Part 32 (1/2)
”What about Jessica?”
”Who?”
Suzanne touched the photo. ”Her name is Jessica.”
He shook his head. ”Her name is Jenna.”
”She only pretended her name was Jenna.”
He brightened. ”Oh, I get it.”
Lucy glanced at her phone, then opened Sean's message.
Found Kirsten. She's in the hospital sick with an infection. Dennis was taking care of her at his brother Charles's apartment in Brooklyn Heights. I have proof. More in a sec.
Lucy opened her files and pulled out a picture of Kirsten. ”Do you know this girl?”
His lip trembled. ”What happened?”
”Can you tell me?”
He looked panicked. ”You're only showing me pictures of dead girls! Did she die?”
”No,” Lucy said. Suzanne narrowed her gaze at Lucy, telling her to back off. Lucy swallowed. She was certain her first instinct was right, that Dennis didn't kill those girls, and neither did Wade. ”She's fine. She's in the hospital.”
He breathed easier. ”Okay, good. Wade told me-” He stopped talking and looked at his hands folded on the table.
Suzanne said, ”You need to tell the truth.”
He wrestled with it for about thirty seconds. ”If I tell you the truth, promise me you won't get mad at Wade and make him stay in jail.”
Suzanne said, ”If Wade didn't kill these girls, I promise he won't stay in jail.”
Lucy knew that Suzanne couldn't promise any such thing. Already, Wade was in serious trouble for compromising an investigation and for attempting to destroy evidence.
Dennis believed her. ”Okay, I found Kirsten last weekend and she was real scared and hurt and I wanted to take her to the doctor, but she was crying and said no. Wade told me I shouldn't have kept her at Charlie's because she was real sick, and then she wouldn't wake up. Wade thought I hurt her, but I told him I didn't, and he believed me but said it looked bad because he knew her.”
”Wade knows Kirsten?” Suzanne said.
”He said he did. He said something weird was going on and that he would figure it out, but he told me-remember you promised he won't get in trouble.” He was looking at Suzanne for an answer.
”Yes I did.”
He accepted the nonanswer and said, ”He told me he knew all the women who were killed by the Cinderella Strangler. He was really scared.”
”Because he killed them and didn't want to go to jail?” Panetta asked.
”No!” Dennis slapped his hand on the table in his first physical burst of anger. ”No, no, no! He didn't kill anyone.”
Suzanne said, ”Wade is in jail because he told me he didn't know the four girls who were killed. That he knew them, had s.e.x with them, and lied about it-that looks very bad.”
”But he didn't! I know it.”
”Did you kill those girls?” Panetta demanded.
Dennis's eyes widened and he shook his head.
Suzanne prompted, ”Maybe you were upset because Wade was spending more time with them than with you.”
He continued to shake his head.
”He embarra.s.sed you at that party,” Panetta said. ”Told you to have s.e.x with someone you didn't like. Did the girls laugh at you? Or did they want Wade but not you? Did you love Alanna? Is that why you killed her-because she loved your brother, who didn't deserve her?”
Dennis was crying. ”I didn't kill Alanna. I didn't. I didn't.” He put his head down. ”I want to see Wade. Please.”
The lawyer said, ”This conversation is over.”
”One more question,” Lucy said. She reached out and touched Dennis on the arm. He was trembling. He looked at her when she said his name softly.
”Dennis. You have a good memory. I want you to think back to when you found Kirsten running.”
He sniffed. ”She wasn't running. She fell down. That's when I got out of my car and picked her up.”
”What did she say to you?”
”She said, 'Don't let her get me.' ”
Noah came through.
Sean arrived at Rikers Island just before two on Sunday afternoon, hauling a.s.s the entire way because of a mandatory two p.m. registration deadline that even Noah couldn't get the Department of Corrections to waive. But after being cleared and given a visitor's pa.s.s, Sean was approached by a guy in a suit. ”Mr. Rogan, Special Agent Steven Plunkett, the FBI liaison for Rikers.”
Sean shook his extended hand and followed him down a series of corridors. At several junctions, they stopped and waited for the guard to release the lock and allow them to pa.s.s.
Sean supposed that he should have gone through Suzanne Madeaux, but they were in the middle of interviewing Dennis Barnett, and Sean was concerned about Kirsten's safety. If the killer found out that Kirsten was in the hospital, she was in jeopardy.
Lucy hadn't had enough faith in her a.n.a.lysis to follow up on her theory, but Sean didn't doubt it. Lucy thought the killer was a woman.
And Sean suspected Wade Barnett knew who it was.
Plunkett ran through the rules with Sean about prisoner interaction, but Sean was only half listening. By the time they reached a private room-the type where lawyers met with their clients-Sean had his game plan set. He wasn't surprised that Plunkett stayed in the room.
Wade Barnett didn't smile when Sean entered. ”Who are you?” he demanded.
”Sean Rogan, private investigator. Kirsten Benton is my cousin.”
There was partial recognition in Barnett's eyes, and Sean added, ”You know her as Ashleigh.”
Barnett closed his eyes. ”I didn't know Dennis was keeping her.”
”I believe you.”