“Unless she’s got an ankle holster we can’t see, I doubt it,” Jessie told him.“There’s nowhere to hide anything on that outfit and her purse is too small to hold a gun or a knife.It can barely hold her makeup and ID.”
Webb looked conflicted.
“Better decide quick, Special Agent,” Jessie said, using his title to needle him into action.“She’s almost to the porch.We’ve got about ten seconds before she gets to that front door.”
That seemed to seal it for him.
“All teams go,” he said forcefully.
The agent in the passenger seat relayed his instructions, ordering all units to converge on the suspect.Immediately, the SUV and the two sedans peeled out.Both sedans pulled into the driveway behind Sullivan’s car.The SUV that Jessie was in didn’t bother with that, instead hopping the curb and driving over the front lawn.It stopped ten feet from the porch, which Sullivan was now standing on, looking at them with her mouth agape.
“Don’t move!”the SUV passenger seat agent barked through the open window, even before he’d thrown the door open.Sullivan, her eyes wide with terror, held still.Jessie and Webb waited as four agents kept weapons trained on the woman while another took her phone and purse.The sixth agent, who was female, patted her down.Jessie tried to gauge if Sullivan’s fear was due to finally being caught or because she had no clue what this about.
“Clear,” the female agent barked, once her pat down was complete.
“Purse is okay,” said the agent rifling through the thing.
Something about watching a stranger pick through her stuff must have snapped Sullivan out of it, because it was then that she finally spoke.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Rebecca Sullivan,” Webb said getting out of the car, as he held out his ID, “I’m Special Agent Webb with the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation.We are investigating a series of murders and your name came up.”
Jessie thought that was an awfully casual way to describe it but kept quiet.
“My name came up?”she repeated in disbelief.
“We’re going to read you your rights,” Webb told her.“After that, we intend to ask you some questions.”
Jessie didn’t love this approach.If Sullivan was their killer, it probably didn’t matter.But if she wasn’t and invoked her right to counsel, they might lose valuable time getting to the truth.They needed her to be amenable to answering questions.So, as the SUV passenger seat agent was about to Mirandize Sullivan, Jessie stepped forward, reminding herself to proceed as if the woman wasn’t involved, and held up her hand for him to wait.
“Ms.Sullivan,” she said as reassuringly as she could under the circumstances, “I get that this is a scary situation.You have no idea why there’s an army of agents on your lawn.But I promise you that once we get the preliminaries out of the way, we can explain what’s going on and you can clear things up.Does that sound okay?”
“Who are you?”Sullivan demanded.
“My name’s Jessie,” she said warmly.“I’m helping with the investigation, trying to get to the bottom of things.I may be able to help you, but we have to follow the official rules first.”
She nodded at the agent that he could proceed.He read her rights, concluding with the line, “with those rights in mind, are you willing to speak with us?”
Realizing this was the most crucial moment, Jessie jumped in before Sullivan could answer.“This is the part where we can hopefully clear everything up.But in order to do that, you have to officially consent to questioning.Do you?”
Sullivan looked at the array of suited agents before returning her gaze to Jessie.“I consent to talk toyou,” she said pointedly, “and only you.”
“Okay, thanks,” Jessie replied before anyone could object.“That’s totally fine.But Special Agent Webb is in charge of the case so he’s going to be here too, okay?”
Sullvan nodded reluctantly.Jessie hoped Webb didn’t press the issue.Of course he wasn’t going to agree not to ask any questions at all, but it would be easier to let him join in once some kind of rapport had been established.
“You guys can stand down,” she told the other agents.
“You don’t want to cuff her?”one of them asked.
“I think we’re good for right now,” Jessie said, looking at Sullivan.“We’re good, right?”
The woman nodded vigorously.
“Okay, Ms.Sullivan,” she said gently, “I told you we’d explain things before asking you any questions, so here goes.There have been a series of murders over the last three days, including two earlier today.We’re here now because of a connection you have to the case.”
“What connection?”
