Before He Takes by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2017-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Mackenzie stared through the interrogation room glass at the vagrant. So far, he’d told the Cedar Rapids police that his name was Bob Crawford and he was originally from Fort Worth, Texas. But after about an hour of interrogation, that was the only information they were able to get out of him. During the interrogation, they had applied an ice pack to Crawford’s hand; he’d apparently busted it up pretty good while beating Delores Manning.

Mackenzie and Ellington were in the observation room with two state cops, both of whom were also looking out at Crawford. One of them looked absolutely furious while the other looked sad and defeated.

“You mind if I take a crack at him?” Mackenzie asked.

“Be my guest,” said the angry-looking state cop. “But I’m telling you right now, the guy is worthless. He’s got the shakes and he smells like a mixture between a locker room and the floor of a bar. He’s jonesing for a drink and can’t even think straight. If you can’t get anything out of him, we’ll probably just toss him in the drunk tank until the morning.”

“Thanks,” Mackenzie said. She left the observation room and walked out into the hallway. Just as she was reaching for the door that led to the interrogation room, she heard Ellington falling in behind her.

“You got this?” he asked.

“Yes, I’ll be fine.”

They shared a stare for a moment and in it, she understood what he meant. This vagrant, supposedly named Bob Crawford, had beaten the hell out of Delores Manning. While he had not raped her, the evidence indicated that he had tried but ultimately failed. Ellington was simply making sure Mackenzie wasn’t so repulsed by the creep that it would affect her judgment and skills.

“You mind if I sit in?” he asked.

“If you want,” she said.

Without waiting for his response, she opened the door and walked inside. Bob Crawford was facing the door and when she entered the room, he made no attempt to hide his shock. A lazy grin crossed his face—a grin which dropped completely when Ellington joined her.

Ellington stood by the door as Mackenzie took the single seat on the other side of the table. “Mr. Crawford,” she said, “I’m Agent White with the FBI. I’m really hoping you’re going to be more cooperative with me than you were with the police.”

He looked down at the table and Mackenzie saw that he was indeed trembling as the state cop had said.

“You’re shaking,” she pointed out. “You okay?”

“I need a drink,” Crawford said. “Any chance you can help me out with that?”

“What you need is some hard time in prison,” she said. “You messed that woman up quite badly. Can I ask why?”

He shrugged. “I was weak.”

“Weak?”

“It’s been forever since I’ve been with a woman.”

Anger flared up in Mackenzie but she kept it down. “Well, it seems like your plans didn’t really pan out well, huh? Couldn’t concentrate? Was the train making too much noise? Did you fuck your hand up too bad to get a hard-on?”

Crawford’s face flushed with anger and shame.

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