Killing Fear

THIRTY-FIVE

Will walked into the interview room and Diana began to stand. He smiled and motioned her to remain sitting. “Have you met Special Agent Hans Vigo?” Will asked her.

“I heard someone from the FBI was around,” she said.

Hans extended his hand, shook Diana’s, and Will said to Carina, “Can you please follow up with Border Patrol?”

He handed her a note. The note told her to watch with the chief and when he gave her a signal-running his left hand over his head-to come in with a note and hand it to him. Will knew he had to play Diana very carefully because she knew all the tricks.

When Carina left, he took Diana’s hands and squeezed, as if he were supporting her through a difficult time. “We’re all going to miss Jim. How are you holding up?”

She shrugged. “I’m shocked.”

Will dropped her hands and flipped open his notepad. “We’ve asked everyone about conversations with Jim the day he was killed. I know you already spoke to Carina, but we’re trying to figure out what he was working on. He took a box with him from the office-” Will slid the security photo in front of her. “We can’t find it. It’s not in his office, his house, or his car. We’ve retraced his steps and know he went directly home from the office. Do you know what he was working on?”

She shook her head. “He didn’t say. I didn’t ask. Jim always brought work home. I think we all did.”

“They sure don’t pay us enough to work from home,” Will commiserated.

Diana’s words were careful, measured. “I’m curious why you don’t think Theodore Glenn killed Jim. It’s the most logical conclusion. He threatened him in court, just like the others.”

“Of course we looked at Glenn first. But Jim let his killer in. There was no sign of forced entry. No sign of a struggle. Jim opened the door and his killer immediately shot him. No hesitation, just bang-bang-bang, three bullets to the chest.”

Diana looked down at her hands and let out a long, shaky breath.

“I’m sorry,” Will said. “I should be more sensitive. You and Jim were friends.”

“We were colleagues,” Diana said. “He was my boss. I had a lot of respect for him.”

“We all did.” Will paused. “Carina is not taking his murder well.”

“They lived together, didn’t they?” Diana asked.

“Yeah, for three years. So you don’t know what was in the box?”

She shook her head.

“Was there any writing on it?”

She didn’t say anything.

“Diana?”

“There was a case number.”

“Did you recognize it?”

“No. It was recent, it started with an ‘08’ which meant it came from this year.”

“What was he working on in the office?”

“Primarily the Frank Sturgeon homicide this week, and of course he supervises dozens of cases. I had a gang shooting I processed two days ago, and it has been keeping me busy.”

Gang shooting. Will remembered hearing about it, though he’d been focused on Glenn’s escape. Four dead gang members in an alley. He wondered if they’d recovered any firearms.

He gave Carina the signal and asked, “Have you ever been to Jim’s house?”

Diana froze at the question. “I-why?”

“You were friends.”

“Colleagues.”

Will smiled. “I go to a lot of colleagues’ houses.”

“I’ve been there a few times.”

“When was the last time?”

“Why does this sound like an interrogation?”

Carina walked in, handed Will a note. He ‘read’ it-it was blank-then scribbled check status of guns in gang shooting and handed it back.

“When was the last time you were at Jim’s house?”

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” Diana said, her face tight as she watched Carina leave.

“Diana, why won’t you answer the question?”

“It sounds like you’re accusing me of something. I thought we were friends, Will. I thought you respected me.”

Hans spoke for the first time. “Diana, I’ve reviewed your personnel files and you have an exemplary record.”

“Why were you looking at my personnel files?”

“We looked at everyone in Jim’s department,” Hans said.

Diana stared at Will. “You said the Feds weren’t involved.”

“I never said that.”

“On the news. You said the Feds reviewed the evidence and that we processed that stripper’s crime scene properly.”

“It was processed properly,” Will said, staring Diana in the eye. “But Theodore Glenn didn’t kill Anna Clark.”

Diana’s face paled. “We found evidence at the scene.”

Will continued as if Diana hadn’t spoken. “Jim knew Glenn didn’t kill Anna. He also knew someone in his crime lab did. I think he had a hard time facing people he trusted knowing that one of them was a killer. So he took the case file home. We know he had the files at his house because he spoke with Dr. Kincaid in Washington about the case only twenty minutes before he was killed in cold blood by someone he trusted.”

During Will’s speech, Diana’s lip began to tremble. She whispered, “I–I can’t believe it.”

