Page 46 of Girl, Remembered

‘Wait,’ Luca said before he could stop himself. This might be the most foolish thing he’d done this week, more foolish than arriving to a sit-around-and-do-nothing job without a book. He might only have one chance to get Creed to cooperate, and going into such a situation without sufficient ammunition was, again, a stupid thing to do.

Luca had complained, more than once, about the Bureau not challenging him.

Well, if he wanted a challenge, it was right there in front of him.

‘Denton, please get Creed to the interview room.’

The guard, for some reason, seemed taken aback by the request, as though he was privy to the uncertainties running around Luca’s head.

‘Sure? You might only get one shot at this before he clams up. We told him he might be needed for an interview he started being a pain in the ass.’

‘Get him. ASAP.’

Denton gave a thumbs up. ‘You got it. Sit tight.’

The guard disappeared and left Luca in the waiting room.

This was it.

Time to bring the psychologist out of retirement and maybe, just maybe, figure something out that Ella couldn’t.

***

On the way to the D.C. Jail, it occurred to Ella, for the very first time, that Terrance Dever had never once spent face-to-face time with Tracy Doyle.

They’d had the woman in custody for almost two weeks, and yet Dever had only ever regarded her from behind one-way glass. That reason was now apparent, but this time, Ella was going to put the two old friends in the same room for the first time in thirty years.

‘Ella, Tracy probably won’t even remember me. Would you remember someone from three decades ago?’

‘Yes.’

And it had nothing to do with her freak memory. If someone had an impact on your life, short of dementia you’d still remember them a hundred years later.

‘Come on. Don’t try and simplify it.’

‘We’re going to try anyway.’

Ella drifted through security and parked near the entrance. She had to open Dever’s door and coax him out of the car. He obliged eventually, and Ella had to think that Dever was currently in the predicament that many of her perpetrators had found themselves in. The game was up, and delaying the inevitable was just going to make the inevitable worse. Unless Vernon knew about Dever’s history with Doyle, and she was sure he didn’t, then Ella didn’t see how Vernon could remain with the FBI after this. She was sure he’d land a position elsewhere, so if this was their last hurrah together, Ella was about to aim the ticking time bomb that was Dever’s FBI tenure right at Doyle’s black heart.

Ella held out her badge as she dragged Dever through the front doors. The receptionist awarded them entry with a mere glance, as no doubt the poor woman had grown tired of seeing FBI badges by now. Before passing through the first security door, Ella shouted, ‘The warden. I need him.’

‘Let me call him. Just wait on the other side and Officer Ferry will be with you.’

Ella prayed his arrival would be swift, because spending time with regular Dever was bad enough, but this was a new version of Dever. The more he talked, the more problems arose. She could deal with him being a fumbling brown-noser, but she couldn’t deal with him withholding information about a serial killer.

The next security door opened and tonight’s warden appeared in the gap. Ella recognized him from her last visit, and he seemed exactly as excited as Ella had expected him to be at the prospect of a sudden intrusion from the feds.

‘Ah, yes. Miss Dark, again. This is becoming something of a regular occurrence.’

Ella ignored the jab. Prison wardens weren’t known for their patience. ‘I’m sorry to drop this on you so abruptly, Mr. Ferry, but we need to see Tracy Doyle.’

‘Why?’

That was indeed the question. Why?

Ella’s train of thought, as rickety as the tracks were, was that putting Dever and Doyle in the same room might unearth a long-buried emotion in Doyle and convince her to reveal the location of her sister’s hideout. It was a lot to ask, especially of a woman who hadn’t said a single word since her capture.

‘It’s urgent. She might have some information that’ll help lead to an arrest.’