passed, twenty seconds, thirty. He opened his eyes.

‘Okay, show me the bathroom.’

‘Remember: Bubba’s waiting.’

‘And I’d like you to remember that the more distractions I have, the harder it is to do my thing.’

‘And what exactly is your thing?’

‘Later. Bathroom, please.’

Yoko led the way and, while Winter went inside, she hung around in the doorway. The bathroom was tiny, four feet by six. It was almost as tiny as hers. If they’d both been in there, they would have been tripping over each other.

Winter took a quick look around, then stood completely still, eyes closed. Again, Yoko was left wondering if he could get any weirder. At school she’d always been the odd one out, so she knew about weird, but this kid really was out there.

Winter opened his eyes and said, ‘Bedroom, please.’

Yoko shook her head and wondered what the hell she’d been thinking. This was such a waste of time. They weren’t going to get anything useful, and Dumas was going to complain to her boss because she’d gone behind his back, and that would be yet another black mark on her record.

‘It’s okay, I know what I’m doing,’ Winter said, as if he could read her thoughts.

‘I’m yet to be convinced.’

‘By the way, where’s your partner? I thought it was mandatory for all FBI agents to have a partner.’

‘That’s because you watch too much TV.’

He studied her. It was like they were back at the station house again. The big difference was that there wasn’t a one-way mirror between them this time.

‘Nobody wants to play with you,’ he finally said. ‘That’s it, isn’t it?’

‘Just do your thing, and let’s get out of here. Unless you’ve got something that appertains to the case, I don’t want to hear it.’

Winter snapped off a sharp salute. ‘Yes Ma’am.’

Yoko sighed and shook her head and led the way to the bedroom. Winter went through the same song and dance as before. During his visual inspection he spent a long time examining the ceiling. The crime-scene investigators had removed the hooks but it was clear where they’d been screwed in.

Once he’d finished looking around, he shut his eyes and just stood there absorbing the room. A couple of minutes passed. From time to time his eyelids flickered as if he was dreaming.

He opened his eyes. ‘This is so cool, but do you know what would have been even cooler? Having the body in situ. That would have been awesome.’

Yoko just stared, mouth slightly open, a perplexed expression on her face as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, which she couldn’t. For once, she was at a complete loss for words.

‘Okay, Agent Tanaka, would you like to know what really went on here?’