Page 46 of Their Wicked Games

“I’ve thought about that too.” Jo stood and went to the counter to refill her cup. “I don’t believe Alicia Palmer or Bill Ripley are psychopaths. They fall into the mind control profile, but as Jenna suggested, we need to consider that Jesse Davis is a psychopath. Untriggered until he met Jimmy Two Cents. Profile him as one and he ticks all the boxes.”

Jenna’s phone chimed. It was Emily Wolfe. Jenna put the phone on speaker and raised a hand to stop the conversation. “Hi, Em, what have you got for me?”

“The results on Alicia Palmer’s crossbow bolts came back. We discovered human blood and tissue on one of them and ran a cross-match on the forest victims. We got a match. There is no doubt the bolt killed Ash Rogers, one of the forest murder victims. All the bolts were examined for trace evidence. The only other DNA we discovered was from Alicia Palmer. Her prints were also all over the crossbow and bolts.”Emily paused.“I ran a test on Jesse Davis’ hunting knife, as it was the same type that killed Alicia Palmer. I found human blood traces. Norrell blood-typed the sample as type AB negative. The same as Alicia Palmer. We’re running it through the DNA sequencer now. AB negative is quite rare, so the chances his knife killed her is high without the DNA evidence. We’re running tests on Bill Ripley’s bolts as well. I’ll call you the moment any information comes through.”

Punching the air, Jenna grinned at her team. “That’s awesome, thanks, Em.” She disconnected. “We have ammunition for our interview.” She looked at Kane. “We are so gonna nail this guy.”

FORTY-THREE

Jenna walked into the interview room, made all the necessary preliminaries before the interview started, and then looked at Sam Cross. She had given him the DNA results and other damning evidence. “Has your client agreed to speak to us?”

“I’ve mentioned to my client that as he can’t escape the charge of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, it would be in his best interests to cooperate in the hope of a deal for leniency.” Cross leaned back in his chair, for once looking defeated.

Encouraged by the news, Jenna nodded. “I’ll speak to you about the murders in the order they occurred. The three kids in the forest, why did you murder them?”

“I didn’t murder them all.” Davis stared at Kane. “Why did you shoot me? You knew darn well you had the FBI and a deputy waiting for me to return to my truck.”

“You were aiming at Deputy Rowley. You’re lucky I wasn’t aiming for your heart or head.” Kane leaned back in the chair and blew out a breath. “Stop avoiding the questions. We know Alicia Palmer was involved. She neglected to clean her bolts. Who killed her? Was it you? You do know we have Bill Ripley in custody? Was it him?”

“So many questions.” Davis ignored Kane and stared at Jenna. “I get a deal if I talk, right?”

Shrugging, Jenna tapped her pen on the table. “I’ll inform the DA you cooperated. Any deal will be his decision. I can’t give you promises, but if you come clean, I’ll do what I can.” She flipped open her statement book. Ripley hadn’t said a word, but she had Davis right where she wanted him. She needed to make him believe they knew everything that had occurred. “We have DNA proof that Alicia killed one of the victims in the forest and we already have a detailed statement about your involvement from Ripley. He sung like a canary, but we’d like to have both sides to the story on the record.”

“Three at once was neat, wasn’t it? That was Bill’s idea. Did he tell you that? Ah, you are so hard to read, Sheriff.” Davis clasped his hands on the table. “He’d known those kids since grade school and they dissed him at a party at the end of semester. Zoe called him a geek freak and the other two pushed him around some. He wrote to Jimmy asking him how he should deal with them. When I called Jimmy, he suggested we go hunting together. He insisted we take Alicia along for the experience. So we did.”

Jenna listened intently “How did he instruct you? Did he have a code?”

“Yeah, he’d refer to people as animals, and how to kill them. Other stuff, using the coins under the eyes to freak out you guys, came from other people. Strangers most times. They just dropped by and told me stuff and I passed it on to the others.” Davis’ lips curled up at the corners. “He’s a genius.”

“Did you kill Alicia?” Kane leaned forward.

“Yeah, I had to. Alicia spewed all the way back to the range. She wanted out.” Jesse Davis pulled a face of disgust. “She called Jimmy and told him she wouldn’t go see him again. She hated him for making her prove her loyalty to him. He used to call her his little bear. He told me to take her down and make her pay.”

“How did he relay that instruction to you?” Kane’s attention was riveted on him.

“He told me to go and hunt bear and make it messy. I did what he wanted.” Jesse smiled as if he was telling them he just washed his socks. Not a care in the world. No empathy and zip emotion.

“Just like that?” Kane stared at him. “She was your friend.”

“I don’t have friends. I have acquaintances.” Davis shrugged. “It was her fault. She didn’t need to go apeshit and yell at Jimmy. He was as mad as hell and she had to pay. We all have to pay in the end, right?”

Needing more information, Jenna cleared her throat. “How did you know when Zoe, Leo, and Ash would be in the forest?”

“Bill.” Davis smiled. “He overheard them planning to go fishing and what time. We just holed up and waited for them to arrive. After, when the feds went to see him, I told him to lay low for a time. I wanted to handle the kills myself anyway. I didn’t like sharing.”

Jenna glanced at Sam Cross, but he just nodded at her to continue. “So, you decided to kill Miles Nolan. Did you have a reason or was it a thrill kill? What had he ever done to you?”

“Not me. I didn’t choose him.” Davis shrugged and then winced and rubbed the bandage on his shoulder. “Jimmy had a beef with his pa because he refused to give Jimmy a loan. He works at the bank in town. Jimmy wanted him gutted and left to die. I guess, payback is a bitch.” He stared directly at Kane. “Before you ask. Killing him was a rush but it meant nothing. Just like when you shot me. You know the feeling, right? No remorse.”

After seeing Kane’s hackles rising, Jenna gave him a meaningful glance and returned to her notes. “How did you find Nolan? Nobody knew he’d be in the alleyway at that time of night.”

“Ah, that was freaky.” Davis stared into space as if reliving the moment. “I had a choice, him or his little brother. The kid brother was difficult. He didn’t go out alone after dark. Miles, well, I was driving along Stanton deciding how to get to one of them and noticed someone climbing out a window of his house. It was like fate, you know. Nolan ran along the sidewalk just as I drove past. I stopped and watched him. He headed down an alleyway, so I drove around the block and walked back. I figured he was cutting through, using the alleyways to get somewhere.” He smiled. “I walked straight up to him and gutted him. He didn’t see it coming.” He wet his lips as if savoring the memory. “He just wouldn’t die, so I stabbed him in the heart. I didn’t want anyone walking by and him telling them who’d cut him. Jimmy wanted me to field-dress a young buck and leave him lie. He loved the story when I told him.” He sniggered and wiped the end of his nose. “That was when Jimmy suggested I go pig hunting. He hates cops. I thought about you or the female fed but there was no way I could get either of you alone. When Jake Rowley mentioned he had Friday free, I couldn’t believe my luck. It was like… I needed a cop and he just walked up and volunteered. It was perfect. I suggested we go hunting. I didn’t have a beef with Jake. I just needed to kill a pig, is all. He was convenient.” He opened his hands as far as the cuffs would allow. “You know the rest.”

Shaking her head, Jenna stared at him. She had all the proof she needed to take him down and Bill Ripley. A DNA match from Bill Ripley’s bolts would seal his fate. “Why did you kill for James Earl Stafford? What hold did he have over you?”

“No hold.” Davis gave her a long hard stare. “He’s my pa. I wanted to make him proud.”

EPILOGUE

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