Fair Warning (Jack McEvoy #3)(75)

There was a metal arm that was attached to the headboard and extended around and in front of Gwyneth at eye level. Attached to it were two small back-to-back flat screens that allowed her to see one, and her audience the other.

The first thing that Gwyneth’s father did was take a folded paper towel off a bedside table and dab the corners of her mouth where saliva had accrued. I could see a very thin glassine wire extending from the right side of her mouth, down her cheek, and into the nest of wires and tubes attached to the electronic assembly.

Her father put the paper towel aside and introduced us.

“Gwynnie, this is Rachel Walling, who I told you about,” he said. “She’s the one working with the FBI on your case and on those other girls. And this is Jack. Jack’s the writer who discovered this whole thing and called Rachel and the FBI. They have some questions about the man who did this, and you answer what you want, okay? No pressure at all.”

I could see Gwyneth work her jaw and tongue inside her mouth. Then the letters OK appeared on the screen facing us.

This is how it would work.

Rachel moved to the side of the bed and Mr. Rice brought her a chair to sit down on.

“Gwyneth, I know this may be very difficult for you and we really appreciate your willingness to help,” she began. “I think it’s best if the questions just come from me and you try to answer them as best as you can. And if there is anything I ask that you just don’t want to answer, that’s absolutely okay.”





OK




This left me as a spectator on my own story but I was willing to let Rachel start out. If I thought there was something that needed to be asked, I would tap her on the shoulder and we could conference outside the room.

“I want to start by saying we are very sorry for what you’ve been through,” Rachel said. “The man who did this is evil and we are doing everything we can to find and stop him. Your help will be extremely valuable. The Pasadena Police seemed to deal with this when it happened as an isolated case. We now believe one man has hurt several women like you and so what I want to do today is concentrate on him. Who he is, how he chose you, things of that nature. It will help us build a profile of him that will identify him. So, some of my questions might seem odd to you. But there is a purpose to them. Is that okay, Gwyneth?”





YES




Rachel nodded and then glanced back at me and Mr. Rice to see if we had anything to add. We didn’t. She turned back to Gwyneth.

“Okay, then let’s start. It’s very important that we learn how this offender chose his victims. We have one theory and I want to ask about that now. Have you in the past done any sort of DNA hereditary or medical analysis?”

I saw Gwyneth’s jaw start moving. It almost looked like she was eating something. The letters always came out in all caps and as the interview progressed the only punctuation seemed to come through automatic spell-check.





YES




I saw Mr. Rice raise his head in surprise. He didn’t know about his daughter’s looking into her DNA. I wondered if it would have been a sore subject within the family.

“Which company did you use?” Rachel asked.


GT23



To me that all but confirmed her as a victim of the Shrike. But she had somehow lived to tell about it, even if it was a life now severely circumscribed by her injuries.

“Okay, so let’s go to the night this happened,” Rachel said. “You were still in extremely critical condition when the initial investigation was carried out. The detectives were mostly trying to work with some grainy video footage from outside the bar. Once you were able to communicate, another detective was on the case who didn’t appear to ask you very many questions about who—”





HE WAS AFRAID




“‘He was afraid,’” Rachel read off the screen. “Who was afraid? You mean the detective?”


YES. HE DIDN’T WANT TO BE HERE TO SEE ME



“Well, we’re not afraid, Gwyneth,” Rachel said. “I assure you of that. We are going to find the man who did this to you and he will pay for his crimes.”


DON’T TAKE HIM ALIVE



Rachel paused when the message printed on the screen. There was a dark shine in Gwyneth’s brown eyes. The moment felt sacred to me.

“I’ll say this, Gwyneth,” Rachel said. “I understand your feelings and you should know that we are going to find this guy and justice is going to be carried out. Now, I know this is tiring for you, so let’s get back to the questions. Has any of your memory of that night come back to you?”





BITS AND PIECES LIKE NIGHTMARES




“Can you talk about them? What do you remember?”


HE BOUGHT ME A DRINK I THOUGHT HE WAS NICE



“Okay, do you remember anything in particular about the way he talked?”





NO




“Did he tell you about himself at all?”


ALL LIES, RIGHT?



“Not necessarily. It is harder to sustain a conversation based on lies than one that is close to the truth. It could be a mix of both. Did he tell you, for example, what he did for a living?”