Allowing his words to percolate through her mind, Jenna nodded. “Yeah, so maybe the killer is one of her students, or has been through the system. That would put Holland in the right age group. He seemed so helpful, but then that’s no guarantee he isn’t a serial killer. Let’s see what we can get out of him. He is young and would normally be quite vulnerable with law enforcement breathing down his neck. If he’s not, we need to keep a very close eye on him.”
“Copy that.” A nerve in Kane’s jaw twitched. “I’ll turn up the heat and see how much he can take.”
Leading the way into the office, Jenna stood to one side as her deputies moved to their various destinations. Jesse Holland sat in the administration area staring at his boots, his hands hanging loosely between his knees. She waited until he glanced up at her. “Jesse Holland? We spoke on the phone just before. We’d like to speak to you. Would you mind directing us to an empty classroom where we can have some privacy, please?”
“Yeah, sure.” Holland pushed both hands through his hair and stood. “I just can’t get Ms. McBride’s face out of my head. Itwas a terrible shock finding her like that. Did you notice anyone else in the building?”
“Not yet.” Kane folded his arms across his chest and looked at him. “We’ll discuss this in the empty classroom. If you’ll lead the way.”
“All the classrooms are empty at the moment, so we can take the first one.” Holland walked out of the office. He scanned his card to the staff entrance door and they walked inside, coming out in the hallway lined with classrooms. He stopped at the first one and pushed open the door, holding it open for Jenna to follow him through. He sat on one of the desks with one hand on each side and his legs dangling to the floor. “Fire away.”
“As you’re the last person to see Ellie McBride alive, we have to follow certain procedure.” Kane stood in front of him, his face like granite. “First, I need to read you your rights. This isn’t because we think you’re involved with the murder. It’s so you understand that anything you say will be taken down and may be used in evidence against you.” He handed his phone to Jenna. “The sheriff is recording our conversation on my phone.” He read him his rights. “The second thing I need from you today is your fingerprints and a DNA sample, to eliminate you as the killer.” He pulled out his fingerprint scanner, followed by a DNA collection kit. “It’s painless. All you need to do is open your mouth.”
“I don’t need legal representation because I didn’t hurt anyone.” Holland looked from one to the other. “Ms. McBride was one of my teachers. She has never been anything but kind toward me. Seeing her murdered like that will stay with me forever. I will do anything you require to assist you taking down this creep.”
“Okay.” Kane pulled on gloves and went to work.
Jenna took out her notebook and pen. If Holland decided to give up the names of the people he had been working withduring the day and anyone else he’d seen, she wanted to get it down so she could act on it right away rather than waiting for the transcript of the interview. “That’s good to know. I understand completely how you feel about finding the body. It is a terrible shock when it’s someone that you know and respect.”
“Can you recall where you were on Friday night between ten and midnight?” Kane moved Jenna’s phone closer to Holland and rested one hip on the teacher’s desk.
“I’m not one hundred percent sure.” Holland rubbed the back of his neck and reluctance flashed across his face. “I drove around with the boys like we do every Friday night. So, I’m not sure of the time we went to different places. We went to a hockey match, left there, and went to get something warm to drink. I recall being in Aunt Betty’s Café for a time. I figure I got home sometime around midnight. My folks were asleep and I crept into the house so as not to wake them.”
After making a few notes, Jenna raised her gaze to him. “Have you been to the new convenience store on the corner of Pine and Stanton?”
“Macks?” Holland grinned at them. “It’s a cool place. Yeah, we did swing by there one time over the weekend, but I don’t figure it was Friday.”
“I would like the names and contact details of everyone you were with that night.” Kane glanced at Jenna. “The sheriff can take a photograph of your contacts list to save time. You just tell us which one of them went with you that night.”
“Why exactly do you want to know where I went on Friday night?” Holland handed Jenna his phone and then looked at them suspiciously. “Ms. McBride was murdered today.”
“An incident involving Ms. McBride occurred on Friday evening.” Kane gave him a direct stare. “Like I said before, as you are the last person to see her alive, we need to make sure we’ve cleared you from any involvement with the attack on her on Friday night.”
“Oh, I see.” Holland nodded and pointed out the friends he’d been with on the contacts list.
Jenna made a note and then looked at Holland again. “What vehicle do you drive?”
“A Dodge pickup.” Holland smiled. “The tricked out one in the parking lot. Cherry-apple red. I worked on it all last summer.” He moved his attention to Kane. “The truck you drive is something else. It went flashing past me on the highway over the summer. Have you got nitro in that machine?”
“Yeah, but let’s get back to Ms. McBride’s murder.” Kane’s hard expression didn’t alter as he stared at the man. “You work here every day?”
“Yeah.” Holland shrugged. “I’m not a janitor. I’ve got my plumbing license, but I can run wire just fine. I’m part of the maintenance team, and we all go where we’re needed.”
“So you’d notice if someone new came along or shouldn’t be hanging around the school?” Kane scratched his cheek. “Was there anyone?”
“Nope, not that I recall, but I’m involved in maintenance, so I can’t say for all over the school.” Holland frowned. “We do have people come by for specialist jobs, like IT, security, and audiovisual. Those interactive screens are going down all the time. The teachers have people in to do talks and there are others, to do with education, I guess. I’m not the person you should be speaking to about them.”
During the conversation, Jenna scrolled through Holland’s call log and hadn’t noticed any calls around the time he’d supposedly taken a call to leave Ellie and go and fix a burst pipe. After taking an image of the call log, she handed the phone back to Holland, who looked at it stupidly for a few seconds as if not recalling he’d given it to her. She glanced at Kane. “You mentioned receiving a call. I don’t see one on your phone around that time.”
“We use a radio.” Holland indicated to a small two-way attached to his belt.
That complicated matters and Jenna sighed. “Who contacted you?”
“One of the guys.” Holland frowned. “It’s noisy down there, you know, so I’m honestly not sure who called me.” He moved around restlessly his eyes shifting back and forth. “The thing is, it couldn’t have been the person who murdered Ms. McBride because they’d need a radio and everyone on duty was there fixing the pipe. They’d almost finished by the time I arrived.”
Making a quick note in her book, Jenna considered his reply. “Who else carries radios?”
“All the maintenance staff, including the janitors, gardeners, cleaners.” Holland scratched his head messing up his hair. “I’d say everyone apart from the teachers. The admin has them to contact us if they need something done, so does the principal. I figure that’s all.”
