Ellington clearly hadn’t been expecting such a response; the other end of the line was quiet for a full five seconds before he responded.
“What happened?” he asked.
“It was a dead end. And while I was there being lectured by the principal on the nature of evil, the State police showed up on the scene of what we believe is going to be the site of the fourth murder. Being that I was not there, they pulled rank.”
“Ah, shit.”
“Oh, it gets better,” Mackenzie snapped. “Remember Ellis Pope?”
“Yeah, the reporter.”
“Yes, him. Well, he decided to press charges today with the threat of going to the media about our little scuffle. The State boys heard about that, too. So they got after Nelson and, as of about an hour ago, I was officially removed from this case.”
“Are you kidding me?” he asked.
His disbelief sparked even more anger in her and, fortunately, it helped her to realize that she was being rude for no reason. The spot she found herself in was not his fault. All he was doing was checking in and lending a sympathetic ear.
“No, I’m not kidding,” she said, trying to keep herself in check. “I have been asked to sit idly by while the good old boys wrap this one up.”
“That’s not fair.”
“I agree,” she said. “But I know that Nelson had no choice.”
“So what can I do?” Ellington asked.
“Not much, I’m afraid. If you really want to help with the case some more, call Nelson. You may actually get in trouble over talking to me about it.”
“White, I’m really sorry about this.”
“It is what it is,” she said.
Silence filled the line again and this time she didn’t give Ellington a chance to pick the conversation back up. If he did, she was afraid her misplaced anger might resurface and he certainly didn’t deserve that.
“I’ve got to go,” she said. “Take care.”
“Are you going to be okay?” he asked her.
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s just been a shock.”
“Well, take care.”
“Thanks.”
She ended the call without waiting for a response. She tossed the phone back down on the table next to photocopied pages of the Biblical passages they had deciphered from the posts. She read them over and over again but found nothing new. She then looked to the map taken from the back of the Bible and a crude map that Nancy had made, listing all potential murder sites. It seemed so well put together and simple.
And that was why it made Mackenzie uncomfortable. That’s why she felt the need to keep digging, to uncover some truth that they had not yet found. She drank coffee and pored over the files as if it were another day at the office, losing herself in her work despite being off the case.
When her cell phone buzzed again, the display on the clock read 7:44. She blinked her eyes and rubbed at her head, slightly in shock. Nearly two hours had passed between Ellington’s call and this call but it hadn’t felt nearly that long.
She was confused when she saw Nelson’s name on the display. She let out a coarse little laugh as she picked up the phone, wondering what else she might have done that would warrant further punishment.
She answered, her eyes once again traveling to the window and the night outside. Was the killer out there, ready to string up his next victim? Or was he already in the act?
“You’re about the last person I expected to hear from,” Mackenzie said.
“White, I need you to shut your mouth and listen very closely to me,” Nelson said. His voice was soft and almost gentle, something she had never heard out of him before.
“Okay,” she said, unsure of how to take his tone and instruction.
“Twenty minutes ago, Officer Patrick pulled a man over on State Route 411. He was driving an old red Toyota pickup truck. There was a Bible in the passenger seat and strands of rope in the floorboard. This man, Glenn Hooks, is a pastor at a small Baptist church in the town of Bentley. Here’s the kicker: there were eight passages marked in his Bible. One of them dealt with the Six Cities of Refuge.”
“My God,” Mackenzie breathed.
“Patrick has not arrested this man yet, but was pretty insistent that the man come to the station. He put up a stern argument, but Patrick has him right now. As they’re on the way, I’m sending another unit to his house to see if they find anything suspicious.”
“Okay,” was all Mackenzie could manage to say again.
“The State PD knows nothing about this,” Nelson went on. “Between you and I, that’s at my instruction. I wanted first crack at this guy before the State got involved. I just got off the phone with Patrick. They’ll be here at the station in about ten minutes. I want you here to question the guy. And I need you to do it quickly because I don’t know how long we can keep the boys from State in the dark. You might have twenty or thirty minutes before I’ll need to get you out of here.”
“After everything you told me in your office, do you really think that’s the best idea?”
“No, it’s not a good idea,” Nelson said. “But it’s all I have right now. I know I sent you packing less than five hours ago, but I’m not asking if you’ll do this, I’m telling you. You’re still officially off the case. That doesn’t change. This is being done under the table. I need you on this, White. You got it?”
She’d never felt so disrespected yet valued at the same time. Her heart was sparked by a stirring of excitement but it was underpinned by the anger that had been pushing her for most of the afternoon.
Remember, she thought. This isn’t about impressing anyone. This isn’t about being right or wrong or looking good. This is about doing your job and putting a man that tortures and kills women behind bars.
“White?” Nelson snapped.
She looked down at the coffee table and saw the photos. The women that had been stripped of their dignity, terrorized, beaten and killed. She owed them justice. She owed their families some sort of rest.
Gripping the phone tightly and with a look of steeled determination coming over her face, Mackenzie said:
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
When Mackenzie arrived at the station, there were two officers at the front doors waiting for her. She was surprisingly pleased to see that one of them was Porter. He gave her a knowing smile as she reached the doors and without a word, the men opened the doors and led her inside. They had taken three steps into the station when Mackenzie realized that Porter and the other officer were acting as a shield. They walked to either side of her at a brisk pace, helping her to blend in just in case anyone at the station saw her and might want to stir up trouble.
Quickly, they reached the main hall where she saw Nelson standing outside of the interrogation room. He straightened up when he saw them coming and Mackenzie saw that he looked terribly on edge – like he might very well blast off like a rocket at any moment.
“Thanks,” he said when they reached him.
“Of course,” Mackenzie said.
Nelson gave Porter and the other officer a curt nod and they headed away at once. After taking a single step, though, Porter turned back to her and whispered. “Damn fine work,” he said with the same smile he’d showed her at the front door.
She only nodded her head in response, returning the smile. With that, the officers headed down the hall, back toward the front of the building.
“Okay,” Nelson said. “This Hooks guy, he’s being mostly cooperative. He’s just scared and nervous. He’s doing a great deal of talking and hasn’t asked to see a lawyer yet. So don’t push him too hard and we might get out of this one without a lawyer coming and stalling everything.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll be watching in the review room so if anything goes wrong, someone can be in there in less than ten seconds. You good?”