by Robin Mahle
She nodded again.
“Ma’am, was your husband home with you last night?” Sharpe asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay. And what time did you both go to bed? I’m sorry for the personal questions, but we’re trying to find out if maybe someone had his car, because it was spotted near Leimert Park in the early hours of this morning. And I don’t know if you heard…”
“I did.” She looked at Sharpe with resolve. “He was here with me, like I said. We went to bed after the ten o’clock news, just like always.”
“Okay.” Sharpe nodded. “I hate to ask you this, but do you think we could have a look around?”
“Do you have a warrant?”
“No, ma’am, we don’t.”
“Then you’re welcome to look around when you do. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to not be here when my children get home from school.”
“Of course, we understand, but this is a very serious matter and we’d simply like to clear up any confusion as to your husband’s whereabouts last night,” Sharpe said.
“Like I said, he was here with me.”
“Maybe it’s best if we discuss this with your husband. You said he works at Corecom?”
“You can’t—you can’t go to his work. He doesn’t need any trouble at work.”
“Then maybe you’d like to reconsider allowing us just a quick look around?” Sharpe continued.
They all knew that without a warrant, anything they found in the house wouldn’t be admissible, but it would at least get them a step closer to knowing if Andre Knight was the man who attacked Kimberly Johnson.
“Please, just make it quick. I can’t have you here when my kids get home.”
“Thank you. We won’t make a mess. Just need a few minutes. We really appreciate your cooperation.” Sharpe turned to the others. “Let’s just have a quick look around. Agent Jameson, you want to check out the kitchen? Moore, you can take the living room and I’ll have a look upstairs.”
Dwight began to walk into the kitchen, but not before Dina stopped him. “Why are you here? I mean, why is the FBI here?”
“The LAPD has asked for our help.”
“Help with what?”
“Finding the person responsible for killing four women and assaulting another, who remains in the hospital as we speak.”
“Oh my God.” Dina placed her hand over her mouth. “You think my husband killed those women?”
“He’s just a person of interest right now, ma’am. His car was spotted near the area of where the latest victim was found—alive, thank God. We just really need to speak with him. I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this.” He began to look around.
“What are you looking for?”
Dwight stopped and turned toward her again. “Has your husband been behaving in an unusual manner lately? Working late or anything like that?”
“Well, yes, but his boss makes him work late.”
Dwight noticed she didn’t answer the first part of that question. “Of course.” The sound of footsteps on the staircase caught his attention and he spotted Sharpe approaching.
“We won’t take up any more of your time, ma’am. Thank you so much for allowing us to look around. Your cooperation is very much appreciated.” He pulled out a business card from his wallet. “Please call me if you need anything or have any questions.”
“What about my husband?”
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to make a visit to his office. We’ll keep it discreet, I promise you.” He motioned for Dwight to follow him back into the entryway. “Sergeant Moore?”
Moore reappeared from the back corner of the room.
“We’re heading out.” He turned to Dina once again. “Remember, if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call.”
The three walked outside and stood just steps from the door, waiting for her to close it.
“Did you find something?” Dwight asked.
“No. Nothing. I just wanted her to know this was serious. We’d better make a trip to Corecom.”
“You think she’ll warn him?” Moore asked.
“I guess we’ll find out. I’ll have a patrol stay around here in case he shows up.”
Inside, Dina peered through the front window while the police and FBI pulled away from her home and disappeared. Terrified at the prospect of what her husband had done, she called him. No answer. At the end of his voicemail message, with a tremor in her voice, she began, “What did you do, Andre?” Her eyes welled with tears. “What the hell did you do? They’re coming for you. You’d better clear this shit up.”
CHAPTER 19
With his car idling in the McDonald’s parking lot, Andre listened to his voicemail. Guilt and shame that Dina had now known what he’d been involved with surged through him. But he had to remind himself of his innocence. He wasn’t a killer; someone else was. He just watched it happen.
There was an explanation for him being at the park, and that was what he had to focus on now as he drove back to the office. That was how he had to play this. Go back and just talk to them, convince them that he was merely a bystander who feared repercussions. Why he was there, why he took off. It all had a straightforward and simple explanation.
On his return, he noticed a black SUV parked along the front of the building that could certainly be an unmarked police car. And in his present state of mind, that was an easy deduction to make. He continued around to the back lot, parked, and made his way inside the building.
“Yo, Andre?” Miguel stopped him in the hall. “Dude, you got people waiting up front to see you. Boss has been looking for you for the past ten minutes. You’re late from lunch.”
“I know. Fuck off, Miguel.” Andre brushed by him and continued to the lobby.
“Fuck you too, man.” Miguel twisted his face in disgust. “Just trying to help a brother out.”
As Andre entered the lobby, the eyes of the men, who were undoubtedly law enforcement, fell upon him and one of them began his approach.
“Mr. Knight? I’m Detective Ray Sharpe, LAPD. Do you have a minute? We’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“What’s this about?” He tried to suppress the urge to bolt, and the flood of adrenaline that coursed through him made his heart feel as though it would explode if he didn’t.
