Page 17 of The Girl He Wanted

He had already disappeared into a nearby alleyway, and Paige had to follow, slowing now, her hand on her gun as she prepared for anything. The alleyway was dark, and Paige could see that it was littered with trash and debris. She moved forward slowly, her eyes darting around, looking for any sign of Reynolds.

That was when he leapt out at her from behind a dumpster, a fist swinging for her skull with his full weight behind the attack. Paige barely dodged the blow, but he still crashed into her, and Paige knew that if she gave him a chance, he would start running again.

Paige grabbed for him then, clinging onto him for dear life, bearing him to the ground. Reynolds was strong, with all the power and athleticism that it took to clamber up rock faces. He was on top then, holding Paige down as a fist came back to punch her.

Then Christopher was there. Had he followed them through the rooftop course, or had he descended to ground level and kept pace with them there? It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he slammed into Reynolds, knocking him off Paige, taking away the threat in a tackle that took both him and Reynolds to the ground.

For a moment, they just lay there, Reynolds obviously stunned, Christopher clearly recovering from the effort it had taken to get there in time. Then Paige rolled over and handcuffed Reynolds, locking his wrists together behind his back.

"You're under arrest," she said, her voice shaking with exhaustion and adrenaline.

They dragged him back to his feet. The sooner they got him back to the police department to question him, the better.

CHAPTER NINE

They took Jack Reynolds back to the Winterly PD to question him, shutting him in an interrogation room while Paige and Christopher tried to work out how they were going to approach their run at him.

"He hasn't asked for a lawyer yet," Christopher said. He sounded a little surprised.

Paige was too. She expected a man like Jack Reynolds to clam up and say nothing, letting his lawyer do the talking for him. Maybe he was still working up to that part.

"Maybe he figures that he'll look more innocent if he doesn't immediately lawyer up?" Paige guessed, although she couldn't imagine why someone would think that when they'd already run from the FBI. Reynolds’s previous run-ins with the law must have taught him better than that.

She watched Jack Reynolds through the one-way mirror of the interrogation room. He sat at one side of a metal table, hands cuffed, waiting for them. He looked nervous, but were those the nerves of someone who knew that he was guilty and was about to be found out, or just the nerves that anyone might feel when they'd been brought in by the FBI to be interrogated?

In an attempt to work that out, Paige tried to read his body language as he sat there.

She could tell that he was tense, his muscles coiled like a spring. His eyes darted around the room, never settling on anything for too long. It was as if he was trying to take everything in at once, trying to anticipate their next move. Maybe he was looking for a way out of there.

Paige glanced over at Christopher, who was frowning in concentration. "We need to approach this carefully," he said. "We don't want to spook him."

Paige nodded. She knew that they had to tread carefully, at least initially. If they mishandled this interrogation, he wouldn't say anything. He'd lawyer up and, without direct physical evidence to tie him to the scene, they might not get another chance to question Reynolds.

It worried her as she looked at him that she couldn't quite put her finger on what he was thinking. There was something about him that made Paige suspicious, but she couldn’t say what.

"I'll go in alone," Paige said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Christopher replied. "If he attacks you ..."

"He's cuffed; he's no danger," Paige said. But therewasa danger that Christopher might go in too hard with this, too quickly. So soon after the death of his wife, Paige wasn't sure that she trusted what his reactions would be. “Besides, there’s a chance that he’ll underestimate me alone.”

"So, I'm meant to just wait out here?" Christopher said, obviously not liking the idea.

"I thought maybe you could chase up the one piece of physical evidence we do have," Paige suggested. "Push the lab. See if any of the ropes Reynolds was using are a match for the fibers that we found at the water tower."

She saw Christopher frown, obviously getting what she was doing. "Paige, you don't need to protect me."

"I'm not trying to protect you. I'm trying to make sure we approach this in the right way," Paige said firmly. "I'll handle the interrogation. You handle the evidence."

Christopher nodded slowly, still looking like he wasn't entirely convinced. But Paige knew that she was right. They needed to be careful with this, and if that meant him staying out of the interrogation room, then so be it.

If they were lucky, Reynolds would open up to Paige in a way that he wouldn’t with Christopher around. If he really hated women enough to kill them, maybe she could make him show that side of himself.

Paige watched Christopher leave the room, then took a deep breath and stepped into the interrogation room. Reynolds looked up as she entered, his eyes darting to her as she sat down opposite him.

"Hi, Jack," she said calmly. "My name is Agent Paige King. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"I've got nothing to say to you," Reynolds said, his expression hard to read.

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