“What about the girl?”

“She ran into the woods.”

“The boy who attacked her—was this the same person you heard near you? The one who was smoking marijuana?”

Jones thought about it. “No.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. You know what that park was like in the summer, Lieutenant. There were lurkers everywhere.”

“What about Laura?” Stride asked. “Did you go after her when she ran?”

“Of course. I wanted to see if she was all right. That was foolish of me, I know. In her state, she probably didn’t even realize who had attacked her. She could easily have assumed it was me. Not many white teenage girls like to find a large black man chasing them through the woods anyway.”

“Did you take the baseball bat with you?”

“No, I left it behind.”

“Weren’t you afraid the boy would come after you with it?”

“He wasn’t in much shape to follow me.”

“You’re certain you didn’t take the bat,” Stride repeated.

“Yes.”

“The police matched your fingerprints to it.”

“Like I told you, I picked it up. I hit the boy.”

“Laura was killed with that bat,” Stride said. “The police found it near her body on the beach almost a mile away. How did it get there?”

“Obviously, someone carried it, but not me.”

“Do you have any idea who could have done that?”

“No, but I already told you that someone else was in the woods.”

“Could Laura have taken the bat with her?”

“No, she just ran.”

“You said you followed her,” Stride said. “What happened then?”

Jones steepled his fingers under the folds of his chin. “First, let me ask you something. Do you still consider me a suspect?”

“Yes.”

“At least you’re honest.”

“You were there. Your fingerprints are on the murder weapon. You fled the city.”

“I’ve explained all of those things.”

“Except I have no way of knowing if you’re telling the truth,” Stride said. “Keep going. Tell me about Laura.”

Jones settled into the plastic-and-steel airport chair, which groaned in protest under his weight. “At first, I thought I had lost her. I thought she had made her way out of the park.”

“Did you find her?”

“Yes, the trail wound along the lake to another beach. I saw her there.”

“Did you speak to her?” Stride asked.

“Oh, no, she had no idea I was there.”

“Was this the beach where her body was found?”

“I assume so.”

“But she was alive?”

“Very much so.”

“Did she have the bat with her?”

“I told you, no.”

“Then what happened?”

“I left.”

“Just like that?” Stride asked.

“The girl was safe. There was nothing else I could do. I wasn’t going to help her by announcing myself.”

“We found semen at the edge of the clearing near the beach. Was it yours?”

His eyebrows arched. “Semen? No.”

“Did you go back to the softball field?”

“No, I took a different trail and left the park.”

“Did you meet anyone else? Did you see the other person you thought was in the woods?”