3. Cutting Edge by Allison Brennan

3. Cutting Edge by Allison Brennan

Author:Allison Brennan [Brennan, Allison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2011-08-11T22:55:08+00:00


CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

Nora followed Sheriff Sanger into the county jail. Since the FBI didn’t have detention facilities, she’d been here many times over the years to interview suspects. After arraignment, the accused generally stayed in county jail until trial; then, if convicted, they were transported to a federal penitentiary.

Nora didn’t like how Sanger had made a snap judgment on the suicides. The three could certainly have killed themselves out of guilt, but she needed more. And she needed more than Sanger’s theory that Cole was the instigator. Evidence and motive for a start.

None of this fit in with her experience. And if she couldn’t rely on her experience, what good was she on the squad?

Did she want to be right so badly that she was jeopardizing the case? She didn’t think so, but at the same time she’d had the very strong and very instant reaction that these suicides didn’t fit the mold. And while human behavior certainly couldn’t always be predicted, when someone went way off the reservation, Nora couldn’t help but question it.

“Please bring Cole to interview room two,” Sanger ordered the desk sergeant.

“He’s with his attorney in interview four.”

“That was fast,” Sanger said.

“It’s better this way,” Nora said.

“How the hell is it better?” growled Sanger.

She motioned for the sheriff to follow her, and the desk sergeant buzzed them into room two.

Nora faced Sanger and leaned against the table. It was better not to be too aggressive with him, but she couldn’t deny she was in a fighting mood. “Cole has never spoken to us without his attorney present. You think he’s going to suddenly open up after you arrest him?”

“I’ve known Leif Cole for years. I can get him to talk.”

“Great. Talk about conflict of interest.”

“What’s your point?”

“You and Cole have a history.”

“That has nothing to do with this.”

“Maybe not,” she said, not believing him, “but we still need information and evidence. If you honestly believe that Cole is responsible, then we need to find that evidence, because he’s sure as hell not going to confess when we have nothing.”

“But he doesn’t know what we do or don’t have.”

“If you play him wrong, he’ll never talk. He would love to bring the ACLU down on your ass, Lance. And neither you nor I want to spend our limited resources battling that giant.”

“You know what I think?” Lance said. “I think that they killed themselves to protect Leif Cole and that maybe he was the one who told them to kill Payne. Payne was a thorn in his side for years.”

If Leif Cole was guilty, Nora had been working off the wrong profile from the beginning. That was a poor excuse.

Any decent profiler knew that a psychological assessment of a suspect when you didn’t have a suspect was nothing more than a guideline; it wasn’t rigid. She’d adapted when she learned Payne had been tortured—adding in the psychopathic factor. Was Cole a psychopath? If so, she’d missed it during their previous interviews. If not, which of the three students had



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