“Then I may not have a choice either,” he said, standing up straight, seemingto find a new reserve of resilience. “If it comes down to it, I won’t make himbe my alibi. It would destroy him. If he’s outed as part of some murderinvestigation, he won’t recover from that, professionally or personally. I fearwhat he’d do. If it comes to that, then just arrest me. If I have to take theheat for this to protect him, then so be it. I can handle it. You’ll eventuallyfind Gabby’s killer and I’ll move on somehow. I’d rather have my reputation gettemporarily dragged through the mud than feel responsible for someone’s death.”
Jessie looked over at Peters, who appeared as conflicted as she felt. Shewanted to solve this case but she didn’t want it to turn into a witch hunt thatended in someone’s suicide. If there was a way to verify what Ferro saidwithout going to this mystery man, she preferred to do it. Before she couldexpress that thought, Melissa Ferro stepped forward, as if she was a humanshield protecting her husband.
“You’ve heard what each of us has had to say. We’ve been more thanaccommodating. We’ve shared our deepest family secret. But you’re bordering onharassment here. We’re calling our lawyer and we’re not answering any morequestions.”
She was still holding her husband’s hand and as she turned to leave,she tugged hard, taking him with her.
Jessie watched them go, knowing that they’d soon tell their friendsabout their decision. The rest of them would surely follow suit. The friendlyinterview portion of this investigation was officially over. And with that, sowas any semblance of control.
It was only a matter of time now before these people left the island,free to backstop their legal options and if desperate, leave the countryentirely. The game was almost over, and she was losing.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Ryan was impressed.
He had worked with Jamil Winslow on a case in Manhattan Beach justbefore the stabbing, so he knew the kid was smart. But even Jessie’s effusivepraise, touting his brilliance once he transferred to the LAPD’s CentralStation to become their resident police researcher, hadn’t prepared him forwhat Jamil was capable of.
By late morning, the skinny, frail twenty-four-year-old wunderkind hadpulled up all available surveillance video from near the homes of the X-Actovictims, as he’d taken to calling them. They were just getting ready to reviewthe footage when Detective Alan Trembley walked in.
“Hi, boys,” he said enthusiastically.
Ryan couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently the guy had enjoyed hisvacation a little too much. In addition to his unruly, curly blond hair,smudged glasses, and too-big sports coat, he also had a bad sunburn. Thehyper-redness of his cheeks only amplified his baby face. Trembley was pushingthirty but barely looked out of college.
“Hey, Trembley,” he replied. “Forget the sunscreen?”
“My first time seeing you in months and you start off by teasing me?”the young detective said, bounding over to give him a hug. “I guess some thingsnever change.”
“Nor should they,” Ryan said. “Sorry to make you come in on a Sunday.”
“That’s okay. Captain Decker said he was short-handed and when I foundout it was a chance to work with you again, I leapt at it. I still remember thefirst case we worked together with Jessie. You know it?”
“Of course,” Ryan said, thinking back to deviously clever woman who hadalmost gotten away with framing someone else for a murder she committed. “Ifnot for Jessie, Andrea Robinson might still be out there, wreaking more havoc.”
“Where is she now again?” Trembley asked.
“At the Forensic In-Patient Unit at the women’s division of the TwinTowers Correctional Facility,” Ryan said. “It’s a good thing too. Apparentlyshe’s developed a bit of a fixation on Jessie. The last thing we need isanother psycho obsessing over her.”
“It sounds like we’ve got a psycho of another variety on the loose,” Trembleysaid. “Decker tells me this one uses an X-Acto knife to kill the victims.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as that,” Ryan said.
“What does that mean?”
“Jamil, you want to fill him in?” Ryan suggested.
“You’re letting Winslow handle case presentations now?” Trembley asked,pretending to be appalled. “At this rate, the kid’s going to be running thedepartment by the spring.”
“Nice to see you too, Detective Trembley,” Jamil said, speaking for thefirst time. It was as close as the unfailingly polite researcher got to snark.
“Right back at you,” Trembley said, pulling up a chair. “So what are wedealing with?”
Jamil quickly walked the detective through all the details that Ryanhad shared with him just hours earlier. When he was done explaining thegrotesque nature of the crimes and why they hadn’t initially been connected,Ryan chimed in.
“There’s something else I haven’t told you. I was waiting to have youboth here before I shared this. I know this is unusual but I need to ask eachof you to treat what I say next with discretion.”
“Ooh, this sounds exciting,” Trembley said, rubbing his hands togetherin excitement.
“I didn’t mention this next part to Captain Decker yet,” Ryan said. “Hisplate is pretty full.”
Jamil gave him a look that suggested he didn’t buy that as the reason,but said nothing.
“What is it?” Trembley asked.
“When I described the murders to Jessie, it reminded her of a referencein one of Garland Moses’s old case files. She showed it to me. There were somesimilarities to a murder from decades ago that he was never able to solve. Itinvolved the Night Hunter.”
“Who?” Trembley asked.
Ryan was about to explain but Jamil beat him to it.
“He was one of the worst serial killers in modern history,” he said. “Slaughteredabout eighty people from the mid-1980s through to the end of the 1990s, andthat’s just the number they could officially attribute to him. He only stoppedafter a brutal death match in Garland’s condo. The Night Hunter escaped byjumping from the second floor. He was never heard from again. Most people thinkhe died from his injuries. Sounds like Garland didn’t agree. But didn’t he chopup his victims with a machete?”
“He did,” Ryan confirmed. “But according to the document Jessie showedme, after the fight at his condo, Garland found an address taped
