A Killer's Watch (19 page)

“Yes, yes of course,” Graham stuttered for the first time.
“I’m happy to know that they are well.”

“I didn’t say they are well,” Jeri shook her head. “They are
both severely dehydrated, and Allison is showing early signs of starvation.
It’s good that they had a heater down there, or else they both would have
succumbed to hypothermia.”

“Well, that is good news,” Graham was the picture of
concern. “I would hate to think that anything bad happened to them.”

“Do you know Allison Wells, or Debra Post?” Jeri
deliberately misspoke Diana’s name.

“No, no I don’t.” Graham hid his smile as his confidence
bloomed. The woman couldn’t even get Diana’s name right, how would she ever
figure out that he was behind the crimes?

“Have you ever been to Fremont, Missouri?”

“Fremont? No, not that I recall.” Graham settled in to lie
his way out of there.

“What about Marsville, Kansas? Have you ever been there?”

“Marsville? I believe I may have passed through it on my way
to Nebraska, a time or two. But not recently.”

“Mr. Grant, can anyone besides your butler, Thomas,
corroborate your alibi for Tuesday night, of this week, and yesterday
afternoon?”

“No. As I told you, I was home, working with Thomas on the
household accounts yesterday afternoon. Mother may have seen us in the study,
but I can’t be sure.”

“And Tuesday night, around midnight?”

“Goodness, I was asleep by that time, of course.”

“So if your car was spotted in the parking lot of a club in
Smathers, Nebraska, you weren’t the one driving it?”

“My car? In Nebraska? Of course not,” Graham injected the
right amount of surprise into his response. “Are you saying that my car was
spotted, Agent?”

“Oh, I’m not an agent, Mr. Grant. Our company assists the
FBI, when needed. You can call me Ms. Forbes.” Jeri easily sidestepped
answering Grant’s question about the vehicle.

“You are not with the FBI? Is this interview even legal?”

“Of course, sorry for the confusion. Speaking with us is the
same as speaking with an agent, or with an officer. We all work for the same
team, we all want the same thing.” Jeri’s tone held a question, one that she
hoped Grant would jump on. Allying himself with them would be a natural step
for Grant to take.

“Of course, I want that as well. Whatever I can do to help,
Ms. Forbes, I will gladly do.” Graham was elated, but careful not to show it.
He was part of the team now, on the inside. He could guide the investigation to
its logical end, with minimum difficulty.

“Glad to hear it, Mr. Grant. Let’s get back to the girls.
You said that you did not know Allison or Debra, is that right?”

“Yes,” Graham tried to hide his smirk, he was unsuccessful.

“What about Shelby Torrent?”

“No, that name is not familiar to me. Why?”

“We found her dead on the side of the road in Clevestone. We
believe that the person who killed Shelby is the same man who abducted Allison
and Debra.”

“You think that Thomas killed someone?” Graham feigned the
required amount of shock. “Oh, my, I never would have believed it of him. Of
course, I would never have believed that he would be capable of kidnapping,
either. Or theft, for that matter.”

“How well did you know Thomas?”

“As well as one can know an employee. I trusted the service
who sent him to us, we hire all of our household help through the agency.”

“It sounds like you spent a lot of time with him, going over
the household accounts, and what not. What do you know about him personally?”

“Let’s see, I really hadn’t thought about it.” Graham
appeared to consider the question carefully. “I suppose you could say that he
was a strange duck, he rarely smiled, never spoke of himself, of course.”

“Why ‘of course’?”

“It simply isn’t done, Ms. Forbes. If you’ve ever had a
butler, or any household help, you would know that the first rule is to
maintain decorum. That includes keeping one’s personal life to one’s self.”
Graham nodded as if he were granting Jeri needed wisdom.

Ethan cleared his throat, but manage to remain silent.
Grant’s affected arrogance was getting to him.

“Thank you, Mr. Grant, for enlightening me,” Jeri smiled.
“I’ll keep that in mind, should I ever require the services of a household
staff.”

“Of course,” Graham nodded, not believing for a moment that
she would never be in such a position.

“So, you weren’t aware that Thomas was homosexual?”

“What? Thomas was homosexual? How do you know that?”

“We interviewed his family, just before we came in to speak
with you. Don’t you find it odd that someone who preferred the company of men,
would kidnap and rape teenage girls?” Jeri kept her voice even, made it seem
that she was actually asking for Grant’s opinion.

