“Dylan won’t have a problem with control,” Rachel said, her voice coming out sharp.
Noelle bit her lower lip. “I’m not so sure about that.”
Rachel took a moment to study Dylan. His face was completely expressionless and his eyes showed no emotion. “I’m sure of him,” Rachel said.
She was. If she hadn’t been, then Rachel never would’ve walked back into the EOD.
Tension drew her shoulders tight. Rachel exhaled slowly and said, “So what’s the plan? I just go in there? Question him?” She knew how to handle a normal prisoner interrogation, but this wasn’t exactly a normal situation.
“I think he’ll do the talking.” Noelle’s focus appeared to be on Jack. “At first, anyway. You need to break through the facade he has. Get to the real man underneath.”
“You mean the killer inside.”
Noelle nodded. “I’d...I’d ask about his father.”
Rachel’s brows climbed even as her stomach knotted. She had a feeling about where this might be headed.
“An accidental death on the guy’s birthday.” Noelle rocked back on her heels. “That could be quite a present to a psychopath.”
“Is that what you think he is?” Dylan asked, a bite to his words. “You’re going to give him a label so that what he’s done makes more sense?”
Noelle’s eyelids flickered. “Kenneth Cross is very unusual. I haven’t come across another killer like him before.”
“Well, then I guess this will be a learning experience for us all,” Rachel said. Time to do this. She wasn’t going to cower in the room any longer. And—and Kenneth was staring straight through the glass, a faint smile tipping up the corners of his lips. As if he knew that she was there.
The door opened behind Noelle. Mercer stepped inside. “Are we ready?”
As ready as Rachel could get. She headed out first, brushing by Mercer. Two other guards were outside Kenneth’s interrogation room. She would’ve thought that was overkill, but she knew how the guy worked.
One of the guards opened the door for her. Rachel took a steadying breath, tried to wipe the emotion from her face, then entered that small room.
He stood, or at least Kenneth stood as much as the restraints would allow him to do so. “Ah, Rachel...I knew you’d come to me.”
Dylan shut the door behind them. “We’re both here.”
Kenneth’s face tightened. “You, I could have done without.” His eyes stayed on Rachel’s face. “Do you feel better today? I’m sorry for what I had to do, but you deserved it, you know. You shouldn’t have pushed us into the water.”
There were two chairs across from Kenneth. Rachel didn’t sit, not yet.
Neither did Dylan. Dylan did walk to the side, though, and he propped his back up against the wall as he stared at Kenneth.
“What you had to do?” Rachel let her brows climb. “You mean drugging me, kidnapping me—”
“Oh, no.” Kenneth shook his head. “I mean when I had to wrap the rope around your feet to keep you under the water.”
Her skin iced.
“We hit the water together, don’t you remember?” Kenneth asked her, a faint frown pulling his brows low. “I was angry at you, sweetheart, so angry, so when I felt the rope, I had to use it. I pulled on it, and when it didn’t give, I knew it had to be twisted beneath some old pilings or even an anchor.”
“And you tied it around me.” She could almost see the image—memory?—now.
He shrugged. “I was going to come back for you, but Agent Foxx over there delayed me.”
Her gaze jumped to Dylan. His face still held no expression, but his eyes blazed.
“She nearly died,” Dylan snapped.
“Actually...” Kenneth eased back into his seat. “I think she did die for a minute there. I mean, that’s why you had to do the whole mouth-to-mouth scene, wasn’t it?” His head tilted as he regarded Rachel with curiosity. “What was that like? Did you see the big, white light that people talk about?”