“Right now, the Sheriff’s Department is processing trace evidence found at the scene. They have hair and fiber samples that do not belong to Jim. Right now, my partner is sending the guns in your gang shooting to the Sheriff’s Department to compare with the bullets removed from Jim’s dead body. Right now, my only question for you is, why the hell did you kill Jim?”

Diana wasn’t expecting the accusation. Her hands were shaking as she pushed her hair behind her ears. “I–I didn’t!” Her denial rang hollow.

Will leaned forward. “Do you realize that your actions are going to set killers free? Do you realize that you’ve contaminated not only Anna Clark’s crime scene but every case you’ve processed? Every killer, every child molester, is going to file suit and our entire department is going to be under scrutiny. We will be blowing our budget defending cases that should never come up for appeal. You did this, Diana. And why?”

“I–I don’t know what you mean. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything!”

“Stanton is in the process of getting a warrant to search your house. We don’t need a warrant to search your desk or the lab.” On the fly, Will made up a story. “Right now, while my partner is pulling the guns from the gang shooting, Detective Hazelwood is going through your desk.”

“You can’t do that!”

Will raised his eyebrow. “You work for the government. Everything in your office is government property.”

“I want an attorney.”

That surprised Will. He thought for sure she would continue to deny her guilt until she broke down.

“You’re not under arrest,” Will said carefully.

“But I’m a suspect, aren’t I? I can’t believe you think I could do something like this, Will. After everything between us, you just threw it away. For what?”

The non sequitur didn’t make sense. “I threw what away?” he asked.

“Us!”

“Is that why you planned to kill Robin? Because I had a relationship with her?”

Diana glanced at Hans. She realized she’d said something wrong.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Will. Who’s Robin?” Her face went blank.

Will played along. “Robin McKenna was Anna Clark’s roommate.”

Diana leaned back in her chair, waved her hand in the air. “Another stripper.”

“She found the body. She testified at Glenn’s trial.”

“I don’t remember. But I trust your word.”

She seemed too calm, too composed. Had Dillon been wrong in his analysis? Will didn’t think so: Diana had killed Jim and Anna. But maybe he needed to work her over more subtly. Play along with her biases. Make her think that she had a compatriot.

He sighed dramatically. “That entire case was a low point in my life.”

“How so?” she asked.

“Come on, I’m sure you felt the same way I did. I mean, the victims were strippers. Probably prostitutes as well.”

“There were five calls for solicitation at RJ’s in the year prior to the first murder,” Diana said.

Will didn’t react to the information Diana shared, but it proved that she remembered far more about the case-and Robin-than she’d admitted.

Will shook his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking getting involved with one of them.”

“You’re a man,” Diana said. “They know how to lure good men into their trap. You’re lucky she didn’t get herself pregnant. Trap you.”

Will didn’t dare look at Hans, wished he had Dillon to play off of. Get herself pregnant. There was something there…

“Yeah, lucky indeed. But good riddance, right?”

“Can I go?”

Will opened his notepad, fumbled around. “Yeah, just-oh. Hey Vigo, look at this.”

Hans leaned over, nodded solemnly. “Hmm.”

Will was showing him nothing of importance, but said to Diana, “You said the case box Jim was carrying was from 2008?”

She nodded.

“Dammit, I can’t believe I missed this!” He slammed the notebook shut. “Stuart Hansen lied to us. I need to bring him back.”

“Stu?” Diana paled. “He wouldn’t lie.”

“I didn’t think so, but he swore up and down that Jim was carrying a case box from 2001.” He leaned forward. “Diana, we have evidence that proves Theodore Glenn didn’t kill Anna Clark. Now I know who did. Hansen.”

“Stu couldn’t kill-” She stopped, and Will almost saw her mind working. “I can’t believe it. Why would he?”

“He screwed up the Bethany Coleman crime scene,” Will said coldly. “If it weren’t for his mistakes, we’d have nailed Theodore Glenn after the first two murders. Frankly, I wanted him fired. But Jim defended him, defended his entire team. And then Stu kills him.”

“Stu? No-”

“We know that Jim took home the Anna Clark case files.”

“But then Stu was telling the truth, they were from 2001-” She stopped.

Will leaned forward. “Then you were lying.”

“You’re wrong.”

“You said the case files were from 2008.”

“I was mistaken.”

“You were certain.”

“I-no.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Will. You just said that Stu killed Jim-”

“Stu was under surveillance,” Will said.

