Page 58 of Girl, Entangled

‘Mia. Get here,’ she breathed. ‘Sidewinder Avenue, Takoma Park. Now.’

‘Why? What’s there?’

‘Curtis Brennan’s severed head.’

Ella fell back two steps, and suddenly sensed that she was sharing the airspace with another body. She brought the phone away from her ear just in time to hear someone behind her.

‘Whoa, excuse me. Who are you?’

She spun around and pulled her gun. Standing in front of her was a fifty-something man with round spectacles and frizzy hair. He was wearing a long grey coat and had a briefcase dangling from one hand.

‘Don’t shoot!’ he screamed. ‘I didn’t do anything!’

‘Hands where I can see them.’

The man obliged, still holding his briefcase. ‘What’s going on?’ he stammered.

Ella zoned in on him. ‘Are you Reuben Hoy?’

‘Yes, I am. And you are?’

‘Agent Dark. FBI.’ She gestured to the bleeding parcel. ‘Do you have any idea what this is?’

Hoy squinted at the mess on his porch, frowned and shook his head. ‘No I don’t. I was expecting some parcels today, but nothing that size. What is it?’

He might not be her killer, but given that the killer had been here today, there was every chance that Reuben Hoy knew who he was. Ella lowered her gun a fraction. ‘Mr. Hoy, please come inside the house. I need to know how a severed head ended up on your doorstep.’

Hoy balked, and he went pale white.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Reuben Hoy’s size alone cleared him of any suspicion, because he was around five-eight on a good day. Ella also thought it unlikely that a murderer would leave severed body parts on their own doorstep.

‘This is all so strange,’ Hoy said from his seat in his living room. Ella had opted to stand and guard the only exit out of the room. She’d waited for backup, and now two officers were guarding Curtis Brennan’s head on Hoy’s porch. Upon closer inspection, Ella had found the head was wrapped in newspaper and the blood had leaked through.

‘You think?’

‘I mean, I saw some strange things in my lawyer days, but I’ve never had a head delivered to my front door. Do you have any idea who might have done this?’

‘Not have done this,’ Ella said. ‘Doing this. It’s still ongoing. We’ll get to that, but first tell me some things. Why aren’t you a lawyer anymore?’

Hoy laughed, or did the closest thing to it given the circumstances. ‘Too stressful for too little reward. To be a lawyer, you need to really love the game. I tried, but I didn’t love it enough, so now I work in HR.’

‘Quite the change.’

‘Not really. It’s the same kind of crap. Less pay, but I can live with that.’

‘What was your last case you worked on? And when was it?’

‘Domestic violence. Three years ago now. And no, I don’t miss it.’

Ella thought how best to bring up the current happenings. She didn’t just want to blurt out the relevant names. Never lead the witness. If they arrived at the same conclusion as you without prompt, it validated your theories.

‘That decapitated head on your doorstep belongs to a man named Curtis Brennan. Do you recognize that name?’

‘Yes, I do, and I figured as much as soon as you said the words severed head outside. I read the news. I saw images from the video. I didn’t know Curtis Brennan as such, but I interacted with him on two occasions. Once outside a courtroom where he asked me questions about a case, another time when he emailed me for an interview. But this was – God – four years ago now.’

Ella guessed which case it was. But she didn’t get to the name yet. ‘I’m not sure if you’ve heard the rumors, but there’ve been other murders too.’