Sharpe placed his hand on Andre’s shoulder. “We should probably discuss this in private. Is there somewhere we can talk?”
By this time, Sergeant Moore and Agent Jameson had caught up to them.
Andre gestured toward the exit. “Outside?” He maintained his composure as he followed them out. A few employees who had been passing through stopped and followed their every move.
“We appreciate your willingness to speak to us.” Sharpe opened the door, allowing Andre to exit before him. “This will only take a minute of your time.”
Under the concrete canopy of the building’s exterior, Sharpe halted and was now flanked by Moore and Jameson. “Your white Honda CRV was spotted leaving the scene of a pretty gruesome assault last night. And it appears someone matching your description was witnessed running from that same location. Can you tell me, Mr. Knight, what it was you were doing at Leimert Park at one o’clock this morning?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was at home with my wife and children.”
“We stopped by your house a short while ago and talked to your wife.”
“I’m sure then that she told you the same thing. Because that’s where I was.” Andre seemed defiant now and had shifted his initial stance of pleading innocent as to his whereabouts.
“Mr. Knight, I’m Agent Jameson. I’m sure you realize the simple fact of my being here must allude to the severity of the situation. A young woman was found in Leimert Park around the time your car was seen, and a man similar to your build was also seen fleeing from that woman, who’d been injured and still lies in the hospital as we speak. Are you saying that your car was taken without yo
ur permission for the sole purpose of going to the park and then it was returned to your home while you slept?” Dwight paused to allow for maximum effect. “Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be. It is a fact that your car was there. We have it on closed circuit television and were able to get your license plate number from that video.”
Andre opened his mouth and inhaled deeply as if preparing to confess. Instead, it was his fight or flight instinct that finally took over and he considered making a run for it. Backtracking to his original plan was out of the question now. It was too late. They’d want to know how he knew about the woman, how he happened to come across her. The man behind the camera had already issued a threat and now he was caught between the police and a killer who’d likely set all this up for him.
His chest began to heave and his mouth grew dry. Admitting the truth now would land him in jail. He’d have to confess to Dina. He would lose everything. “Look, can we do this someplace else?” Andre peered through the glass doors at the gathering of people eyeing him as though he was already guilty.
“You want to come down to the station?” Sharpe asked.
Andre nodded.
“Then it will have to be now. And we’re going to have to impound your vehicle. It was caught on tape leaving the scene of a crime. It’s evidence now.” Sharpe turned his attention to Sergeant Moore. “You want to call it in and have it towed out of here ASAP?”
Moore nodded and stepped away to radio it in.
“Do you need to get anything inside? Cell phone or keys? You’ll need to turn the keys over to Sergeant Moore.”
“I have everything with me. I just need to get out of here.” With sweat now forming at the hairline on his neck, Andre again looked inside the lobby.
“Follow me. My car is right here.”
Jameson waited for Moore to finish calling the impound lot to send a truck. “Hey, what are the chances we can take a look right now before it gets caught up in the system?”
Moore glimpsed Sharpe helping Andre into the back of his SUV and considered the suggestion.
“Otherwise, we might not get a look inside it for a while. We’re short on time as it is.”
“Yeah. Let me get the keys.” Moore approached the detective. “Agent Jameson and I would like to take a look inside the car before it’s impounded.”
“Mr. Knight?” Sharpe held his hand out for the keys.
“Don’t you need a warrant or something?”
“Your car is already evidence, Andre. You don’t want to fight us on this one.”
Andre reached in his pocket. “Here. I told you, I didn’t do anything wrong. Go ahead and look. You won’t find anything.” He was reasonably confident of his words. He’d never had any of those women near his car and so to tie him to any of it would prove impossible.
“Thank you. Your cooperation is duly noted.” Sharpe handed the keys to Moore. “Catch a ride back to the station from the tow truck.”
Moore made his way back to Dwight. “Got ‘em.”
“Let’s go see what we can find.” Dwight pushed back through the doors and approached the lobby desk. “Excuse me, where is the employee parking lot?”
“Head straight through the hall here and at the end is the employee exit. That’ll take you to the lot.”
“Thank you.”
Word must’ve already spread because as they walked through the building, it appeared that the entire staff lined the corridor to see them pass. Outside, the lot was heaving with cars.
“Just press on the remote. Hopefully, we’ll see the lights flash and hear the horn,” Dwight said.
“There it is.” Moore began to approach with Dwight closely behind. “What are you hoping to find in there?”
“Not sure yet. We didn’t get a good look around the house, although I suspect after today, we’ll easily get a warrant for that. I’m just looking for anything that might tie him to the murders.”
“Forensics will check for prints, blood, and any DNA,” Moore added.
“I know. I’d like to get a jump on it. Bearing in mind, we’ll need to take care not to destroy anything. I just want to take a cursory look.”
“Sure.” Moore examined the handle on the driver’s side door. “I’ve got some gloves. Hang on a second.” Inserting the key, he unlocked the door and pulled it open to reveal a strikingly clean interior.
Dwight began to examine the seats and the flooring from the other side. “Hey, you see a latch for the rear swing door?”
