“I wasn’t going to give you a lecture,” he told her.
“Good. Just remember that I will be conducting the interview, okay?”
“Sure thing. As long as you understand that I may want to occasionally make a comment or ask a question.”
“Keep your comments and questions to a minimum, will you? You’re here as an observer. That is your area of expertise, isn’t it, observing and forming an opinion?”
“Yes, ma’am, it is.”
He had to bite his tongue to keep from telling her that he had been observing her for quite some time and had formed a definite opinion. She was, without a doubt, the most irritating, aggravating, combative woman he’d ever known.
They followed normal procedure, up to a point. They had parked in the facility’s designated visitor parking lot. They had presented positive ID prior to their admission and then undergone a preliminary search by electronic surveillance instruments. But after that, they were escorted to the warden’s office. Slender, gray-haired Claude Holland greeted them with quiet reserve, his facial expression giving away nothing and his handshake firm and quick. He scanned Maleah, his gaze simply sizing her up. She suspected that her appearance surprised him as it did so many people who expected a female private security agent to be big and burly, not blond and petite.
“I’ve arranged for you to meet with Mr. Browning in our visitation area, but there should be no physical contact with the prisoner at any time,” Warden Holland said. “I mention this simply because you might normally expect to shake hands.”
Maleah nodded. “I understand.”
“This is not a scheduled visitation day, so there will be no other inmates seeing visitors. You’ll have one hour with Browning, but if at any time before the end of that hour, you wish to leave, then simply tell one of the guards.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“I assume that if we need to visit Mr. Browning again, that could be arranged,” Derek said.
“My instructions from the governor’s office are that your visitation privileges are open-ended,” Warden Holland replied. “All I ask is that you give us twenty-four hours’ notice.”
“Yes, of course,” Derek said.
“And I should warn you, Ms. Perdue,” Warden Holland said, “Browning will be in restraints during your interview.”
“I assumed that was common practice for convicted murders, especially serial killers, but I have to admit that my knowledge of the penal system is limited.”
“No, it’s not common practice for inmates to be in shackles during visitation periods. But Browning is no ordinary inmate. His charm is deceiving,” Warden Holland said. “We learned that early on. He can go from calm and cooperative one minute to aggressive and dangerous the next. He has attacked the guards and other inmates on numerous occasions.”
“Thank you for telling us,” Maleah said.
Claude Holland nodded and then motioned to the two uniformed guards standing at the back of the room. “Please escort Ms. Perdue and Mr. Lawrence to the visitation area. I’ll call now and have Browning brought there to meet you.”
Doing her best to concentrate not on where she was but on what she needed to do, Maleah walked quietly alongside Derek. Neither of them commented on their surroundings. The moment they entered the visitation area, her heartbeat accelerated, the sound drumming in her ears. There was no reason to be afraid, no reason whatsoever. She and Derek were perfectly safe.
Derek stood at her side, her shoulder brushing his arm. The two guards remained in the room, each stationed on either side of the door through which they had entered. She took a deep breath, held it, and then gradually released it, beginning with her belly and working upward to her throat. A yoga relaxation technique.
Two more guards entered the area, one on either side of the prisoner as they escorted him into the visitation area. Maleah stared directly at a handcuffed and shackled Jerome Browning. He looked older than the photos included in the Powell Agency files she and Derek had been given; but he was still tall, slender, and intriguingly handsome. Even dressed in prison garb of white shirt and pants and confined with restraints, he managed to exude an aura of worldly sophistication that totally surprised Maleah.
The moment he saw her, he smiled. A hard knot formed in the pit of her stomach. The smile was neither warm nor friendly. It was the type of smile she imagined would be on a cat’s face when he had just spotted a delectable little mouse, one he looked forward to tormenting before devouring.
Chapter 6
Derek studied Browning closely, mentally comparing the information he had on the man with the man himself standing there before him. Browning was forty-nine and although he looked his age, he had the kind of features that aged well. In his youth, he would have been referred to as a pretty boy. No doubt, he had used his good looks and his charm to lure his victims, especially the female ones, to their deaths. Behind that handsome facade lay the mind of a cunning and diabolical killer.
One of the guards who had escorted their prisoner into the room indicated for Browning to take a seat. Without a moment’s hesitation, he sat. His gaze never left Maleah.
Derek’s gut tightened as his instincts flashed a warning—danger!
“I don’t get many visitors,” Browning said in a heavy Southern accent, his voice as smooth as glass. “Certainly none as pretty as you, Ms. Perdue.”
Although Derek sensed Maleah tense, the action wasn’t visible. He had to give her credit for not even flinching.
“And I’m unaccustomed to visiting murderers in prison,” Maleah replied. “Especially ones as reprehensible as you are, Mr. Browning.”
His chuckled softly. “Touche, my dear.”
Maleah took the chair facing Browning, almost close enough to touch him, but not quite. She looked him square in the eye. They sat there staring at each other.
Derek barely controlled the urge to move in behind Maleah and stand at her back. His protective male instincts urged him to issue the man a warning. If you mess with this woman, you’ll have to deal with me.
“Do you know why I’m here?” Maleah asked.
Browning’s smile widened, showcasing a set of amazingly white, straight teeth. Apparently the state of Georgia provided great dental care for their inmates.
“I assume that you . . . or rather whatever agency you work for wants something they think only I can give them.”
Derek was sure that Maleah wouldn’t buy the man’s I-don’t-know-anything act.
“You know who I work for,” Maleah said. “You were informed that Mr. Lawrence—” she inclined her head slightly backward toward Derek “—and I work for the Powell Private Security and Investigation Agency before you agreed to meet with us.”
“Knowing who you work for and why you’re here is not the same thing.”
Maleah fixed her gaze on Browning. “I’ll ask you again, do you know why I’m here?”
“We are allowed newspapers and magazines and television in here. And I occasionally have a visitor. People talk. I listen.”
“What have you been listening to?”
“This and that. Whatever interests me.”
“What interests you, Mr. Browning?”
