Already Dead (Laura Frost FBI)

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Laura rubbed her forehead, flipping through the pages of the file she’d prepared while  Pastor Williams was waiting in the interview room. His record was predictably blank. She had crime scene photographs from the three dead women, designed to shock and awe him into confessing – or at least confront him with what he had done. There was very little else she could take into the room with her.

When interviewing a suspect, Laura always liked to be armed. To have something to put in front of them, facts to read off. It was a good way to corner them, to make them give in or at least make an accidental mistake. But with this case, she had hardly anything to go on. She picked up a few blank sheets of paper to pad out the file, just to make it look as though she had more than she did.

“You wouldn’t have thought it to look at him, would you?” one of the local police officers – Mandy, Laura reminded herself – was saying as she walked by, deep in conversation with one of the men. Not Detective Waters – another one. Laura struggled to place him, but she had no idea what his name was. “All of that going on under the surface. I didn’t even know he was accused of anything before.”

That caught Laura’s ear. “Excuse me,” she said, holding out a hand to stop the two from passing her. “You’re talking about  Pastor Williams?”

Mandy nodded. “Yes, we just can’t believe it.”

“What was he accused of before?” Laura asked. “There’s nothing on his record at all.”

“Oh, I think it was informal,” Mandy said, glancing at her colleague for confirmation.

He nodded. “Nothing was ever brought to us, but I heard it was taken to the church. To his superiors. There were a few local women who said he was a bit… you know. Inappropriate.”

“Inappropriate, how?” Laura asked. She needed specifics, not vagaries.

“I’m not sure exactly,” the male police officer said, shifting from foot to foot. “I just heard it was all hushed up.”

“Well, who did you hear it from?” Laura asked, growing increasingly impatient. Were these rumors anything more than rumors? She needed something more concrete if she was actually going to use it.

He cast around, looking for someone else. “I think it was Frank who heard it first. He must be out with your Agent Won. He said the guy is into some really kinky stuff, too – like having hot wax dripped on him.”

“Agent Won?” Mandy frowned, her expression one of total surprise and perhaps a little disgust.

“No,  Pastor Williams,” the man said. “He likes it when they use the church candles, apparently.”

“And no one thought to mention this while we were looking for a murderer who left candles burning on his young, female victims?” Laura said, unable to stop the snap in her voice.

“Well,” he said, looking a little taken aback. “I mean, Frank did mention it in passing.”

Laura sighed and shook her head. “Evidence? Names, witnesses? Anything I can actually use?”

“You’d have to ask Frank,” he said, shifting again, actually taking a step back.

“Great,” Laura muttered, brushing past the two of them on her way to the interview room. It was all just hearsay, by the sound of things. They couldn’t use hearsay. It wasn’t helpful. At least she could bring it up as a way to get  Pastor Williams to talk, but she’d hoped for a lot more than that.

She needed something that would help her to pin all of this on him and get him to confess, so that she knew she had the right man and could rest easy. So she could go home. Deal with Nate. Get ready for Lacey. Be there for Chris and Amy. Anything but having to watch the clock and wonder if another girl was already dead.

She walked into the room and put the file down on the table, taking a seat in the simple metal chair which she had grown to know as extremely uncomfortable. The only comfort in the matter was knowing that it was just as uncomfortable for the suspect – who, in this case, had chosen not to invite a lawyer along after all, and was sitting calmly with his hands folded in front of him.

“Agent Frost,” he said affably. “Are we to begin our conversation now?”

“We are,” she said, resting her hands on top of the folder and looking at him. “ Pastor Williams, I’d like to ask you again whether anyone can confirm your whereabouts yesterday evening – or the evenings of the Saturday and Thursday just past.”

“I’m afraid there’s no one,”  Pastor Williams said regretfully. “I was at the church, on my own. I have only God as my witness.”