“Yep. Here it is.” He pulled it open.
“Thanks.” Dwight walked around to the back of the car. “How long before the tow truck gets here?”
“Probably twenty minutes, maybe less.”
Dwight used his suit jacket to open the swing door and flashed the light from his phone inside. “Looks like he might have vacuumed back here recently. For a man with two kids, I’m not seeing any crumbs or dirt or anything like that.”
“Yeah. It looks like the whole damn car was just detailed.”
Dwight retrieved a pen from his shirt pocket and used it to lift the bottom cover where the spare wheel was located. “There’s a bag back here.”
Moore walked toward the rear of the car. “What kind of bag?”
Dwight shone his light on the grocery bag. “See that? You want to take that out since you have gloves.”
Moore reached inside and carefully lifted the bag from where it had been tucked next to the spare tire. He waited for Dwight to lower the cover again and set it down. With a gentle touch, he pulled the handles of the plastic bag away to reveal its contents. “Looks like clothes. T-shirt…” He continued to glance inside. “Holy shit.”
“What is it?”
“There’s a baseball cap in here and…” Moore lifted the cap away from what lay beneath it. “Oh my God. It’s a wig. A blonde wig. I think we found our Pretty Face Killer.”
♦ ♦ ♦
The building ahead was where Nick and Kate would find Vanessa Ruiz and, hopefully, the green car.
“This is it,” Kate said. “This is where she works.”
Nick parked the car and stopped the engine. “Let’s go see if she’s inside.” He stepped out and waited for Kate to appear before locking the car. “We’ll need to take caution on our approach. She knows what happened to her friend after talking to the cops.”
“Yeah, but we don’t know if she’s involved in the same group of people.”
“Maybe not, but I doubt she’ll be a willing participant in the conversation.”
“All we can do is try and see if she’ll talk to us.” Kate continued inside the store, maneuvering between the racks of clothing, accessories, and costume jewelry. As they approached the checkout, Kate began, “Hi. Can you tell me if Vanessa is working today?”
The young woman behind the counter eyed the two of them with apprehension. “Vanessa who?”
“Ruiz,” Kate replied.
“Who are you?”
“We’re investigating the death of her friend and would like to ask her a couple of questions.”
And with that, the girl’s expression softened. “Oh, right. Yeah, she’s in the back on her lunch break.”
“Would it be all right if we went back there?”
She nodded.
“Thank you for your help.” Kate motioned to Nick and the two walked toward the back of the store and stood in the doorway of the breakroom.
Inside were three employees and the smell of microwaved frozen meals wafted through the opened door. Kate recognized one of them. “Excuse me? Vanessa?” She walked inside. “Sorry to bother you. We were told we could find you in here.”
The other employees looked them up and down and then at Vanessa, who remained quiet but kept her eyes glued to them.
“We’re here to talk to you about your friend, Raquel Garcia? It won’t take long, but could we trouble you with just a quick word?” Kate moved in, still masked in sincerity and concern. “This is my partner, FBI Agent Scarborou
gh, and I’m Agent Reid.”
“FBI? What do you have to do with Raquel? Some gang banger killed my friend. I didn’t know that was FBI stuff.”
“Well,” Kate pulled out a chair next to her, “it isn’t exactly, but we are working with the LAPD. We can talk somewhere else if you’d prefer.”
Vanessa scrutinized her colleagues until they got the hint and left the room. “No. This is fine. I don’t have much time left on my lunch break, so you’ll have to be fast.”
“First, I’d like to tell you how sorry we are that your friend has passed away.”
“Yeah, well. Shit happens all the time around here.”
Kate could see the girl’s pain even as she tried hard to hide it. “Can you tell me, were you with her the night of November 10th near Vermont Avenue at around one or two in the morning?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
“Vanessa, it’s very important that you try. Another young woman was killed later that same night. She worked at a bakery. Do you remember hearing about that last week?”
Vanessa shrugged. “I don’t watch the news. It’s depressing as shit.”
“I agree with you about that,” Kate said. “But, I’m asking because, well, do you own a small green car, a Civic, I believe?”
“No.”
Kate glanced to Nick and both picked up on the fact that she was not being truthful. “You don’t have a green car? You know, in helping the LAPD find Raquel’s killer, I was asked to take a look at her social media profiles. And what I found was, on Facebook, a photo of you and her that was taken outside a nightclub some weeks ago. In that photo was a green Honda. It was the same car that was seen in a surveillance video not far from the bakery.”
Vanessa averted her eyes for a moment. “It’s my mom’s car. She lets me take it sometimes when we go out. When we went out, I mean, since my friend is dead and all.”
“So, did she let you borrow it that night when the other girl was murdered?”
“No. I asked her to come pick us up. But we didn’t see nothing about a girl who got killed. We didn’t go to no bakery or nothing. My mom just came and got us ‘cause Rocky hurt her foot and couldn’t walk the rest of the way home. We only live a few blocks from that club and so we walked ‘cause we was drunk. And my moms would’ve been pissed at me. She was anyways when I called ‘cause it was so late.”