Read Online Faceless by Dawn Kopman Whidden - Free Book Online Page B

the hilt.
     
    Detective Robinson was far from a fan, but was giving the mayor an Oscar-winning performance.
     
    “Yeah, you’re right, Mayor Knox, that young detective is a little over the top. I agree with you that the guy is probably a little overzealous, this being his first major case and all, but maybe if we can give him something, I can talk him into letting you guys go home.”
     
    In an effort to appear bored, so the small group would consider him less of a threat than Detective Keal, he began doodling on a blank piece of scrap paper that he found in front of him.
     
    Glancing down, I was sure that the overweight cartoon-like character with horns he created was a caricature of the mayor himself, but the mayor would be too vain to recognize it. If he was starting to catch on, his attention was diverted when I walked into the room.
     
    “Sorry about that, Mayor, Mrs. Knox. Detective Keal needed to go speak with Tiffany. She would only talk to him.”
     
    I turned to Frank. “I guess it’s those baby blues, huh, Frank?” I commented. “That boy’s got a way with the women.”
     
    Shrugging my shoulders, I took a seat across from Katie. I looked to see if she showed any sign of being threatened by my news. If she was disturbed by it, she was doing a good job of covering it up.
     
    I started out the interview acting sympathetic.
     
    “Katie, I know you’re tired and upset, but the sooner you can give us some answers, the sooner you can go home. Can you think a little harder and try and remember who picked you up?”
     
    “No, I told the other detective, I don’t remember. It was just some man!” Her eyes darted from one target to another, unable to focus on anything or anyone .She began looking around the room, as if planning her escape.
     
    Suddenly, as if she had a flash of memory, she turned to me.
     
    “Um… he was old, and I think he had gray hair… yeah, yeah—he was old.”
     
    “How old do you think, Katie?” I had picked up the folder with the crime scene photos and shuffled it back and forth between my hands.
     
    “I don’t know,” she told me, shrugging her shoulders.
     
    “Take a guess: sixty? Seventy? Was he older than me? Younger than me?”
     
    I knew I wasn’t imagining it; she had a smirk on her face when she answered.
     
    “I don’t know, maybe sixty, younger than you,” she answered, as if she was getting bored.
     
    I wanted to slap the smirk right off the little brat’s face. I was tired and cranky and some sixteen-year-old girl was lying in the morgue with her beautiful face burnt off, her parents devastated, and this kid was being flippant.
     
    I knew what I was about to do next would probably end the interview right then and there, but I lost my cool. I opened up the envelope and took the photos of Jamie Camp’s body and laid them down on the table. Mrs. Knox put her hand to her mouth and tried unsuccessfully to muffle a scream of horror. The mayor turned his fat face away in disgust. Katie looked down at the photos for a second and then turned and stared back in my direction.
     
    “Do you want to tell me about the fight you and Jamie had, Katie?” I asked.
     
    “That’s it! This interview is over.” The mayor turned back around and slammed his chubby hand down on the table. “I’m calling my attorney. Katie, don’t you say another word!” he ordered her.
     
    I picked up the photos and with a deliberate slowness, I placed them back in the envelope.
     
    “Suit yourself, mayor. Maybe the other girls will be a little bit more forthcoming and tell us exactly what happened in the woods last night.”
     
    The mayor grabbed his wife’s arm.
     
    “Let’s go, Donna,” he said, as he practically pulled his wife out of the chair.
     
    “You have no reason to hold my stepdaughter here. You have any more questions, they can be directed to my attorney,” he told us. His teeth were clenched tight, but somehow spittle still managed to escape before