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
“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
“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
“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.
“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.”