TWENTY-FIVE
Minutes later, Amanda and Trent were standing outside of the interrogation room. She was pacing.
“We’ve got to bring Josh in immediately,” she said and stormed down the hall to Malone’s office. Trent kept stride with her.
They found Malone’s door shut, but she could see through the glass that he was on the phone. He looked up and saw her, but when she cracked the door open, he stopped her by holding up his hand. A couple of words from his conversation filtered to her ears. “Not sure where that would leave things… I know. It could be a good thing.”
The discussion could have been about anything, but whatever it was, it was clearly none of her business. In all the years she’d reported to Malone, she never recalled him having her wait in the hall for him to finish up on a phone call. He was usually very much about transparency.
After a few minutes, Malone waved her and Trent in.
She didn’t bother to sit, even when he gestured for her to do so. “We have an incredible lead. The boyfriend.” She went on to inform him a pickup had been requested at Tipsy Moose Ale House in Woodbridge by the same name as Josh Ryder’s Snap VidPic handle. “This was the morning of the murder,” she added.
“Huh.” Malone twisted his lips, dropped his hand. “Could just be a coincidence? Someone else could be using that handle on the car service app. It doesn’t mean it was Josh Ryder.”
Amanda found it curious that Malone was knocking down their suspects one by one. She squinted at him, and he looked at Trent and raised his eyebrows.
“What else is this Chambers kid saying?”
“We asked him what he knows about black orchids, and he was clueless,” Trent told him.
“But he is still bitter toward Chloe for the path his life took.” Amanda filled him in on the past.
“The kid’s—what?—nineteen? He has his life ahead of him. Or did, if he conspired to kill Chloe Somner. Do you think Chambers and Ryder collaborated on her murder?”
“Not entirely certain yet. I’d like to hold Chambers for a while longer, though,” she said.
Malone tapped his chin, tugged on his short beard. “Given what you’ve told me, I’m not sure how we can justify that.”
“He has a history with the victim, and he dropped off the person who was likely her killer at the park. His car is on video, and he admits to being there. That’s not enough justification?” She was getting worked up, but she wanted to talk more with Josh Ryder and maybe even play him and Ashton off each other to see what shook loose.
“I’ll give you until the end of the day.” Malone shifted some papers and folders around on his desk. “If that’s all…?”
“Not exactly.” Now she sat down. “Josh Ryder is a resident of Fairfax. We’ll need to at least notify the local PD that we’re interested in one of their residents for the murder of Chloe Somner.”
“I’ll call the commander of their Criminal Investigations Division.”
“You know the commander?” Trent asked.
“I’m about to.” Malone laid his hands on top of the paperwork that awaited him and looked at them with the question That all? running on a ticker tape in his eyes.
Amanda stood and turned to Trent. “Let’s go.”
Her partner led the way out of the room, and she looked over a shoulder at Malone. He sure was acting strange lately.
They hit a drive-thru for a burger on the way to Fairfax and were in the administration office of Geoffrey Michaels University by twelve thirty. Malone had called Amanda during the drive to let her know the commander of the Criminal Investigations Division of the Fairfax PD was aware they were going to bring in one of their residents for questioning on a murder case. In addition, they had no interest in getting involved with the process. Perfection!
“We need to speak with one of your students, Josh Ryder,” Amanda said while holding her badge for the woman at the front desk.
She squinted as she read the engraving. “Prince William County PD? Aren’t you out of your jurisdiction?”
“We’d like to retrieve Josh Ryder from whatever class he may be in at the moment.” Amanda could have had him paged to the office but didn’t want to take the chance of spooking him and having him run. That’s assuming their visit the other day hadn’t already had him taking off.
The woman regarded her and Trent for a few seconds, and Amanda wasn’t sure she was going to cooperate, but she started typing on her keyboard. She proceeded to let them know he was currently on lunch break and where he’d be afterward.
They made their way through the numerous corridors and were outside the classroom with five minutes to spare before class would start. Still no sign of Josh Ryder, but other students were inside the room. Amanda flashed her badge to the teacher who was in there, a middle-aged man with a paunch. He agreed to let her and Trent wait in the room, out of sight of the door and the window in it. This way, they should see Josh before he saw them and it would prevent him from taking off with she and Trent none the wiser.
Each time the door opened and a student walked in, Amanda found herself holding her breath. Each time it wasn’t Josh was another twist to her gut. When it was time for class to begin and there was still no sign of Josh, she was certain he wasn’t coming. Still, they waited it out for ten minutes before quietly slipping from the room.
“He’s made a run for it,” Amanda said once they hit the hallway.
“Possibly. It’s certainly not looking good for him. We should visit our friend at the front desk again and see if he’s showed up for any of his classes this week.”
“Good idea.”
A few minutes later, they were standing across from the woman again.
“Detectives? Did you find him?”
Amanda shook her head. “Why we’re back. Are you able to see if Josh Ryder attended any of his classes this week?”
“I can, but I’m not sure if I should divulge that information.”
Amanda didn’t want to come out with the fact that Josh Ryder was a suspect in a murder investigation—just in case they were wrong. The repercussions of such an allegation on the innocent could be long-lasting and devastating. “I’m sure you’re aware one of the college’s students was murdered Monday morning. Josh Ryder knew her, and he may have important information for our investigation. That’s all I can say at this time, but if you could help us out here…”
The woman locked her gaze with Amanda’s. Eventually, she broke eye contact and clicked on her keyboard. “Attendance is taken at the beginning of each class and recorded by the professors electronically and in live-time. One minute…” More tapping away. “Ah, yeah, from the looks of it, Josh Ryder hasn’t been to class since last week.”
“Not one class this week? You’re sure?” They’d talked to him on Monday afternoon and had found him home. He’d said he had the flu, but he could have lied and been preparing to run then.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Thank you,” Amanda said over a shoulder, already on the move. “Trent, get us to his place faster than lightning.”
“I’ll do my best, but lightning… that’s pretty fast.” He smirked, and she appreciated the dose of joviality at a time when the entire case was blowing up. If Josh Ryder was the killer and in the wind, then what?