Read Online Faceless by Dawn Kopman Whidden - Free Book Online

detective’s expression, he also appeared to be thinking along the same lines.
     
    Quickly, maybe too quickly, Katie answered him.
     
    “No.”
     
    “No what?” Marty asked.
     
    “No, I didn’t know who it was. It was just a stranger,” she elaborated.
     
    Disappointed by the girl’s answer, Marty leaned his chair back, its front legs lifted off the floor. His fingers tapped nervously in frustration on the arm of the chair.
     
    “Are you sure, Katie?”
     
    She nodded her head. “Yes,” she said out loud, remembering the recorder.
     
    Marty quickly turned around and grabbed a pen and pad sitting on the cabinet behind him.
     
    “Can you describe the car?
     
    “No. I don’t remember,” she answered, leaning back in her chair, closing her eyes.
     
    “What color was it?” he asked her.
     
    “I don’t know, it was dark.”
     
    “Can you describe the driver?” Marty asked, trying not to let her hear the anger in his tone.
     
    “No. I want to go home. Mom, I want to go home, please.” Turning to her mother, her voice took on noticeable desperation.
     
    Fearing that the girl was going to clam up, Marty tried another angle. Taking on a more sympathetic attitude, he turned off the recorder, and placed the pen down.
     
    “Katie, this is really important. We need to find the person responsible for doing this to your friend. We need to stop this person, make sure no one else gets hurt.”
     
    Mayor Knox suddenly became alert, as if he suddenly thought of something that hadn’t crossed his mind just seconds earlier.
     
    “What are you saying, Keal? Are you saying there may be a serial killer out there?”
     
    “No, Paul, that’s not what I am saying. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We have absolutely no reason to believe that’s even a remote possibility.” That’s all he needed , Marty thought to himself; the mayor spreading panic throughout the city.
     
    “Katie, please, this is very important.” Marty turned back to the teenager. “You must remember something about the person that picked you up. Was it just one person? Man or woman?”
     
    “Um… man,” she answered, but her eyes were cast down at the table, avoiding Marty’s gaze.
     
    “How old?”
     
    “I don’t know… Mom, please,” she said, turning to her mother, pleading.
     
    “Look, Keal, that’s enough, I’m taking her home!” Spittle came out the side of his mouth as the mayor raised his voice, making an awkward attempt to take control of the situation.
     
    “Sit down, Paul.” Marty stood up, his body towering over the fat politician, getting within inches of the shorter man’s face.
     
    “I’ve got a dead kid lying in the morgue, and your stepdaughter may be a material witness.” His voice was starting to show signs of impatience. He turned back to Katie, frustrated by her lack of cooperation and now, evidently, lying.
     
    Humiliation was something that the mayor did not take in stride, especially in front of his wife and stepdaughter. His face turned tomato red and he started to perspire profusely. He was just about to pull the “I am the mayor” card and throw his weight around when the door to the interview room opened.
     
    Marty let out a sigh of relief the second Jean walked through the door.
     
    ***
     
    I felt the tension in the air the moment I walked in. Marty looked like he wanted to take a swing at His Honor, the mayor. I had seen that look on my partner Moran’s face in regard to this same individual more than once. There was something about the tubby politician that got on everyone’s nerves, and I was not exempt from those feelings.
     
    The crime scene photographer had printed up a few digital photos of the scene and I had run into him a few moments earlier. I was holding a manila folder in my hands. Inside were those photos.
     
    I handed Marty the folder, which he quickly opened and then passed on to Frank. I didn’t know what kind of information he had been able to