Page 26 of The Girl He Crowned

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Paige wasn’tentirely surprised when Harry Connaught demanded his lawyer as soon as they gothim back to the sheriff’s office. He sat there in the interrogation room at thestation, waiting with the kind of calm that suggested he’d done this plenty oftimes before.

Was it just that,or was there something more to his calmness. Paige had sat opposite plenty ofpsychopaths in her life, and one of the qualities that sometimes showed up inthem was low emotional affect. Some things just didn’t seem to touch them theway they did other people.

Was it possiblethat was going on here? Did Harry Connaught simply not care about theconsequences of any of his actions?

“Do you thinkhe’ll say anything?” Paige asked Christopher, who was staring through the oneway glass at the man with obvious dislike.

“Probably not. Wecan hold him for trying to assault a federal agent for now, but I doubt it willstick to him for long. A man like that, his thugs have probably got half thebar lining up to say that we were the ones who attackedhim.”

“There has to be away to get into his head,” Paige said.

Paige wasdetermined to learn as much about him as she could before going in there totalk to him. She’d already glanced at his record as she and Christopher hadgone over to his club, but she felt certain that there had to be more. Thequestion was how to get more.

She went back toher computer, reading through such files and notes as there were on Harry Connaught,and pulling up whatever records she could find on him through the DMV, IRS, andother agencies.

That brought up acomplex web of business interests, mostly around Eddis, but with a few furtherafield. There were a couple of pawn shops, the bar, a breaker’s yard, a garage,a sports betting company, and crucially, a loan agency. If Melody Smythe had takenout a loan, there would have to be records.

The generalprofile of the businesses was also interesting. Small, potentially cashintensive, exactly the kind of thing that might suit the kind of smallbusinessman he claimed to be… or a criminal.

Paige couldn’tfind more on the FBI’s systems to support that, but that might only mean thathe was careful about what he did now. Paige needed to hear the things thatweren’t in the file; she needed to learn about the kind of man she was dealingwith from someone who knew the town.

She made her wayover to where the sheriff had an office towards the back of the station. Thesheriff was in there now, looking worried.

“You brought inHarry Connaught?” she said as Paige walked in. She sounded a little worried bythat. Given the way she’d reacted to the prospect of Paige questioning WilliamSmythe, Paige was starting to wonder if there were any citizens of Eddis thetown’s sheriff wasn’t worried about upsetting.

“We went to askhim some questions about Melody’s death,” Paige explained, “but when we got tohis bar, he was hostile and so was his little entourage. So hostile that afight broke out. We’ve had to bring Connaught in just for a chance to questionhim properly.”

“He won’t sayanything,” the sheriff said. She looked pretty frustrated then. “He neverdoes.”

“You say that likeyou’ve spoken to him a lot,” Paige said.

“I’ve tried to askhim questions about some of his ‘business interests,’” Sheriff May said. “Eachtime, I’ve gotten nowhere. There’s never enough evidence that he’s doinganything illegal to make anything stick, and he never gives anything away. Heknows how to play the game, and not talking is a big part of that.”

That would makehim hard to crack. This was someone who wasn’t going to give anything away justbecause Paige put pressure on him. She needed to find another approach.

“What’s yourhonest assessment of him?” Paige asked. “Not what’s on the files, what youactually think of him. Do you think he could have done this?”

Sheriff Mayhesitated for a couple of seconds. “Honestly, I’m pretty sure he’s a criminal,and he has a violent past, but these kinds of murders? I don’t get why he wouldget all wrapped up in all of the serial killer stuff. Could he kill someone?Maybe, if he just lashed out at someone, but like this? If he killed someone,my guess is that Harry Connaught would want them to just disappear, not to sendsome cryptic message like this. Especially when this could impact all of hisbusinesses so much. He doesn’t need the trouble.”

It was aninteresting take on the suspect, one that Paige found herself mulling over asshe headed back to the interrogation room. She found herself a littleconflicted. What the sheriff said made a lot of sense to her. Assume for asecond that Harry Connaught was some kind of crime boss. These killings didn’tlook like any kind of professional hit, or even a gangster lashing out.

Yet at the sametime, it wasn’t inconceivable that the serial killer elements were being thrownin to distract them, or maybe Connaught used someone with those tendencies todo his dirty work. Paige wouldn’t know until she’d spoken to him, and when shedid that, she needed to find a way to get past whatever wall he chose to putup.

By the time Paigegot back there, Harry Connaught’s lawyer was already in the interrogation room,deep in conversation with his client. The lawyer was perhaps fifty, with linesaround his eyes, dark hair, and a salt and pepper beard. There was somethingslick about him, something about the way he looked up towards the one way glasswith absolute confidence that said this wasn’t going to be easy.

Christopher wasstill there outside, waiting for her.

“Are you ready togo inside?” he asked.

Paige nodded. Shewas as ready now as she would ever be, and from what Paige could see, Harry andhis lawyer were waiting for them.

She andChristopher stepped into the interrogation room together, doing their best to presenta united front. The lawyer waited for them to sit down before he addressedthem.

“I’m SebastianTate, Mr. Connaught’s lawyer. I wish to make it clear that if my client is notreleased, we will be seeking to sue for wrongful arrest.”

“Your client attemptedto attack a federal agent,” Christopher said.

---