Page 14 of The Girl He Claimed

She looked at Paige, then at thegun pointed at her. For a moment, she hesitated. Then, slowly, she raised herhands. The other guards turned towards them, their expressions ranging fromconfusion to anger.

"What's going on?" one ofthe guards demanded.

Paige held up her badge, knowingthat she had to manage the group of guards so that they wouldn't interfere. Thelast thing she needed was to give Karen a chance to run.

Thankfully, Christopher was therethen, moving into the trees at a sprint. He got between the others and Paige,blocking them while Paige moved in to cuff the guard.

"You need to come withus," Paige said.

"What's this about?"Karen demanded. "What are you doing?"

"We need to ask you somequestions, Karen," Paige said. "We need to talk to you about whyexactly it was your access card that was used to help Adam Riker escape."

CHAPTER EIGHT

"You have no right to hold mehere like this!"

Paige sat across a table from KarenWilliams, in one of the treatment rooms of the institute, with pastel-paintedwalls and soft furnishings that were meant to produce a calming atmosphere. Howmany times had she sat opposite dangerous criminals, trying to assess if theywere criminally insane? She'd even sat opposite Adam in this room.

"We could do this down at theFBI's offices after you spend the night in a holding cell, if you prefer,"Christopher said. He was standing, pacing back and forth, rather than sitting.Paige could sense the anger in him. She could even understand it. He might bestanding in the same room as the woman who had killed his wife and Paige'sfather.

Karen stared over at Paige."This is nonsense. I didn't have anything to do with this."

"Your key card was used tounlock Adam Riker's cell," Paige said. It seemed best to lead with that,to take away a lot of Karen's ability to deny anything, andto see if shecould get a reaction out of Karen. Would she break down and confess? Would shetry to lie or be defiant?

"I lost my key card!"Karen exclaimed. "I thought I left it in my locker. I had to get one ofthe other guards to let me in and out of the building."

Paige raised an eyebrow, not quitebelieving it. "And you didn't report it missing? I can't imagine that'sprotocol for the institute."

"I was going to, but I figuredI might be able to find it without it being a problem. Then Adam Riker escapedand everything went crazy," Karen said, her voice rising. "I didn'thave anything to do with it, I swear."

Paige leaned forward, studyingKaren's face. She seemed genuinely upset, but that didn't mean she wasinnocent. If this really was the Exsanguination Killer, then they were dealingwith a psychopath, one who had deceived everyone around her for years. Paigeknew as well as anyone just how convincing a psychopath could be.

"Karen, we need to know whyyour key card was used to unlock Adam Riker's cell," Paige said, her toneserious. "We can't just take your word for it that you lost it."

"I swear, I didn't haveanything to do with it," Karen repeated. "I don't know how my keycard ended up unlocking his cell. I just want to do my part to catch thisbastard."

Again, she sounded convincing, butit would take more than that to make Paige let go of this.

She would need to take a differentapproach, though. It was obvious that Karen would simply keep denying anythingto do with the key card, so hammering away at that point wouldn't work.

"Tell us about yourself,Karen," Paige said. "I've read your record, but it seems that thereisn't much in it. I can barely remember you from my time here."

"I remember you, though,"Karen shot back. Paige raised an eyebrow, surprised that Karen had rememberedher. "Oh really? How so?"

"You always seemed like youwere above everyone else, like you were too good to be here," Karen said,her voice laced with bitterness. "But I guess now you're back here withthe rest of us, whether you want to be or not."

Paige ignored the jibe; it wasobviously designed to distract Paige from her questioning.

"This isn't about me, it'sabout you. About the part where you never seem to do anything to stand out, younever draw any attention."

"It's a crime now to just geton with my job?"

Paige leaned back in her chair,observing Karen closely. She could sense the fear in her, and for a moment, shewondered if she was really the Exsanguination Killer. Would a serial killer, apsychopath, feel that fear? Maybe it was just something she was projecting,though, something that she wanted them to see.

Paige sighed. "No, it's not acrime. But it does make me wonder. Do you like being invisible, Karen?"

"What are you talkingabout?" Karen asked, her voice rising again.

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