Page 42 of The Murder Between Us
“The question isn’t why. There’s never a good answer to why, not with sadists and psychopaths and serial killers.”
“How far back does this go, Cole? Garrett is a local. He was here during the first six murders.”
“That’s not enough to call him a killer.”
“He’s only been a deputy for two years. What was he doing before that?”
Cole said nothing.
“Kimberly’s, Jessie’s, and even Molly’s murder all have the Coed Killer’s signature. They match his MO. The FBI and local law enforcement held back that the victims weren’t sexually assaulted. How rare is it to have a strangulation without some form of sexual assault?”
“Rare,” Cole said.
“It was the defining feature of the Coed Killer’s MO, both with the first six, and again with Kimberly, Jessie, and Molly.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, over the start of a five o’clock shadow. What time was it, even? They’d been going for hours. “Now we have Garrett, who looks like he’s good for at least two of the three most recent murders, and they’re the exact same MO as the previous six.” He blew out a slow breath. Had there been a wolf in their fold for years? All this time? “You wondered right away if the killer had law enforcement experience.”
“You thought that, back with the original murders.”
“If it is Garrett, he wasn’t a sheriff’s deputy back then.”
“What was he six years ago? Do you know?”
Noah shook his head. “They’re still digging into his background and history. We’ll know more in a few hours.”
Cole checked his watch. “In a few hours, it will be after midnight. No one is going to be much good on this investigation if they don’t eat and get some rest.”
“We’ve got to—”
“We’vegothim.” Cole reached for Noah. Noah almost sagged into his touch. “Yougot him. He’s not going anywhere. Let’s do this right.”
Noah sighed. “We can’t get into his house until morning. Judge Vargas won’t sign the warrant until then.”
“And you’re going to take a run at Garrett tomorrow. Let everyone do this right, without rushing. Let Garrett stew. Give him time to let the demons in his head go wild. He ran. He’s close to his own breaking point, and he might bring himself right over the edge without us having to lift a finger. We’ll build the case against him. The evidence is coming in.”
Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need to call Katie. I told her to go to Evelyn and Susan’s to spend the night.” He pulled out his phone. Katie had texted him three times, telling him she’d made it home with Evelyn, that she’d done all her homework, and that she loved him. His heart squeezed. He smiled at his phone.
“I’ll give you some privacy.”
“No, it’s okay.” He waved Cole back as he dialed. Cole hovered by the door, his hands in his pockets as he stared at the floor.
Katie picked up on the first ring. “Dad!”
“Hey K-Bear. Got your texts. How you doing?”
“We’re just hanging out. How are you? I saw the news…”
He couldn’t speak. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
He’d taken Katie to John’s house for BBQs and summer parties and holiday parties for years, from when she was a toddler in frilly dresses all the way up to the divorce, when Lilly had moved away and taken Katie with her. Katie had been able to come to the summer party two years before. He’d hurled her into the pool a few times, and they’d chased each other around John’s backyard with Nerf guns. She’d come into the office with Noah over spring break after she’d refused to go back to Omaha and insisted she was living with him, no matter what. She hadn’t been enrolled in school in Des Moines, and he didn’t even know if she was allowed to stay with him. Lilly could have filed a kidnapping report if she wanted to. John had spent half the day with Katie, entertaining her and mentoring in that way he had, as Noah tried to figure out what to do.
“I want you to stay with Susan and Evelyn tonight, okay?”
“But you caught the guy, right? The news said the FBI arrested the guy who did it. I saw you on TV.”
“We think we caught him, but now we have to prove it. We’ve got a lot of work in front of us. I just want you to be perfectly, perfectly safe, okay? It’s the dad in me.”
Like the dad in John, who’d stumbled down the stairs after two gutshots and crawled across broken glass to try and save his daughter. Who had reached for her, even after being impaled. Cold fingers reaching for painted pink toes.
