Already Dead (Laura Frost FBI)

He struggled. “I… Probably eight, or nine. I don’t remember.”

“Not late enough,” Laura said. She was watching him closely. Something about his reaction, once again, struck her as not quite right. He was acting like he was on the back foot. Like he hadn’t expected to be asked about this topic at all. He’d been all gung-ho and ready to defend himself – but not on this. It had thrown him for a loop. He was distracted. His eyes darted in all directions, and Laura noticed him wiping the palm of his hand discretely on his knee. He was sweating.

So, if he’d been expecting them to come and interrogate him on something else, what was it?

“Have you ever eaten at the Fresh Catch diner?” Agent Won asked, picking up the thread of the murders while Laura tried to get a handle on what Noran was hiding.

“Yes,” he said. He was stammering slightly, casting nervous glances around. “Of course I have. Everyone has. It’s one of the only local options.”

“And have you ever ordered something or sat in at the Rise and Shine café?”

“Of course, I have!”

“How about getting gas at the gas station on Ocean View Boulevard?”

“Well – I mean – it’s right on my way to work!”

Agent Won looked at Laura expectantly. She could see it in him: that eagerness, as always. He was waiting for her to arrest the guy, or at least give him permission to do so. But he was making a mistake. Laura could see there was something else going on here, something that Michael Noran didn’t want them to find out about.

Laura got up, noticing how he practically jumped out of his seat when she did so. Like he was scared of something. Scared of what?

What didn’t he want her to see or know?

“You mentioned your wife,” Laura said. “Is she home at the moment?”

“No,” Noran said, watching her hawklike, his gaze only briefly straying back to Agent Won as if he was trying to keep an eye on what they were both doing. His anxiety levels seemed to have shot up the moment she stood. “No, she’s out at the store.”

“Getting what?” Laura asked. She took a step experimentally to the side, saw sweat break out on Noran’s brow, and took another.

“I… some supplies,” Noran said. “You know, food and stuff. Where are you going?”

Laura had moved forward enough to see just down the hall into a part of the house they hadn’t yet been shown. And what she saw made her want to smile, because now she knew she had him.

“I think the more accurate question is, where are you going?” she asked. “Since you have your suitcases already packed, I mean.”

Noran went pale. “I’m going on vacation,” he said. “There’s no law against that.”

“Vacation?” Laura repeated. “I haven’t been on a vacation in months. Where are you headed?” She kept her tone conversational, even though she knew – and she knew that Noran knew – there was far more of a dangerous subtext to her question.

“Just for a quick trip,” he said.

“You know that we can track travel records,” Laura said, giving him an even look.

Noran quailed at that, looking away. “We’re spending two weeks in Cancun.”

“Two weeks,” Laura said, whistling. “You ever had a two-week vacation, Agent Won?”

“Not since I was a kid,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “We used to go back to Korea to visit my grandparents for a few weeks at a time.”

“You were staying with family, though. That would have saved a lot.” Laura looked at Noran. “Bet you’re not staying with family, are you, Michael?”

“No,” he said, sounding like it was the last thing in the world he wanted to admit.

“Must have cost you a pretty penny, then,” Laura said. “Something in the region of, oh, say, an insurance payout?”

“It’s not costing us all of it,” Noran snapped. “I’m not that frivolous.”

“Interesting,” Laura said. “Agent Won, do you recall Mr. Noran here telling us that he didn’t get enough of an insurance payout to restart his business?”

“I do,” Agent Won nodded, playing along eagerly.

“And yet, he can afford a vacation,” Laura said. “It’s almost as if he’s desperate to get out of the country for some reason. Mexico, didn’t you say?”

Noran swallowed. “It’s just a vacation,” he said. “After the stress of the store burning down, we wanted to get away.”

“Is that what happened?” Laura said. She put her hands on her hips, leaning towards him, unleashing a more menacing tone. “Or did you realize the FBI were getting closer to your trail and decided to book a vacation out of here so you would be able to disappear once you’re over the border?”

“N-no!” Noran burst out, his face paler than ever and his eyes wide. “It’s just a vacation, I swear!”

“Should I arrest him now?” Agent Won asked, clearly too excited about the prospect to play it cool any longer. “Or do you want the honors?”

“Oh, I think I’ll take them,” Laura said, because she wasn’t actually ready to arrest him yet. She wanted to play for time. For stress. Make Noran realize just how much trouble he was in, how much more he was going to be in if this wasn’t stopped.

She had a feeling. She just needed him to confirm it himself.

“Please!” Noran said, holding up his hands in the universal gesture of innocence. “I didn’t do anything to those girls – I didn’t!”

“That’s not what your face tells me, Michael,” Laura said, taking out her handcuffs and holding them in front of herself like she was getting ready to snap them on him. “Your face tells me you’re as guilty as sin.”

“Not of this!” Noran said, sweating and breathing hard. He was sitting back in his chair, like the harder he sat down the less capable they would be of dragging him out of there, as if it would make a difference. “I didn’t! I didn’t hurt anyone! It was just… it was just a little fire!”

“Just a little fire,” Laura repeated, narrowing her eyes at him. “What was, Michael?”

“The… the store,” he said, beginning to wail. “I burned it down. I did. I admit it. I just wanted the insurance payout so I could retire and take my wife on vacation. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. No one did! It was just a harmless stunt, that’s all, just something to get us out of the retail business – I didn’t mean any harm by it!”

Laura took a breath, sighing it out. And there it was. The admission. She knew that he was telling the truth. She’d sensed it as soon as she’d spotted the parts of his story that didn’t add up. The fact that he’d had an insurance payout and yet didn’t want to try to rebuild his so-called dream, the over-rehearsed lines.

He was a criminal, yes. A fraud. But he wasn’t a killer.

Which, while it did solve a crime, also left them right back at square one. No suspect. No lead they could follow.

And no idea how to stop the killer from striking again.