80
Jax
“Bishop. You’ve got another chance to make this easy on you,” Jones said as he opened my cell door. His eyes burned with hatred as he stared at me. “If I were you, I’d make that confession today.”
Another threat. Curiously, that was all Officer Jones had since Anna had left. Threats and heated looks. Whatever she’d said to him had made an impact.
So the detective wanted to speak to me again. Maybe it was to finally give up this charade and let me go.
Nothing was ever that easy.
Jones didn’t remove the handcuffs but instead attached them to the table before trying to push me into the seat. I didn’t budge and instead stared down at him. “Sit down,” he barked and pulled out the baton.
“Officer,” Detective Warnos said as he entered the room. “That won’t be necessary. You can leave us.”
“I’m thinking I should stay.”
“This is an interrogation and not an arrest. Please leave.” The detective’s voice was soft but final. Jones snarled at him but left. Once the door was closed, I sat down.
“Is my lawyer here?”
“No, which is why I will not be asking you about the murder of these two women. Instead, I’d like to discuss Sarah Birch and Elizabeth Macaw.”
Great. Had Emerson tried to pin two more murders on me? “I’ve never heard of them, Detective. Before this investigation, I’d spoke to maybe five people in this town. None of them were women.”
Warnos didn’t say anything as he laid two photos in front of me. My stomach twisted as I glanced down.
And almost laughed.
“I thought you weren’t going to ask about the previous two women.”
“These are not the same women. This is Sarah Birch and Elizabeth Macaw.”
They both were and weren’t the same two women. They were both posed exactly the same and in the same setting. Literally everything except the women’s faces were the same. I knew that because every time I closed my eyes, I saw that fucking photo of Anna, dead. It was forever burned into my brain.
Anna had removed the glamour, and it had changed the pictures. No wonder Warnos looked so fucking frustrated.
“It’s strange, detective. You actually seemed like a straight shooter to me, but I’m not falling for whatever game you’re playing. These are the same two women. I did not know their names. I’ve never seen them before. I did not kill them, and I’m not answering any more questions without a lawyer.”
Warnos frowned. “You’ve seen these pictures before.”
“Are you hungover or something? You showed me these pictures yesterday. When you said I’d killed them.”
“I showed you different pictures.”
Staring at him, I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. He glanced at the pictures again, and his frown deepened. Finally, he put the pictures away. “You walked in here with a limp that you didn’t have before. Care to explain that?”
“That might be a question for Officer Jones.”
Warnos’s jaw clenched as his gaze flitted to the door. He wasn’t surprised.
He also wasn’t happy. Hell, maybe the man did have some integrity. He certainly wasn’t an idiot. He knew the pictures and the bodies were not the same, but now he couldn’t explain it.
“I tell you what, Detective. I’d like to ask you some questions. Let’s say five. You answer them, and I’ll answer five questions for you. Even about this case. Without a lawyer.”
The detective leaned back. “All right. What’s your first question?”
“How long have you been the detective here?”