CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Faith walked into the interrogation room and set a paper bag on the table in front of Kenneth Still, forty-two, resident of many places throughout his life, most recently Quantico, long-time petty criminal and recently spree killer known—thanks to Amanda Wright’s exclusive news update—as the Buzzkiller for killing people who were happy and “ruining their joy.”
Faith hated that name with a passion and made a point to mention that she found it despicable that the news media insisted on attaching comic book names to their killers.Amanda was pissy about that and launched into a thinly concealed rant about how she had risked her own life to help catch him, but Faith didn’t give a shit.
She didn’t push the issue either.The sad truth is that the general citizenry loved those comic book villain names as much as the media did.They’d whisper excitedly to their friends about the Buzzkiller and how he had lurked in the trees to snatch unsuspecting people up.The legend would grow until the next big sensation hit the news.
Kenneth looked at the paper bag and lifted his eyes to Faith.“This for me?”
“Breakfast burrito,” Faith explained.“I know it’s dinner time, but that’s their best burrito.”
He pulled the burrito out warily and opened it.He blinked in surprise when he found it actually was a burrito and not some sort of bomb.“Why are you being so nice to me?”
Faith smiled coldly.“I said I’d brought you a burrito while we talked.That’s your burrito.Now we’re gonna talk.”
He looked at her.“Why?”
“Because…” she chuckled mirthlessly.“I guess I still don’t get it.I’ve been catching killers for a long time.Sometimes the killers have understandable motives.Notgoodmotives, but at least something I can wrap my head around.Someone gets screwed over by business partners or jilted by lovers, and they take it out in the most immature way possible.Other times, the killers are just evil.Straight up rotten.They kill because they find it fun.Because they can.But every now and then, I run into a special case like you.Someone who ends innocent people’s lives because they’re angry about something that has nothing to do with anyone else at all.
“None of those people hurt you, Kenneth.None of them did anything at all to you.You killed them because they were happy, and it pissed you off that you weren’t.You didn’t work on yourself.You didn’t try to find something that could make you happy.You just killed other people for daring to enjoy their lives.I don’t get it.”
He searched her face for a moment.“That’s why you came here to talk?You don’t want a confession or something?”
“Oh, we have more than enough evidence to convict,” Faith said.“That gun had a ceramic bullet in it, something no civilian gun is allowed to have.I looked it up, and would you believe you’re the only person in U.S.history to kill someone with a completely ceramic bullet?Pretty sure that will sway the jury if the matching boot prints and the club in your truck with bits of Luna’s and Beau’s fur still on it aren’t enough.”
Kenneth shrugged.“Fair enough.I figured I was gonna go down.And I guess I already confessed sort of when you tricked me at the park.I just think it’s funny.”
Faith’s eyes narrowed.“What do you think is funny?”
He chuckled.“I mean… What do you expect me to say?I killed them because they were happy, and it wasn’t fair that I wasn’t.There’s no hidden meaning to that.There’s no secret obsession with hurting people.I’m not pissed off because women don’t like me, or I can’t hold down a job.I mean, it sucks that I can’t hold down a job because if I could just afford to pay rent and eat food, I guess I would be happy enough not to be so angry.So maybe that has something to do with it.”
“And now you’re going to spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.Any chance you had of making something of yourself is gone.”
Kenneth laughed."Chance?What chance.I had no chance.And prison?That's a roof over my head and three hot meals a day.That's more than I would have had otherwise.
“I don’t know if you’re looking for some kind of remorse or guilt or something, but you won’t find it.I don’t feel bad about what I did.If you need to feel better, maybe loop me in with those assholes who killed just because they could.I was pissed off, and it made me even more pissed off to see everyone smiling and carrying on like nothing bad ever happened.I just stopped a little of that.Made me feel good for an hour or two.”
He took a bite of his burrito and watched Faith.His eyes dared her to do something, maybe hit him, maybe yell at him, maybe just watch him angrily.
Faith got to her feet and walked out instead.As usual, that interview had been completely unsatisfying.She had confirmed that Kenneth Still was a loser.Whoop-de-do.
Turk, Jessica, and Meyers met her in the breakroom.Turk trotted over to her and barked irritably.He was getting sick of being left behind while Faith left to do stuff.She reached down and scratched him behind his ear.“All right, boy.That’s over.We can go home now.”
Jessica gave her a sympathetic look.“How’d it go?”
Faith shrugged.“The way I should have expected it to go.He’s unrepentant, and he thinks it’s funny that I expected him to reveal some deep dark secret.”
Meyers nodded.“That’s the way most killers are.Maybe you guys are used to the crazy variety that hear voices telling them what to do, but most killers aren’t disturbed emotional outliers.They’re just weak losers who can’t figure out another way to handle their lives but killing people.”
He sighed and scratched the top of his head, then gave the agents a sad smile.“Well, I guess this is goodbye.I’m sure I’ll see you around on account of you both live here.”
“I live in D.C.,” Jessica said, “but I visit Faith a lot, so you’ll see me.”
“Sounds good,” Meyers said.He shook both of their hands.“Thank you for helping me out.I really appreciate it.I don’t know how I would have gotten this done without you.”
“It was our pleasure,” Faith said.Which was a lie, but it was the polite thing to say, and pleasant or not, it was Faith’s idea to get involved.
The two FBI agents left the station and headed to Jessica’s car.She was going to head back to D.C.Faith had offered to have her over for dinner so she wasn’t stuck in rush-hour traffic, but Jessica had declined, saying she needed to get home and get a full night’s sleep as soon as possible.Faith thought she probably wanted a break from her partner.
