SAMANTHA SCHOOLED HER features before she opened the interrogation room door. She went inside with her spine straight and her shoulders squared. Her heels clicked on the floor.
Blake was already seated at the little table, his poise relaxed. Across from him, Nina Miller sat, a faint smile curving her lips.
Samantha smiled back at her.
For an instant, she saw Nina’s eyelids flicker. But then a mask seemed to fall over the other woman’s face. “Why so late to this little party, agent?”
“Because I had to stop by George’s place and pick up a few things.”
Nina smirked. “I don’t see anything...”
Samantha laughed as she slid into the chair next to Blake. “Of course, you don’t. Evidence has to be logged. Analyzed. Studied ever so carefully.”
“Why would anyone want to study ashes?” Nina asked. “Seems like a waste of time to me.”
Blake leaned forward. “We have you on the arson, Ms. Miller. Arson and the attempted murder of two federal agents.”
Nina put her cuffed hands on the table. “How did I know you two were going to be there? I certainly didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” She blinked her eyes, appearing confused. “I mean... I just knew what a terrible, terrible man George Farris was...so I went to his house trying to banish that evil.” Her cuffed hands rose and she pressed her fingers to her temple. “I feel so...lost. I—I think something broke in me when I saw that news story.” Her hands fell back to the table and she turned her wrists toward her, staring at all the slash marks on her skin. “It reminded me of my past.”
The woman was good. Able to turn on and off her act at the blink of an eye. “You haven’t asked for a lawyer,” Samantha said.
Nina kept staring at her wrists. “I should, right? That’s what people do...but...” Her eyes squeezed shut. “My mind is so foggy.”
Blake glanced at Samantha, one dark brow raised. She could read his expression perfectly.
Utter bullshit. Neither of them were buying Nina’s act.
“Do you seriously think we don’t remember the things that you said to us at George’s house?” Samantha asked.
Nina looked up at her. “I don’t remember. Maybe...maybe I should talk to a shrink. Talk to someone who can understand how my mind just—splintered...” A tear leaked down her cheek.
She started this act as soon as I mentioned evidence. Before Samantha had said the one magic word—evidence—Nina had been smiling that smug little grin. Samantha leaned toward her. She patted the woman’s hand, as if in sympathy. “You are talking to someone who understands. My PhD is in psychology—I totally understand all about the fragile state of the human mind.”
The faint lines near Nina’s eyes tightened.
“So feel free to tell me everything,” Samantha murmured. “Because I sure am ready to listen.”
But Nina jerked her hand away from Samantha’s. “You won’t know my secrets.”
Words the woman had said before.
“I found your secrets,” Samantha said. “Buried beneath the ash. Did you really think someone like George wouldn’t have put those pictures and flash drives in a fireproof safe? I found them beneath the floor of the room that once held Missy Johnson.”
Nina paled.
“You knew he was keeping evidence, didn’t you? His souvenirs. I mean, even if the kills were your idea, he liked to keep the memories close.”
Nina shook her head.
Blake settled back in his chair, his gaze drifting between her and Nina.
“You like pain, right, Nina?” Samantha asked.
Nina jumped to her feet. “How dare you—”
“Some of your scars are new, some are old. The old scars tell me that you started the pain a very long time ago. Was something bad happening in your life? Did you make the first cuts?”
Nina’s eyes glittered, but no real emotion showed on her face. Acting. Just going through the motions, trying to play us.
And Samantha knew Nina’s secret. “You didn’t feel alive, did you? Everyone around you felt. You could see it. You could almost taste their emotions. But you didn’t feel. Until the first cut. That’s when you started to feel. What you felt, it was pain. But to you it was like pleasure, wasn’t it? Something to finally cut through the cloud of numbness that was all around you. Something to prove you were alive.”
Nina shook her head. “You know nothing about me—”
“You and George...what happened? Did he find you one day? See what you were doing? Only, instead of being horrified, you found a perfect partner in the boy down the street from you. A boy you could control because he was already in love with you, right?” Samantha nodded. “It would make sense. You’re beautiful. You were a little older than him. He was the shy, smart kid, but when we talked to some of the people who went to school with him, they said he was teased because of his size. Teased because he wasn’t strong enough for sports or—”
“He was strong enough with me.”