Part 22 (2/2)
On the surface, Barnett appeared to be an all-around good guy. Arrogant, but a longtime advocate of things he cared about. What turned a guy like this into a serial killer?
Andie Swann walked into the office. ”Car's clean. No way he drove that out to Brooklyn on Sat.u.r.day, not with the weather. The interior is immaculate, no water damage, nothing to indicate that he's used it recently. I asked security to prepare the logs for every time he took the car out from October first through today, and one of my team is vacuuming for trace, but I don't expect anything.”
Andie asked the computer tech, ”When are you going to be done in here?”
”He recently wiped histories and deleted a bunch of files, but it's a surface job. I can put it all back together at the office. It'll take me thirty minutes to label, log, and box everything up.”
Suzanne hoped the computer yielded hard evidence because there was no way any more serious charges would stick to Barnett just because he'd lied about knowing the victims. DNA or finding the victims' shoes would be ideal. Even if she could prove that he was at all four parties and knew all four victims, she wouldn't be able to get the U.S. Attorney to bite unless there was physical evidence tying him to at least one of the murders.
One of Andie's people stepped into the office. ”We found this letter in the nightstand drawer of the main bedroom,” he said to Suzanne and Andie. The letter had been sealed in a plastic bag and tagged.
The tech continued. ”There was a stack of writing paper. We also bagged it because of impressions on the bottom sheets. We might be able to get something from those. This was at the bottom of the pile, and folded.”
”Thanks.” Suzanne took the undated letter. It had an angled crease and was only partially written. Suzanne often did that when she was writing to her eighty-nine-year-old grandmother, who refused to get a computer, if she misspelled a word or decided not to tell her something. She'd written Gram her first year of college and received the letter back, her grammar and misspellings corrected, a week later.
Dear Alanna, I'm a jerk. My brother says I don't know a good thing when I have it, and he's right. You were my good thing and I blew it. I miss you.
I'd love to promise I won't screw up again, but I know I will. And you don't deserve that. I'd say I can't help myself, but we both know it's not true. I'm too selfish to make a commitment.
But it hurts when I see you, and so I'm trying to avoid The last incomplete sentence was scribbled out, but Suzanne could easily read it.
”Who writes letters anymore?” Andie asked.
Suzanne didn't want to admit that she thought it was sweet-not the apology for the fact that Barnett obviously did something unforgivable to Alanna-before he killed her-but that in this day and age, a handwritten letter seemed more sincere than sending an email or text message.
Another tech looked through the doorway. ”Suzanne, there's a guy here says he's Barnett's brother.”
”I'll talk to him,” she said and walked out.
The young man-hardly older than a teenager-stood just inside the door biting his thumbnail. His hair was too long in the front, partly covering his eyes, but overall he was a clean-cut kid.
”Mr. Barnett?” Suzanne said as she approached.
He looked startled, almost mousy, then nodded. ”Dennis Barnett.”
”Nice to meet you, Dennis. Do you live here with your brother?”
He shook his head. ”I live in Staten Island with my mother. But sometimes I stay with my brother. My other brother, Charlie.”
”Charlie? Is that CJ Barnett?”
Dennis nodded. ”He says CJ is his business name, but I still call him Charlie.” Dennis was mildly r.e.t.a.r.ded, Suzanne realized as she spoke to him, but didn't seem to be impaired. ”Is Wade in trouble?”
”Yes, he is. I'm sorry to have to tell you that.” She showed him her badge and ID. ”My name is Suzanne Madeaux. I'm a special agent with the FBI.”
He looked around. ”Where's Wade?”
”I'm sorry, Dennis, but he's in jail right now.”
Dennis's eyes widened. ”W-why?”
”Well, it's a bit complicated.” Suzanne didn't want to upset the kid; she felt sorry for him. She opted to start with the sanitized version. ”He lied to me, and it's a crime to lie to a federal law enforcement agent. Did you know that?”
He shook his head.
”I asked Wade if he knew some young women. I showed him their pictures. He told me he didn't, but then I found out that he knew them really well.”
”Wade knows a lot of girls.”
”Does he date a lot?”
”Oh, yes. He likes to have s.e.x.”
”With the same woman or different women?”
”Different. Sometimes he has a girlfriend, but he always screws it up.”
”Is that what he told you?”
”No. Charlie says that. Because Wade can't be man-ag-a-mis.”
”Do you mean monogamous? Meaning, staying faithful to one person?”
Dennis smiled. ”Yes. Monogamous.”
”Do you know any of his girlfriends?”
He shrugged. ”Some.”
”Like Alanna?”
He smiled. ”I liked Alanna.”
”She was nice?”
He said in a low voice, ”Some of Wade's girlfriends were mean to me. I know I'm not too smart. My mom says it's the way G.o.d made me and I'm perfect the way I am, but moms got to say that. But I don't think as fast as normal people. Wade didn't like it when his girlfriends said mean things, like I was too stupid to understand.”
”But Alanna didn't do that.”
”No, never! She even got mad at Wade once when I accidentally knocked over a statue he had over there”-he pointed to the credenza in the dining room-”and it broke into a million pieces and then he yelled at me. I cried, I was really sorry, and Alanna helped me pick up every single piece. And Wade said he was sorry. He never says sorry unless he really means it, so I know he meant it.”
Suzanne was having a hard time putting Wade Barnett as his younger brother described him into the role of a killer. But most killers weren't pure evil s...o...b..s. Maybe Wade put himself in the investigation spotlight because he wanted to be stopped. Maybe killing his ex-girlfriend was an accident, and he killed the others ... why? Or maybe she was off about the whole motive and the guy was just a psycho who was nice to his little brother.
”Why did Wade and Alanna break up?”
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