She needed photographic proof that the day really was happening, that it wasn’t a fever dream. If she told Bellisario the whole story without some forensic photos, there was no way he’d believe her.

“Are you going to cuff me?” April asked.

“You want her to make a scene?” Thorne said. April's eyes twinkled for a moment. Ruby rolled hers.

“This isn't an improv opportunity. Hands on your head,” Ruby said. April complied and Ruby cuffed her, too.

“Can I ask you one question?” Thorne asked.

Ruby shot him a glare. “What?”

“How much did she bleed?” He grinned.

Ruby glanced one last time at the illustration of Vallejo taped to the wall. It was almost as if he were looking right at her, smiling.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ruby stood outside the interrogation room, looking through the one-way glass window. Even though she knew he couldn't really see her, Brett Thorne continued smiling at his unknown audience behind the glass. Smug. Pleased.

He was the poster child for what society thought a serial killer ought to look like.

White. Dark hair. Brown eyes. A good-looking young man, but with eyes that spoke of someone who was all too familiar with the things that went bump in the night.

Something was not right; she just didn't know what it was yet.

She turned back to see Gabe emerge from a separate interrogation room, the one containing an agitated April.

Gabe crossed his arms next to her.

“Did you get anything good out of the girlfriend?” Ruby asked. That had to be an interview Gabe could handle. In this case, he could finally get a little aggressive.

“She keeps saying that Thorne was over Alannah. She and Thorne are wildly in love. Kindred, morbid spirits,” Gabe said. “That might just be a lie she is telling herself, but I don’t think she is capable of killing Alannah out of jealousy. She’s too short to have made those initial stab wounds, the ones inflicted before the vic was on the ground.”

“Good work,” Ruby said genuinely. Gabe was clearly better with suspects than he was with witnesses and family members. “So, we’ve eliminated her as the perpetrator, but that doesn’t mean she’s not an accomplice.”

Gabe nodded, his posture straighter than normal. It was like the day had tapped into his more militaristic training.

“She sure was chatty,” Gabe said. “If she was involved, she may not have even known.”

Ruby studied Thorne, considering Gabe’s words. Despite the time that had past, Thorne still remained fairly composed. Other people may have devolved into fidgety nervousness, but that was not true of Alannah Danes’s ex.

“Well, let’s see if we can’t leverage that against Thorne,” Ruby said, even as she lingered in front of the glass.

“Ready?” Gabe asked. Ruby wanted to see what waiting did to Thorne, but apparently waiting also had an effect on Gabe.

“Ready enough,” she said.