Page 45 of Their Wicked Games

“Much as I’d like to see her splatter your brains, unfortunately I have a sworn duty of care to take you to the ER and I like to do things by the book.” He smiled. “The book also tells me I can shoot you as a suspected felon if you aim that crossbow at us again. Drop it.”

“By the book, huh? You won’t shoot me in cold blood.” Davis’ eyes shifted from side to side and his hand tightened on his crossbow. “You can’t, can you? I know the law.”

Rio indicated with his chin toward Jo. “She will. Drop the crossbow. Are you carrying any other weapons?”

“Go to hell.” Davis spat on the floor. “I didn’t do nothing.”

“Drop your weapon.” Jo’s eyes flashed with anger. “It’s over. Are you too darn stupid to understand? Do you want me to spell it out for you? Drop it now, before I take out your kneecaps, and right now nothing would make me happier.”

To his surprise, Davis complied. He leaned the crossbow against a tree and indicated to a hunting knife in his belt. Rio holstered his weapon and moved closer. The man’s rank sweat mixed with the odor of stale blood filled his nostrils. “FYI Agent Wells wants to take you down, so don’t try anything stupid.” He gloved up and patted him down, removing the knife and dropping it into an evidence bag he carried in his pocket.

“Now what?” Davis looked belligerent but there was fear in his eyes. “You gonna say I ran, so she can take my head off?”

So they’d made the right impression. Sometimes a little intimidation worked wonders with men like him, but Rio understood him too. The first chance Davis got he’d try to kill him. He snorted. “I’m tempted.”

“Deputy Rio will read you your rights and we’re taking you to the sheriff’s office for questioning.” Jo moved closer. “Deputy Rowley was a friend of yours. Why did you try to kill him?”

“That’s a crock of lies. He walked into my line of fire, is all.” Davis shrugged and then smothered a moan and grasped his shoulder. “Shit happens.” Sweat beaded on his forehead. “I’m in pain here. I need to get to the ER.” He stared at Jo. “I didn’t shoot Jake.”

“Okay, fine. That’s not what he’s saying, and as your crossbow bolts are embedded in him, I’m sure our medical examiner will be able to extract your DNA from them.” Jo shook her head slowly. “Out of interest, who shot you? That isn’t a crossbow injury.”

“I have no idea.” Davis straightened. “Some maniac. I’m wearing orange, it’s plain to see. I figure someone shot me on purpose.”

Rio read him his rights and cuffed him. As they escorted Davis to the cruiser, his phone rang. Tossing his phone to Jo, Rio settled Davis in the back seat. They stood some ways from the cruiser as Jo put the phone on speaker, and they listened together. It was Jenna. Anger spiked when she explained Rowley’s condition. Jo’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Davis. “We’ll take Davis to the ER. Once he’s cleaned up. We’ll take him back to the office. How long will you be?”

“They’ve taken Rowley into surgery. Sandy and his folks are on the way. Wolfe is going in to observe and he’ll give us an update ASAP. We’ll be leaving here soon. It will be hours before we know and I want to interview Davis. Have you read him his rights?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Rio moved closer to Jo. “Yeah, but he’s denying everything. Do you want me to ask him if he wants a lawyer.”

“It would save time. Don’t discuss the case with him until we get him into the interview room.”Jenna’s footsteps came through the speaker.“I want everything recorded. He’s not sliding through the net. He must be our third shooter and I want to know what motivated the group of them to go around killing people. Was Jimmy Two Cents the instigator? We need to know.”

Nodding, Rio took back the phone. “Copy. We’ll get him patched up and back to the office.” He disconnected and looked at Jo. “I went through this guy’s background and so did Kalo. What did we miss? He had a privileged upbringing, raised on a cattle ranch, which he now owns. What could possibly turn him into a serial killer?”

“I guess we’re going to find out.” Jo shrugged. “Why is a psychopath like a book?”

Rio smiled. “I dunno.”

“They both have a story to tell and can be fact or fiction.” Jo smiled at him. “I mean to discover everything I can about Jesse Davis. He doesn’t like authority figures, which makes me believe his story goes way back to his childhood.”

