The Devil's Daughter (Hidden Sins #1)(55)
She wanted to snap back but forced herself to respond calmly. “He could fake for only a little while. Interrogation rooms are designed to break people. Yeah, there are criminals who can sit in there for days on end and not be the least bit ruffled, but Lee isn’t one of them. If Zach’s to be believed—and I don’t see why he wouldn’t be—the guy hasn’t so much as stepped up to the line, let alone over it, in ten years. Even if he was into all sorts of trouble as a kid, a decade is enough to kill any habit. And even if it wasn’t, that is not how a hardened criminal—or a sociopath—acts.” She pointed at the window again.
But Chase wasn’t backing down. Loose cannon. He stalked from one wall to the other and back again, never taking his gaze off her. “Then how does a hardened criminal act?”
Once again, she tried to stay calm. It was a legitimate question, and getting snappy with the man wasn’t going to do either one of them any favors. No wonder he didn’t last in homicide. They deal with murder day in and day out. A cop can’t be tipping over the edge of the deep end after the first one. “Calm, cocky—take your pick. They don’t cower.”
Or maybe Britton was right and she really was too close to this case to do anything but cause problems.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Zach knew the moment Eden showed up, though he didn’t acknowledge her presence on the other side of the door. Lee Whitby was seconds away from breaking, and he wasn’t going to give the guy a chance to recoup his control—or for Martha to show up and start causing problems. “Walk me through it again.”
“We’ve gone over this ten times.” There wasn’t any anger there—just wretched defeat. Lee dropped his head into his hands, his voice muffled but still clear. “I asked Elouise to stay. We spent a lot of time together after I stepped in with her dad.”
“After you threatened him.” He didn’t really blame Lee for the threat—Zach wanted to do that and more to Michael Perkins. The difference was that Zach wouldn’t take that step, and if Lee had done that, it was possible he was capable of much worse.
He lifted his head. “Yes. I liked her. She was a good girl in a bad situation, and I know a thing or two about that.”
“Right. From your past.” He’d done some digging last night and made a few calls to the precinct in Detroit, which was where Lee originated. He had a sealed record from when he was a minor, but Zach had gotten in contact with the detective who worked the case all those years ago. Nothing much memorable about it, but the man had been able to confirm that it was breaking and entering. It was a far cry from holding a girl hostage for days on end, torturing her, and then ultimately strangling her in a field a few feet from a road, but it was something.
He just wished it didn’t feel so much like he was stretching.
“I have a past. Everyone does.”
This was his opening, clear as day. So far he’d danced around Lee’s relationship with Elouise. As Eden suspected, it was clear that the man had strong feelings for the girl, though he maintained his story that he’d stood back and let her go. There wasn’t any anger, apparently—only grief. It didn’t mean it wasn’t there, simmering deep, though. Zach just needed to find the right button to push.
“You have a past with Neveah Smith.”
Lee blinked at him, frowned, and blinked again. “I don’t . . .” He shook his head as if trying to clear it. “I know that name. Neveah. Isn’t she a local teenager? I think she’s been out to Elysia a few times.”
If he was acting, he deserved an Oscar. That didn’t stop Zach from pressing. “Cute that you’re playing dumb, but I hear you know her in more of a biblical sense.”
Lee went stock-still. “That’s impossible. I think I met the girl once.”
Still no anger. Only shock. Either he’s that good or we’ve got the wrong guy. “Her best friend says Neveah snuck off Friday night to meet you for sex.” He barely waited a beat. “Where is she, Lee? Her parents are out of their minds with worry, and the whole town is up in arms. They just want her home. They don’t care about anything else.” He did, but he wasn’t above misleading the man if it meant Neveah would be returned safely.
Lee shot to his feet. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I think I might have said hello to her, but I do that with any outsider who visits Elysia. That’s my job. I wouldn’t have been alone with her under normal circumstances, not with her being a minor, but I especially wouldn’t because of Elouise.” He ran his hands over his face, then dropped them to his side with a defeated sigh. “I loved her.” There was no mistaking the her he meant.
Zach opened his mouth, but the creak of the door distracted him. He turned to cuss out whoever had disobeyed the order not to interrupt, but the look on Henry’s face stopped him cold. The older man’s skin was gray, and the haunted look in his eyes told Zach what he needed to know before the man opened his mouth. “The search party found Neveah Smith.”
It didn’t take a genius to understand they hadn’t found her alive.
He headed for the door and then spun on his heel. “You: don’t move.”
For his part, Lee looked just as shocked as if he’d had no idea the girl would wind up dead. He held up his hands. “I want to find Elouise’s killer, the same as you. I’ll help in whatever way I can.”