“He could have slipped out.”

“So were you.”

“What? You had me under surveillance? I’ll sue you! You can’t-”

“Yes, we can. And you know what? You could have slipped out as well. You knew we were on to something. Jim never leaves the office early. He had a difficult time thinking that someone he knew and trusted had killed an innocent woman and framed Theodore Glenn. He had to get out of the building, look at the evidence, see what he could find. His only mistake? Running into you outside in the parking lot. When you saw the 2001 case files you panicked. Thought Jim had figured it out, or would figure it out. You went to his house, shot him, stole the files.”

“No!”

He ran a hand over his head, then slammed it on the table in front of him. “Yes! You killed Jim. Why?”

“I didn’t! And you have no proof. Do you think I’m this stupid? Do you think that I don’t know you’re trying to get me flustered? Why are you doing this to me, Will?” Tears clouded her eyes.

Carina walked in and silently handed Will a note, not looking at Diana. Carina had written Fry her.

Will watched Carina leave. “We have the warrant.”

“What?” Diana exclaimed.

“Stanton found a sympathetic judge. We have enough to search your house-”

“No! I’ll get it thrown out. You can’t prove-”

“What can’t I prove, Diana?”

“Don’t do this to me, Will.”

“I’m not doing anything to you,” Will baited her. “You killed Anna Clark and planted evidence to implicate Theodore Glenn. Not because you cared one way or the other about his victims or whether he went to prison, but because seven years ago you wanted Robin McKenna dead.”

“No.”

“Dammit, Diana! Tell the truth for once! We’re going to find everything. Did you already destroy the case files? It doesn’t matter, because those were copies. The FBI has the originals. What about the gun? You don’t own a gun, but you have access to guns. I will personally test fire every gun in lockup until I find the gun that killed Jim Gage. Starting with the gang shooting you investigated this week.”

Diana’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly. “No, no, no,” she mumbled. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what the fuck is it like, Diana? You killed Jim for the thrill of it?”

“No!” She was shaking. “I didn’t-I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“I don’t believe you. You wanted to kill Robin McKenna, didn’t you?”

Diana’s face hardened. Her eyes flashed with hatred.

“You were screwing her! You were jeopardizing your career for a slut. You were all discreet about us, didn’t want anyone to know we were sleeping together, but with her? You didn’t care who knew. I can’t believe you picked her over me.”

Will stared at Diana, furious that he hadn’t seen what she was capable of. “You killed Anna because you were waiting for Robin. You’d planned on framing Glenn all along, but you called me from the apartment. Why?”

“Theodore Glenn killed her,” Diana whispered, frantically trying to hold on to the web of lies. “He was convicted of her murder.”

“You went to Jim’s house because you saw that he had the box of files from the Anna Clark homicide. You figured out that he was looking into the case, even though I specifically told the press that the case was not being reopened.”

“No.”

“Stuart Hansen has already told us that he saw the case number on the box and it was a 2001 case number, not a recent case number as you said,” Will repeated, pushing Anna hard.

“I–I must not have seen it right. Or Stu’s lying. Why aren’t you asking Stu these questions?”

“You went to Jim’s house. Premeditated. You took a gun out of evidence and shot him when he opened the door. Then you went into his office and took the case files. You had to know what we knew about the Anna Clark homicide.”

“No. No. No. I want an attorney and I want an attorney right now!” She crossed her arms and stared at the table.

Carina walked in. “I have the ballistics report.” She handed it to Will, then glared at Diana Cresson. “Jim Gage was a good man and a good friend and you will burn in hell for killing him.”

Will stared at the report. This wasn’t another fake out, but the Sheriff’s Department really came through. Jim was shot with the same gun that killed one of the gang members in Diana’s case. The gun itself was missing. Though it had originally been logged in to evidence at the scene, it was not currently in the evidence room or in the lab.

The case wasn’t airtight, but Will had enough. And with a warrant, he was confident he’d find enough evidence at Diana’s house to turn over to the D.A.

Knowing who killed Jim Gage didn’t make him feel better. The case was solved, but a good friend had been killed in the process. Will would live with the weight of Jim’s murder for the rest of his life. And though he knew Trinity’s broadcast had nothing to do with Diana’s decision to kill Jim, if only Will had found another way to handle the case maybe Jim would still be alive.

“Carina, would you like to do the honors?” he said quietly to his partner.

“Diana Cresson, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”