What Burns Within (46 page)

“And then I suppose you’d want me to explain why anyone was up there and prove what they were doing and that it was legitimate business.”

Ashlyn glanced at Craig, and he looked back at her, shrugging slightly. Just then, the front door opened.

“Hey, babe, I managed to fit that job in early, so I stopped and got us some…”

The words stopped as soon as Bob walked into the living room and saw Craig and Ashlyn sitting across from Michelle.

“Make yourself right at home,” Craig said. This time when he glanced at Ashlyn, he watched her eyes widen and then narrow. She clenched her teeth and looked at Michelle.

“It would seem you have some explaining to do, Mrs. Bohner.”

“You can’t do this,” Alex Wilson squawked.

“We can, and we are,” Tain told him. “Look here. It says we have the right to seize all photographic equipment, films, photo albums, video tapes, DVDs, CDs that might be storing photos, your cell phone—”

“Oh, and you’re under arrest,” Sims said.

“On what charge?”

“We found your pictures on the Internet. Distributing child pornography. Not only something that even BC judges are known to frown on occasionally, but something that will earn you a special place in the hearts of your fellow inmates. They’ve got their own little scale of filth, and this will put you right at the bottom.”

“Where you belong,” Sims added.

“You babysit him, Sims. I’ll watch these guys.” Tain turned to find himself nose to nose with Greg.

“You can’t call my guys and hassle them about your cases,” Greg told him.

“The hell I can’t. I’m still waiting on prints from the fire scene. The one where Ashlyn almost killed herself to get that evidence. Shit, Greg, we think he’s going to kill another girl this week. That means in a matter of days we’ll have another body on our hands and another fire.”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m trying to make your life difficult, Tain. It’s just the way things are. We’re swamped. Short staffed, operating under what should be our standard bud get, overworked…What the hell do you want me to do about it?”

“Look, Greg, I go over your head on something like this, it isn’t personal. The only thing I care about right now is solving this case before we’ve got another dead child to deal with.”

“Then do me a favor and try not to shut down a porn distribution network between then and now. Couldn’t you have waited a few fucking days for this?”

They’d been walking through the house, surveying the search when they stepped into a back room, the mother load. Walls of videos, dated and labeled, photo albums, stages for posing kids on…

“Overworked and operating under bud get,” Greg said, shaking his head as he looked around. “Who the hell is going to cata log all of this?”

“Jesus,” Tain said, feeling his stomach drop.

“Somehow, I doubt he’ll be up for it,” Greg muttered.

Daly groaned. “What?”

“They’ve been having an affair. She said it goes back to her husband’s days with the fire department.”

“Then why cry rape?”

“Seems the neighbor heard a lot of…noise,” Ashlyn said as she passed Craig and Daly their drinks and sat down, her lip curling. “Michelle was afraid her husband would hear about it and start asking questions. Not even dumb enough to think about the fact that she’s got the guy strolling in the front door in broad daylight.”

“So she lies and says she’s been raped. She wasted police resources and manpower….” Daly shook his head. “What do you want to do about this?” he asked Craig.

Craig shrugged. “It’s your call. She definitely deserves to be charged for filing a false report. Waste of man hours, money.”

“So what’s next for you two?”

“Well, we’ve eliminated the department repairman as a suspect.”

“Good work, Craig. That’s stellar progress,” Daly said dryly.

“I get the bed all to myself to night,” Ashlyn added.

Daly looked like he’d stuck a wedge of lemon in his mouth.

“What Ashlyn means is that I’m on night shift, so this is the first real opportunity anyone would have to come after her.”

Daly nodded, his mouth still twisted.

“I’ve got a list I’m working on,” Ashlyn said. “So far, nothing’s really jumping in the name check with the department.”

“Well, I hope you can come up with something, and fast. Tain and Sims have gone to arrest Alex Wilson.” Daly glanced at his watch. “Good work on that, Ashlyn. I have to go.”

After Daly left, Ashlyn asked, “Is it just me, or does he seem unusually tense?”

“Probably just doesn’t want to think about us sleeping together.”

“Well, to night he doesn’t have to.”

“No. Tonight he has even worse things to think about.”

“So, Alex. It looks like we have a lot to talk about.”

“I’ve got nothing to say.”

“Well, not that it matters much. Your private video collection speaks volumes.”

Tain sank down into the chair across from Alex Wilson and leaned back, arms folded across his chest. Sims was leaning against the wall, watching.

