Page 42 of For Rage

"You were?" Morgan lifted a brow. "Then why not just come forward?"

"I was afraid it was gonna get pinned on me," he said. "I mean, four of my clients drop dead—it doesn't look good. Can you blame me for not wanting to throw myself onto the fire?" Jerry's face went pale, and he looked like he was about to be sick. "I-I didn't kill anyone," he stammered. "I swear on my life. I'm just a gardener."

Morgan sat back in her chair, considering Jerry's words. He seemed genuinely scared and confused, but he had motive and opportunity.Maybe Johnson had just thrown Jerry under the bus to get himself out, but all of this seemed too convenient.

But Morgan had to be sure. She leaned forward, fixing her gaze on Jerry's face. "Can you explain what you were doing at each of their houses?"

Jerry swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as he did so. "I was doing maintenance work on their gardens. All four of them were my clients. I was just making sure their plants were healthy and well-maintained."

Morgan narrowed her eyes, studying Jerry's face for any signs of deception.

Morgan sighed, tapping her pen against the table. "Jerry, we need to know the truth. Was anyone else involved? Did someone hire you to do this?"

Jerry shook his head vigorously. "No! I swear, I didn't kill anyone, and I don't know who did. I had nothing to do with it!"

Morgan looked at him skeptically. She had to admit that he seemed truthful, but she'd seen enough criminals to know that appearances could be deceiving. She decided to take a different approach. She leaned forward, softening her voice. "Jerry, look. We know this is tough, and we know you're scared. But we need to know the truth. We're not here to hurt you, we just want to solve this case and find the person responsible. Can you help us do that?"

Jerry looked up at her, his eyes red-rimmed. "I'll do anything to help," he said. "I swear, I didn't hurt those people. I couldn't even hurt a fly. Whoever's doing this—it's not me."

Morgan glanced at Derik. She felt like this was going nowhere, and they needed to regroup, rethink their strategy. She stood up and said, "Give us a moment, please."

Jerry said nothing, just sulked in the chair. Morgan and Derik left the room, meeting in the hallway.

"What are you thinking?" Derik asked. "You don't really believe this guy."

"I don't know," Morgan said. "All the evidence points to him. He's the one guy we can link to every person. But we don't know if Johnson was making up the Woodbine detail."

The thought that Johnson really was the real killer, and they'd let him go, made her skin burn. Her head spun. This couldn't be it.

Just then, AD Mueller appeared up the hall, looking flustered, his face red and angry. Morgan knew that look—something was wrong.

"Cross," Mueller said, "I need you to come to my office now. Alone."

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Morgan followed AD Mueller into his office, curious why Derik wasn't invited in too. She was sure it had to be about the case, but something in Mueller's standoffish demeanor made her feel like it was more than that. It almost reminded her of how she'd been treated when she was sent to prison. Like she'd done something wrong, when to the best of her knowledge, she hadn't.

Mueller closed the door behind them and went behind his desk. "Have a seat, Cross."

She did. Mueller looked at his computer screen before he turned it to Morgan.

Her heart sank to the floor.

On the screen were hazy, faraway pictures of Morgan with Skunk—and that connection she'd met in the rough end of town, the one who'd given her Eric Domino’s name.

Morgan could hardly process what she was seeing. Someone had been following her. Those feelings of paranoia were real. Someone was following her and taking pictures of her, and now, those pictures were on AD Mueller's computer.

"Sir, what is this?" Morgan asked.

"I think you can see what it is," Mueller said, his voice cold.

"Who sent you these?"

"That's beside the point. Who is this man, Cross? Our data tells us his name is Clancy Smith, and he's a damn drug dealer. Why the hell are you meeting with him? Do we need to pass you through a drug test?"

"No!" Morgan exclaimed, mortified. Of course, she hadn't been buying drugs, but her real reason wasn't so easy to explain, either. She was being backed into a corner, and she had to explain something. "Look," she said, "I was following a tip I got regarding what happened that night. The night I was arrested. I'm still trying to piece together what happened, sir."

"That doesn't explain who this is," AD Mueller said. "You're risking the FBI's reputation with these shady meetings. Clearly, you're not as secretive as you thought."

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