“She reminds me of the nurse who cared for my mom.” Rourke gave an agitated tug on his cuffs, making the metal clang against the loop on the table. “She told me to go home andeverything would be okay, and the next morning my mom died alone. She lied to me.”
“So you wanted her to pay for your mom’s death?” Jo raised one eyebrow. “Although she is completely innocent.”
“I wanted her to feel the fear I felt when Mom died and left me all alone.” Rourke glared at Jo. “My pa didn’t want me. He tossed me away like garbage.”
Jenna leaned back in her chair. Sam Cross had allowed everything so far, so she’d move to the murders. “In your interview, you mentioned knowing Ellie McBride. You said you’d worked on equipment in her classroom recently.”
“Yeah, I did, what of it?” Rourke rolled his eyes and stared at the wall.
Shrugging, Jenna inclined her head to observe him. “We know you attacked her in the parking lot of the convenience store at approximately eleven on Friday evening. We have you at the roadhouse shortly after. Ellie escaped and told us a lot about you. What were you planning to do with her?”
“I had planned to take her to the boathouse. She reminds me of the teacher who had me expelled for throwing a spitball at her. That incident caused problems for me at home. Soon after my pa left, my mother got sick and died. It was all her fault. If she hadn’t had me expelled, none of this would have happened.”
“Run through what happened that night with Ellie McBride.” Jo looked at him expressionless. “What went wrong? You didn’t try to strangle her, did you?”
“Nope. Not at the time.” Rourke smiled at her. “I had been following her for a few days. I couldn’t believe my luck when she went to the convenience store and parked along the pile of snow. I parked my truck out of view of the CCTV cameras—the ones I’d installed—and waited until I seen her coming out of the store. When she opened the back of her SUV to put her groceries inside, I had intended to strangle her, but I noticedsomeone heading toward the door, so when she bent over, I grabbed the jack in the back of her vehicle and smashed her in the head with it. I figured I’d killed her, so I pushed her inside the trunk of her SUV, grabbed her purse and keys and drove to the roadhouse. I noticed the vehicle had no gas, so I stopped to refill it using her credit card. I figured as I had her card, I might as well go inside and get myself a meal. I decided to dispose of her body in the lake and no one would find her because it would be frozen over until the melt.”
“What did you do when you found her missing?” Jo kept her voice low and in control. “Did you go looking for her?”
“Nope.” Rourke glanced at Sam Cross. “I know I’m making it difficult for you to defend me, but they’ve got me on the kidnapping charge anyway and as I’ve admitted to attempting to murder Isla Monroe, they can only keep me in prison for one life, can’t they?”
“You’ve been given your Miranda rights. I can only advise you to remain silent. As you have chosen not to, I can only sit here and make sure your legal rights are protected.” Cross blew out a breath. “I will explain why you committed the crimes. That’s the best I can do.”
“Like I told you, I figured I’d killed Ellie McBride. She climbed out of the vehicle and walked out into the night and then I heard she’d gone back to the school. I searched at her home for her and she was a no show. It took sheer genius to enter the school again without being seen and then get her to go to the boiler room.” He chuckled. “No one else could have done that.”
Jenna held up a hand. “Just back it up a little. So you went outside and found Ellie missing from the back of the SUV. What happened next?”
“I drove her car back to the convenience store. Dropped her keys under the back, climbed into my truck, and drove home.” Rourke looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “How do youfigure I got back to the convenience store? It’s too far to walk.” He gave Jenna a long look. “Why are you here interviewing me and not at home with your kids? Do you leave them alone all night?”
The door to the interview room opened and Kane stepped in. He leaned casually against the wall, arms folded across his chest, but his expression had dropped into combat mode. Jenna ignored Rourke’s question and allowed Jo to continue with the interview.
“So you left the messages on the whiteboard for Ellie McBride? How did you get into school without being noticed?” Jo cleared her throat. “I’ve had my people look over the CCTV footage. The school requires cards to come and go and everything is recorded. How did you manage to gain entry without being seen?”
“I made a copy of the janitor’s card. I went to his house recently and he asked me to get something from the glovebox and there it was. I returned it once I’d made a copy.” Rourke gave her a wide grin. “He moves around without anyone noticing him. They all figure he’s crazy and let him be. Once I had the card, I could get inside the school at any time and change anything I wanted to on the computers and CCTV footage. You see I’m very smart. Smarter than you.”
“So, it would seem.” Jo nodded slowly as if agreeing with him. “How did you first come into contact with Laney Prescott?”
“I didn’t lie to the federal officer during my interview.” Rourke wet his lips as if he enjoyed reliving the moment. “I told her that Laney Prescott had contacted me for a home security system. I just left out the bit where I’d already gone to see her. She is one of these women that leaves a set of spare keys in a dish by the front door. I pocketed them as I walked around explaining where she needed to put her CCTV cameras. I had free access to her home anytime I wanted it.”
“You left the note on her pillow using Ellie McBride’s lipstick, didn’t you?” Jo’s lips turned up at the corners. “Were you trying to deflect the blame onto Ellie for murdering Laney?”
“Nope.” Rourke barked a laugh. “Do you figure that anyone would believe that a schoolteacher murdered Laney Prescott? You are crazier than me. It was a trophy. I had it in my pocket at the time, is all. The thrill of chasing Laney through the house and then strangling her made me forget where I’d left it. Can I have it back?”
Jenna glanced at Jo. She wanted to wind up the interview, but Jo had one more question.
“Laney Prescott was a social worker.” Jo uncrossed her legs and stared at him. “She helped people. What possible motive could you have for killing her?”
“If you’d ever been trapped in foster care, you’d know the answer to that question.” Rourke turned his head away, disgust plastered across his face. “Do you know how many kids I’ve seen, who went to court on the hope they would get back with their parents and end up back in foster care because a social worker had given them a bad report. They don’t care about the kids or their families. All they care about is keeping them apart. The world would be a better place without them. I’ll make it my life’s work, to take every one of them out.”
“Oh, I figure that’s enough for today.” Sam Cross glared at his client.
“Can you get me out of here?” Rourke shot him a glance. “I need to feed my dog.”
A dog?Jenna stared at Rourke and then looked at Cross. “One of my deputies has connections with Animal Rescue. I can send him to collect him.” She looked at Rourke. She needed one last bit of information. “Can you describe your dog, and what’s his name?”
“He’s a black-and-white mixed breed.” Rourke grinned. “He’s a big mean SOB and goes for the throat just like me. I call him Satan.”
That was another nail in the coffin for Rourke. Thank the Lord they had taken this man off the streets. Jenna ignored him. “The interview concluded at twelve forty-five.” She stood. “If you have finished with your client. We have a van ready to transport him to County, once he has signed a transcript of the interview. I will be handing all the information over to the DA and he will take it from there. You will be able to visit your client again in the morning once an arrest warrant has been issued.”
