Page 56 of Girl, Sought

Too blunt,Ella thought. Build rapport first. Establish baseline facts. Get them comfortable before you start throwing haymakers. But she held her tongue, even as her fingers itched to grab the wheel.

Thorne's eyes darted between them. ‘I told you, I didn’t murder anyone. I’ve never met Eleanor, haven’t seen Alfred in forever. What do you want from me?’

‘It’s funny, because both of our victims have connections to your workplace, and we believe our perp has a thing for masks. Seems like you do too.’

No,Ella thought.You didn’t give away details like the masks right at the beginning. You leave the small details open-ended for the suspect to fill in themselves.

‘Masks? What?’

‘I was in your office. I saw that display on the wall.’

‘Oh, them. They were a gift. A collector passed away and left them to me. I can show you the paperwork.’

‘Right, because mask collecting is big around here, is it?’

Ella's fingers dug into her biceps. Wrong approach. All wrong. You didn't come at suspects with sarcasm - it just made them defensive. Psychology 101. But she'd promised to stay quiet, to let Luca learn through his mistakes. Even if those mistakes were killing her by inches.

‘Yeah, it is actually. Chesapeake has collector events and trade shows every year. Maybe do some research before you start spouting crap.’

Luca had the decency to look sheepish. She clocked the momentary stumble, so she jumped in. 'We've only been here two days, Mr. Thorne, and I think we've learned a lot in that time. About this city. About you.'

‘Yeah, right.’

‘We have. Tell him, Hawkins.’

Luca composed himself, leaned forward with his hands together. ‘We know you’ve got a long history of theft to your name. We know you work for Vanessa Blackburn, and we know you’re one of only three people who have access to all of your company’s client information.’

Better,Ella thought. Give the suspect the facts and let them fill in the blanks. Feed them enough rope, and they'll eventually hang themselves.

'And that's not all, is it, Hawkins?' Ella added. She gently squeezed his forearm under the table. Luca flinched at the touch, and she hoped the reaction was born of unexpected pressure on his injuries, not anything else.

‘No. We also know you’re the kind of person who tries to kill themselves when faced with capture. How’d you find that unit full of kerosene, anyway?’

‘Saw it before you got there. Call it an impulsive move.’

‘So what kind of person would impulsively torch themselves, do you think? Someone who knows they’re going to jail for the long haul?’

‘I'm not-’ Thorne's throat worked as he swallowed. ‘Those murders. Calloway, Finch. I had nothing to do with that.’

Distancing language. No personal connection, no expressions of remorse or shock.The observations piled up in Ella's mind like bullet casings. Now Luca just needed to keep pressing. Once you got their throat bobbing, you had momentum on your side.

‘I might be more inclined to believe that if you hadn’t tried to torch yourself at the first opportunity. The last person I saw do that had killed four people, so I’ll ask you again; what are you trying to hide?’

Yes!Ella tamped down the urge to pump her fist.Hammer that point home. Make him see how it looks from our side.

‘Because…’ Thorne began, but any follow-up died as he sighed upward.

‘If you’ve got something to say, now’s the time, Gabe,’ pressed Luca. ‘Right now, you’re our prime suspect, so our team are going to dissect every little thing about you. If I were you, I’d start talking, or you’re looking at a criminal charge before the day is out.’

Ella said, ‘Resisting arrest, assaulting a federal agent, and that’s just in the past hour.’

Thorne's fingers flexed. He cracked his neck, then shrank back in his chair. ‘I ran because… I’d rather die than go back to prison. I told you this.’

‘And why would we send you to prison?’

‘Because… all of this… it’s fraudulent.’

Luca shot a sidelong glance at Ella. A silentwhat’s he talking about?Some perps reached a stage where they just threw any old crap at the wall and hoped some stuck. Or maybe Thorne was trying the sympathy angle. The old Ted Bundy-inspiredit was pornography’s fault, not mine.

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