Laura took a breath, holding herself back from making some crack about Him not being able to take the stand. “There have been some disturbing accusations against you here in Pacific Cove,” she said, wanting to lead with the angle of what she had just heard.

Now, for once,  Pastor Williams blinked. “There have?”

“Yes,” Laura said. She opened the file to one of the blank pages, tilting it towards herself as though she was reading. She wished she didn’t have to use this tactic, because she didn’t believe in following mere rumors. Yes, there was sometimes truth in them – but most of the time, they just hurt people and damaged communities. Still, with so much at stake, she couldn’t leave anything off the table. “Inappropriate conduct towards your female parishioners, for one thing.”

Pastor Williams frowned, though it wasn’t quite as severe an expression as it might have looked on someone else. Given the lack of wrinkles on his youthful skin, in comparison to the gray in his hair, Laura couldn’t help but imagine this was a man who frowned on very few occasions. “I haven’t ever been accused of anything of that sort,” he said. “At least, not that was ever brought to my attention.”

“That’s not the only thing a background check picked up,” Laura said. “This is more of a rumor, but I understand that you enjoy the use of candles.”

“I told you about that in the church,”  Pastor Williams said, with a half-chuckle. “I do believe they help to purify the soul. There’s something about sending a prayer up to God and lighting that flame that gives a soul rest.”

“I mean a little more than that,” Laura said. She looked him right in the eye. “These women tell it that you enjoy having hot wax dripped onto your flesh. Is that the case,  Pastor?”

Now he looked downright horrified for a moment – and then it lapsed into amusement. “That’s certainly an original rumor,” he said. “Unfortunately, there’s no basis in truth to it. In fact, when I do accidentally get hot wax on myself as I tend to the memorial candles, I usually end up swearing. A vice which I must then apologize most profusely for to my Lord and Savior.”

“I see,” Laura said, though she kept her tone neutral. Better to let him wonder whether she believed him or not than to make it too obvious. “How do you think these rumors came to be?”

Pastor Williams gave her a benign smile, as though he was about to impart some common wisdom to a young parishioner who didn’t have enough life experience yet. “In a small town like this, rumors are currency,” he said. “I’m sure there are things said about most of the people who live here. As a  Pastor, I’m more of a target than most. But there’s no harm in it. Idle gossip never amounts to much.”

“ Pastor,” Laura said, shifting and sitting more upright. “I’d like for us to stop wasting time. Tell me what you did to these women, and let’s get them some peace. They can’t rest properly until their murders are solved. Let’s do that for them.”

“I would love to help you with that,”  Pastor Williams replied calmly. There was no inflection in his voice, no hint that he had any worry or fear. “But I’m afraid I can’t. I don’t know who was responsible for these reprehensible crimes. I can only tell you that I was not involved.”

Laura looked at him then, measuring. He was unflappable. There were only ever two reasons why someone was unflappable.

Because they were a sociopath and absolutely convinced there was no chance that they were going to get caught, or because they were innocent and knew they would be proved as such in due course.

Whichever option it was, Laura could tell already that there was no way she was going to get anything more out of him unless she had something real to bring to the table. The lack of alibi, the connection to the women, the connection to candles – it all fit. And yet, it was circumstantial. Not enough to even really consider arresting him over. A good lawyer, if he’d bothered to call one, would have him out of here within the hour.

“I’m going to discuss this with my colleagues a little further,” Laura said, getting up. “I want you to really consider the implications of a confession. I know you’re aware of how they can unburden the soul – and in this case, it could also get you a much reduced sentence. Do consider that, and if you decide you’re ready while I’m out, all you have to do is let the officer posted at the door know.”

She left him with those words in his head, just in case she was wrong, and he really was the killer. And she left, returning to the rest of the local police department in their one small room.

“I need everyone to stay alert,” she announced to the room as a whole. “Until or unless we get a confession from  Pastor Williams, we need to assume the killer is still at large. No one lets their guard down. Got that?”