Black holes.
That’s what Lien-hua thought of as she looked across the table and into the dark pools of Creighton Melice’s eyes. She searched them for a clue to his feelings, his state of mind, but they remained emotionless and blank. As she looked him over, she noticed that he had a gauze bandage wrapped around his left hand. Possibly he’d been injured the night before in his fight with Ralph. The doctor who examined his ribs earlier in the day must have treated his hand.
Everything that happened in the room was recorded by a video camera on the other side of the two-way mirror, but Lien-hua had discovered over the years that the visible presence of a recording device helped shake people up. Sometimes she left her recorder behind because of that. Today, she set it directly in front of her.
Just out of his reach.
Melice looked down at the digital recorder resting between them on the slablike table, then back to her. He wore a smirk. Still didn’t speak.
You’re here for one reason, Lien-hua. To find out what he knows about the murders. Stay on track.
She pressed “record.”
“I’m Special Agent Jiang, with the FBI.”
“I know who you are, Lien-hua. I requested you.”
“Well, good, then we can save time with lawyers and introductions. Because I know who you are too.”
“I doubt that.” He grinned slightly. “As you probably heard, I decided not to press charges against you for assaulting me. A few inches to the side and you would have broken a couple ribs, maybe punctured my lung. Not a bad kick for a girl.” To Lien-hua, his voice seemed to seep from his mouth as if it were coming from an open sore.
She ignored him and spoke into the digital recorder. “The date is February 18, 2009. Time: 1553 hours. I’m interviewing Neville Worchester Lewis. Mr. Lewis, I would like to confirm that you are here under your own accord, that you have not been pressured or coerced in any way, and that you have chosen not to have legal counsel present. Are all of these statements true?”
“They’re true. I’ve been read my rights, and I know that anything I say can and will be used, blah, blah, blah… all that crap. Let’s get started already.”
Lien-hua leaned back in her chair. “She’s going to be all right, Neville. We got to her in time. You failed.”
He feigned confusion. “I failed? Oh. I see. Well, I’m not sure I know what you mean by that, Special Agent Jiang. My lawyers told me this morning that seven women were killed. How tragic. Have they all been found, then? The bodies, I mean?” He paused, waited, but she refused to reply. “Agent Jiang, a baseball player who bats. 350 is an all-star. If I really did connect seven out of eight times at bat, I’d have a batting average of. 875; not to mention the hits I might have gotten in the minors. I wouldn’t be a failure, I’d be one of the league’s greatest stars.”
I wanted to smack this guy, take him down right now. “We need to find out how he knows her name,” I said, speaking my thoughts aloud. “See if he has any connections to the Bureau.”
“Sorry,” said Dunn. “I’m just here to observe.”
Frustration.
Building, building.
I watched through the glass. Lien-hua didn’t seem at all fazed by Creighton Melice’s batting average comments. She just jotted something on her legal pad, flipped it over so that he couldn’t see what she’d written, and then stood up.
The image of Cassandra in the tank rose in Lien-hua’s mind, but she wrapped the shroud of her professionalism around it, folded her arms, and leaned against the wall. “Neville, tell me what you know about Cassandra Lillo.”
Silence.
“Where did you first meet her?”
Silence.
“Would you like to give up your accomplice now, or wait until we catch him and let him blame everything on you?”
Silence again.
“Are you Shade, Neville? Or is Shade someone else?”
He smiled. “Now that I’ll answer.”
She waited.
Every syllable became a slow drumbeat: “I don’t know who Shade is.”
Lien-hua approached the table and looked directly into his chilling eyes. “Oh, I think you do.”
I watched Lien-hua walk to the table, press “pause” on the digital recorder, and then lean close to him and say, “Let me explain something to you, Neville. Just so we’re clear here. I know this game better than you do and you will not win. You’re not in control anymore. I am. And I am a woman.”
Oh, nice line, Lien-hua.
That’s what I’m talking about.
I noticed Melice’s left cheek twitch. He can’t stand the thought of a woman having control over him. Sweet.
She lowered her finger and pressed “record” again.