“You’ve got no right…”

“Oh, but we do, Alex. Remember the search warrant? Signed by a judge. We’ve got hard evidence, linking you to distribution of child porn via the Internet, as well as your own personal collection.”

“Not to mention the reason you lost your job,” Sims added.

Alex’s head jerked up then, and when he saw their faces, his shoulders sagged.

“Williams won’t talk.”

“He already did,” Tain told him.

“I knew I should have just walked away. I knew…” Alex’s jaw clenched, and he looked back down at the table.

“Of all the people to be in the park that day, it just happened to be you. There you were, probably jerking off in the bushes while you watched the little boys at the playground, and out of nowhere this blond, curly-haired boy appears, all alone.”

“Opportunity like that, you’ve got to jump on it,” Sims said.

“Couldn’t let him walk away on his own.”

“You never know what might have happened to him,” Alex mumbled.

“You mean what might have happened that would have been worse than having you take advantage of him and make photos for perverts with his face on them?”

“Not the same as those girls,” he responded, the thin voice barely above a whisper.

“Fuck, no. But bad enough that this little boy’s dad is already worried about his missing daughter, and now he’s got to hear about this.”

“He gets his hands on you, he’s liable to string you up by your balls,” Sims said.

Alex turned white. “I…I should probably call a lawyer.”

“That’s your right. And believe me, with everything we’ve got on you, you won’t be going anywhere.” Tain leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “You know, the first time I set eyes on you, I knew there was something odd about you. Never really liked you for taking the girls, but you smelled of fear.” He leaned back. “I imagine that’s how you’ll be smelling for a lot of years to come. Boys inside are going to love you.”

“That’s sick, you know. You people are so full of yourselves, saying you’re supposed to uphold the law, then taunting me about getting raped in jail.”

“We uphold the law for law-abiding citizens. You cross the line, you’re on my ‘don’t give a shit’ list. Scum like you gets raped in jail, some might call that justice.” Tain stood. “Come on, Alex. We’ll send you down for processing and make sure you get your lousy phone call.”

They’d barely started walking down the hall when the officers Tain had asked to pick up Doug Fisher came in with him, leading him toward an interview room.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes,” Sims told them. “Maybe you could get him a drink, get Mr. Fisher settled while he waits?”

Tain felt Alex’s arms tense and he looked at Doug, who’d lost all color when he set eyes on Alex Wilson. Tain couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but he felt his gut twist.

He walked a bit faster, nudging Alex forward and out of Doug’s line of sight.

Ashlyn rubbed her forehead with both hands, her elbows propped against the desk.

“Is it that bad?” she heard Craig ask from the doorway.

“There’s no way I’ll get this reporter to take me seriously. I haven’t got a guy with a record anywhere on this list, other than Bob.”

“A record that we know about.”

“Well, ones I don’t know about aren’t doing me much good, are they?”

“What about guys in the right age range for a juvenile record?”

“There are too many. I can’t give him a list of three dozen suspects. It will look like I haven’t got a legal leg to stand on, and I don’t.”

“Parts of this case have been a bit of a nightmare.”

“Which parts?”

“Mainly, working with Lori.”

“Couldn’t have been too much fun to have to deal with her as a victim either.”

“It was a hell of a lot easier than working with her, and I feel like a jerk for saying that.”

She looked at him for a moment. “You’re just being honest, and it’s only me here. I know you well enough to know you aren’t trying to be cruel.”

He looked away from her and drew a deep breath. “Then you’ll understand when I tell you I want you to carry this with you everywhere. I don’t care if you’re just going to the bathroom.” He set the device, similar to a pager but with an activation panel on the side, down on the desk, still not looking at her. “You hit 911 and the guys monitoring you will be here instantly. And I want you to keep the bedroom door locked. Once you’ve cleared that space, protect yourself. The idea isn’t to get you hurt.”

“We don’t even know this guy will come after me,” she said. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

He put his hand over hers and did look at her then, straight in the eyes. “All the same, I want you to promise me.”

“You going to call and check up on me too?”

“Just promise me you’ll do as I ask,” he repeated quietly.

There’d been moments when she’d seen Craig be assertive, slam a door so hard it almost separated from its hinges, or be completely enraged, but it was the quiet in his voice, the fear in his eyes that was worse than anything she’d seen him dish out before. She could argue against his stubborn streak, but not this.

She nodded, taking the personal alarm and putting it in her pocket. “I’ll be careful, Craig. I promise.”

Tain frowned. “Did you see the way Alex and Doug looked at each other?”