Page 85 of We Are All Guilty Here

“No, ma’am, I don’t know her, but she is the acting sheriff.” He had the sense to look apologetic. The FBI had a strict code of conduct that Jude usually didn’t give a shit about. “I’m hearing Sheriff Clifton was really close to her father. Didn’tmake a move without him. Maybe her own feelings are clouding her judgment.”

“Are you saying she’s not up for the job?”

“She’s been chief deputy for a while, but I gather from some of the locals that her father did all the heavy lifting. She screwed up the Adam Huntsinger case. Probably in over her head again.” He smoothed down his tie. He was nervous, trying to redeem himself. “Kind of strange her father’s dead and she’s still working like it didn’t happen.”

“I find it commendable. It takes a lot of character to push aside your own grief and search for a missing child.”

“You’re right, ma’am.” Seth smoothed his tie again. “Don’t know what I’d do if my dad was murdered right in front of me.”

“I would hope that you would keep your head down and do your job.”

Jude opened the door to the interrogation room. There was a split second when she felt like she’d walked through a portal back in time. Jude was thirteen again, pacing the room as she played both good cop and bad cop to Henry’s master criminal.

Then she blinked and there was just an angry, middle-aged man about to yell at her.

“What the hell is going on here?” Elijah Walker had clearly been waiting to explode. He pushed his chair back from the table. His face was red with rage. “It’s the middle of the night. I should be with my wife right now. Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Dr. Jude Archer. I’m working in the capacity of a consultant with the FBI.” She tapped the password into his phone, showed him one of the many lewd photos from last year. “Is this your penis?”

The man went completely still. He wasn’t even breathing.

Jude repeated, “Is this your penis?”

“How did you—” Elijah tried to grab the phone away, but Jude pressed it to her chest. “Sit down, Mr. Walker.”

He looked like he wanted to hit her, but eventually, slowly, he sat down at the table. “How did you get into my phone?”

“The phone you unlocked and handed to the acting sheriff?”

“That stupid bitch had no right to look at anything other than my CashApp.”

Jude asked, “To whom were you sending penis photos?”

He shook his head. “I’m not—”

She showed him another photo, this one of a woman. “Whose vagina is this?”

Elijah stared at her with open hatred. “This is ludicrous. You’re wasting time.”

Jude pulled out the other chair. She sat across from him at the table. Took a moment to look at him. Elijah’s hair was oily. His skin was slick with sweat. He was pasty-white but for his face, which was so red against his neck that he resembled a cherry lollipop. “Mr. Walker, I’ve asked you two simple questions. Are you refusing to answer?”

His teeth were clenched. She could see a vein pulsing under his eye. “I told you. That has nothing to do with Paisley.”

“Were you having an affair?”

He said nothing.

“Were you having multiple affairs?” Jude put on her glasses and scrolled through more of the photos. “Looks like the same vagina to me. That’s an interesting birthmark on the inside of her thigh.”

“Stop it!” Elijah banged his fist on the table. She could tell he was used to weaponizing his anger. It probably worked with the women in his life, but it wasn’t going to work with her.

“Mr. Walker, you absolutely have a right to remain silent.” Jude stood up. “We’re doing a press conference at seven thirty to ask the public for information on the whereabouts of your daughter. I can put the question about the woman’s identity to the public.”

“What the fuck?” Elijah’s voice raked up. “You can’t do that, you goddam bitch.”

“I can and I will.” She reached for the door handle.

“Wait.”

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