Just then Jack entered the room and joined Rocky and Sam. “You brought him in, maybe you can do better with him,” he said to Rocky.
Rocky was thoughtful for a minute. “Maybe he didn’t do it,” he said.
Jack let out a snort. “He had her cell phone! This is the first break we’ve had, Rocky. He had to have done it.”
“Sam?” Rocky asked.
“They’ll never convict him on what you’ve got so far—if a D.A. will even take him to court. Circumstantial and nothing more,” Sam said. “And you haven’t even tried to connect him to the other murders yet.”
“That’s true. I’m missing a piece of the puzzle. But when I find it, everything will fall into place. What’s your gut feeling?” Rocky asked.
Sam shook his head thoughtfully as he stared at Brent, who was just sitting at the table and waiting, looking around as if he’d woken up in a box and had no idea why. “Don’t know yet.”
“All right, I’ll give it a try,” Rocky said.
He left Sam and Jack to watch and walked into the interrogation room. Brent looked up hopefully. “Rocky! I know you had to call the cops because of the cell phone, but...you have to get me out of here. This is ridiculous—you know me. Okay, you just met me, but you know Devin, and Devin has known me since we were kids. She’ll tell you. I didn’t kill anyone. I couldn’t. I don’t know how the phone got in my pocket. I had a beer and I went home. That’s it.”
“Did you have your jacket with you?”
“Yes, slung over the back of my chair,” Brent said. He looked suddenly hopeful. “That’s it, Rocky. That has to be it. Someone put the phone in my pocket. They wanted to make me look guilty.”
Rocky said. “Look, I want to help you.”
Brent leaned back, staring at him. “All I can do is keep telling you that I didn’t do it. I’m not a killer—I could never be a killer. You have to prove I didn’t do it and get me out of here.”
“Let’s see what else we can find out,” Rocky said.
“You promise you’ll look for the truth?” Brent asked him.
“I promise I’ll look for the truth—wherever it leads,” Rocky told him. He stood and walked out of the room, pausing at the door. “For your own safety, stay here. If someone really is trying to frame you, you’re better off staying out of their reach.”
Sam and Jack came out to the hall to meet him. “That’s it?” Jack asked.
“We need more,” Rocky said.
“More? What the damned hell more do you need? Barbara Benton, alive and well, says good night to her friends and goes back for her phone, only she never makes it. The phone turns up in Brent Corbin’s pocket, and the woman turns up dead,” Jack said.
Sam was silent but he looked at Rocky, and Rocky knew what he was thinking. Brent Corbin had been living in Salem when Melissa Wilson was killed; he had a dark SUV; he had recently purchased an athame, even though he ran a store that carried Wiccan supplies—except for athames.
“It’s not enough,” Rocky said. “We have to find something more, not to mention we need to compare his whereabouts to the times of the other murders. Have we gotten the search warrants for his home and business yet?”
“Should be through any minute,” Jack said. “But it’s got to be him.”
“We don’t know that for sure. And if we let ourselves believe he’s guilty without checking every possibility...well, that could make us convict an innocent man and leave the real killer to strike again,” Rocky said.
*
It was 3:00 a.m. but while Devin had dozed on and off, she hadn’t really fallen asleep.
She was too restless and too upset. It just couldn’t be Brent. She was anxious to talk to Rocky again and tell him all the reasons why Brent couldn’t be the killer. She’d already explained everything to Jane, Jenna and Angela, who had driven her home from the station. Angela, she thought, had been open-minded. Jenna and Jane—well, they hadn’t argued. They’d humored her at least.
It had been surreal, Rocky calmly explaining to Brent that he would have to come in for questioning, Brent protesting, Jack Grail arriving to take Brent to the station, Rocky trying to make her understand as they followed, while she argued with him the whole way, still in shock herself.
The rest of the Krewe had met them there. Sam had stayed, and the women had convinced Devin to let them take her home, since there was nothing for her to do there.
They hadn’t wanted to leave her alone, but even though she knew Rocky would be furious, she’d insisted they leave, promising that she’d lock herself in and not open the door to anyone who came by. She’d said that she was drained and tired and just needed to be alone to rest. Reluctantly, after making sure the house was clear and everything locked up tight, they’d gone. But now, even though she was exhausted, she couldn’t stop her mind from spinning.