The Night Stalker_ A Novel of Suspense - James Swain [101]
“Here he comes,” Burrell said.
Jed entered the interrogation room wearing a pale blue jumpsuit. His handcuffs and leg irons were connected to a chain that was padlocked to a metal belly band encircling his waist. Seeing the mirror, he shook his handcuffs defiantly.
“Crummy cops!” he shouted.
His escorts were two muscular guards. One pushed him into a chair.
“Sit down, and shut up,” the guard said.
The guard looked at the mirror and raised his eyebrows. The chief pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, and handed it to me. Typed on it was a phone number.
“That’s the number for the phone in the room,” the chief explained.
I took out my cell phone, and called Father Kelly at his parish. This time, he answered on the first ring.
“Jed is sitting in an interrogation room at police headquarters,” I said. “I’m going to give you a number for a phone in that room. I want you to call Jed, and see if you can get him to talk.”
“I’ll do my best,” Father Kelly said.
I gave him the number and hung up. Ten seconds later, the phone in the interrogation room rang. A guard put the call on speaker phone, and Father Kelly’s voice came out of the speaker.
“Hello, Jed? This is Father Kelly calling.”
Jed twitched like he’d been hit by a cattle prod. Bending his body at the waist, he brought his mouth down closer to the phone.
“Hey, Father Kelly,” he whispered.
“I need to talk to you, Jed,” the priest said.
“Okay,” he replied.
Jed knew we were eavesdropping.
Each time Father Kelly asked him a question, Jed dropped his voice, and mumbled a one-syllable response, while his eyes shifted suspiciously around the interrogation room. I had known hardened criminals who were not as distrustful of the police as he was.
Father Kelly didn’t give up. The questions kept coming, and little by little, I saw Jed’s chin drop, and the steely look in his eyes begin to fade. Father Kelly was playing on his conscience, and gradually wearing him down.
“You love Heather and your son, don’t you?” Father Kelly asked.
“Yeah,” Jed mumbled.
“Love them with all your heart, and all your soul?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re in trouble, you realize that?”
“Uh-huh.”
“We have to help them. You must talk to the police.”
“No.”
“Why won’t you talk to the police, Jed?”
“Because the police lie.”
It was the first time he’d uttered a real sentence.
“You must work with the police,” Father Kelly said emphatically. “They need to eliminate you as a suspect, so they can find the person who’s behind this. I know this is hard to believe, but the police are your friends.”
Jed jumped up from his chair. “Why don’t you tell that to my daddy, Father Kelly? Tell him what great friends the police are when they stick a needle in his arm tomorrow morning. I’m sure he’d love to hear that.”
I rose from my chair. Jed’s hatred for the police was too great for him to willingly help us. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t get to the truth. I quietly left the room.
Burrell and the chief must have thought I was going to the bathroom, because they didn’t follow me. I went next door, and entered the interrogation room. Both guards looked at me, and assuming I was a detective, let me enter.
I stood in front of Jed’s chair. “Remember me?”
Jed stared at me with hatred in his eyes. “Yeah.”
“I want to help you,” I said.
“That’s another lie,” Jed said.
“I know about your father’s slippers and the sleeping medication he was taking,” I said. “Detective Cheeks told me that he destroyed them. I’m going to make sure a judge knows about it, too. That’s a promise, son.”
Jed reeled back in his chair, and I saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“You mean that?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Your daddy was insane when he murdered those women. You’ve known it for years, but Detective Cheeks made sure that no one would listen to you. Then, when your son was abducted, Cheeks pointed the