FORTY-TWO

Everyone was dead on their feet by the time they’d gotten back to the office. Jenna had ordered a ton of takeout from Aunt Betty’s Café and Wendy had delivered it. Everyone needed to eat and she wanted to touch base with her team before she moved onto Jesse Davis. At the moment, he was spending time in the interview room speaking with Sam Cross. She dragged off her gear and stowed it in the lockers. After washing her face and hands, she composed herself. Seeing Jake Rowley, face ashen with bolts protruding from his young body, was one thing. Explaining what had happened to Sandy had been terrible. It was Sandy’s worst nightmare and when she’d arrived at the hospital surrounded by her family, Jenna had hugged her. “I’m so sorry this has happened.”

“He was so excited to go hunting.” Sandy had wiped away tears. “Wolfe called me before he went into surgery, he said to stay positive but the bolt in his thigh might be a problem. If that can be removed without causing more damage, he’ll make a full recovery. Thank the Lord, Wolfe gave him the liquid Kevlar hunting vest. One of those bolts in his torso could have killed him outright.”

When Jenna called Rio and discovered they had Davis in custody, she’d headed back to the office with Kane and Carter via the ME’s roof. Smothering a yawn, she made her weary way to the conference room and, grabbing a cup of coffee and something to eat, dropped into a chair. She listened to Rio and Jo about the arrest of Jesse Davis. “So, he was playing the passive side. That’s not what I expected. I didn’t believe we were dealing with a psychopath, but looking back at his interview, he was very confident and sure of himself. I’ve seen them change in a split second but the concern I have is that these murders didn’t seem like the work of a serial killer.” She looked at Jo and then to Kane. “You both have insights into a serial killer’s mind. Doesn’t this behavior sound almost cultlike? I can’t get it out of my head that Jimmy Two Cents has some hold over these people. I’m sure Bill Ripley is one of the three in the forest murders. If Alicia Palmer was involved, and DNA from one of the victims from the forest murders is on her crossbow bolts, we’ll know for sure. Emily will call the moment the results are through.”

“It sure looks that way to me.” Kane brushed crumbs from his fingers. “They had too much information about his crimes. He’s involved but how he had so much hold over three people is mind-blowing. I mean you can’t hypnotize someone to kill. I’d like to know how he did it.”

“Likely coercive persuasion.” Jo sipped her coffee and looked at him over the rim of her cup before replacing it on the table. “There are many ways of what we used to call brainwashing people.” She glanced at Carter. “I’m sure you and Carter suffered loud noises, deprivation of liberty, and other methods used to condition special forces. That is one type of conditioning out of an entire list. I could go on all day explaining, but looking at our three probable killers, I’d say Jimmy Two Cents first read their letters to determine suitable candidates. He obviously knows how to manipulate people. Over time, he established control over the subjects’ social environment by isolating them or selecting loners. They’d be the most vulnerable. He’d know they don’t have a support team or family to go to, so they became dependent on his friendship and approval.”

Intrigued, Jenna listened with interest. “So how did he make them kill for him?”

“Obviously, when they showed interest, he rewarded them by sending details of his murders to them via another prisoner, by word of mouth most likely.” Jo sighed. “As he works in the library, slipping notes inside books would be easy. He’d give his contacts inside rewards, as we’ve already discussed.” She turned her cup around with her fingertips. “In his case, he’d promote social isolation, so he would have influenced the forming of the crossbow team members. He’d likely selected the three of them a long time ago. Don’t forget he has years to plan ahead. He has little else to do inside jail. So he’d keep this group as isolated as possible. They all knew about each other and most likely competed for Jimmy Two Cents’ admiration. The control comes with a rewards and punishment system. They’d be expected to complete a task to his satisfaction. Remember they are all reliant on him now, so if he refuses to speak to them, they would be devastated and want to do more to please him next time. Hence the teamwork killing the kids in the forest. I’d say, he punished the person who used two shots to kill Leo Kelly. To gain his favor, that person was asked to kill Alicia. As one of the group, this would be an ultimate test of devotion. Next, the random unrelated murder of Miles Nolan. Now he has his puppet killer.” She shrugged. “Which one is it? Bill Ripley or Jesse Davis?”

Blowing out a breath, Jenna stared at her. “So even after Davis tried to murder Rowley, the leader might be Ripley? I’m sure glad we locked him up.” She glanced at the clock. “Although, if we don’t come up with some solid evidence against him in the next twelve hours, he’s going to walk.”

“If Davis hadn’t attacked Rowley, we’d be out reinterviewing the suspects again.” Kane shook his head slowly. “I’d never figured Jesse Davis for a killer. He doesn’t seem the type to be under some type of mind control. He’s social, goes hunting with different people, runs a successful ranch with many employees. He doesn’t fit the profile you’ve explained, Jo.”

---