“I,I,I….I have no idea why Thomas would do such a thing,”
Grant finally sputtered. “I am not a psychiatrist.”

“No, no, neither am I,” Jeri agreed. “But I’ve never heard
of another case like this one, where a homosexual killer selects victims of the
opposite sex.” Jeri lied, but she wanted to rattle Grant as much as possible.
She didn’t stretch the truth too much, cases such as the one she described were
extremely rare.

Graham felt like he’d been hit with a two-ton truck. Thomas
was gay? How could that be? And how could he now spin it so that the cops would
continue to focus on Thomas, and not on himself?

“As I said, Ms. Forbes, I am not a psychiatrist. Perhaps you
should consult one to obtain an explanation.”

“Perhaps I will, Mr. Grant. Are you familiar with
iG
old?” Jeri threw the question at him with no
preamble.

“What?
IG
old? Isn’t
that some sort of internet currency?” Graham felt his stomach begin to form
into a knot. What did they know?

“Yes, it is. Do you have an
iG
old
account?”

“No, of course not. That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? Have you ever heard of the dark web?”

Graham swallowed hard, trying to assimilate his composure.

“Dark web? Is that some sort of homosexual term?” Graham
used the first thing that came to his mind.

“No, Mr. Grant. It’s an alternate internet, an underground
host of websites that are, shall we say, seedier, than the ones typically found
on the internet we are all familiar with,” Jeri explained, watching him
carefully. He was starting to sweat, she could see the water droplets beading
on his upper lip.

“I’ve never even heard of such a thing,” Graham shifted in
his seat as he spoke.

“Do you own a bank account in Samoa?”

“Ms. Forbes, I fail to see how my choice of bank is in any
way relevant to Thomas, or to this case.” Graham chose to deflect, so he could
think. How was it possible that they knew about his Samoan account? The bank
promised absolute privacy, or he would never have opened the account in the
first place. But the feds had their greedy hands in everything, he reminded
himself. It was possible that someone paid someone, and his information was
compromised.

“Oh, but it
is
relevant, Mr. Grant. You see, we’ve
discovered that whoever is responsible for kidnapping Allison and Debra, and
murdering Shelby, also sold the rights to watch his activities. The consumers
paid with iGold, with the proceeds eventually being routed to an account in
Samoa.”

Graham was stunned. How had they uncovered all of that? If
they knew that much, it was only a matter of time before they unraveled his
shell corporations, to discover that he was the sole owner.

She’s bluffing. The thought came to him in a moment of
clarity. Grabbing onto the possibility, he began to look at things logically.
If she knew that he was behind it, he would already be under the jail. She was
fishing for information, information that she would not get from him.

“That’s very interesting, Ms. Forbes. I was not aware that
Thomas was such a criminal genius. But I fail to see how that relates to my
personal business.”

“It’s all relevant, Mr. Grant.” Jeri kept her smile in
place, but she knew that she’d lost him. He was suddenly much too cool.
Thankfully, she had one more ace up her sleeve. “Are you aware that two
prostitutes were murdered, a week ago, and also left in Clevestone?”

“I may have heard something about it on the news,” Graham
hedged.

“Well, whoever purchased time with the prostitutes paid for
their services using iGold. The same iGold account that is connected to the
account in Samoa.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Graham held himself
very still.

“Nothing, unless you’re the killer,” Jeri grinned, spreading
her hands on the table.

“I’m surprised you haven’t asked the girls you rescued.
Can’t Allison and Diana tell you who kidnapped them?” Graham never realized that
he’d given himself away, in that moment.

“No, they are much too traumatized, as yet. But their help
will be invaluable, as soon as they’ve recovered. It’s amazing what kidnap
victims remember, once they’re out of danger, and the shock has worn off.” Jeri
didn’t call him on knowing Diana’s correct name. This interview was being
recorded, and Diana’s name had never been made public. It was the one bit of
proof she needed to confirm everything she believed about him.

“Well, if there’s nothing else you need from me, I really
should be on my way. I’m sure that my poor mother is equally traumatized, and I
should be at home, tending to her.” Graham stood to leave.

“Actually, there is one more thing, before you go,” Jeri
hated that she had no choice but to let him walk out. They had no evidence,
whatsoever, to dispute the fact that Thomas was the perpetrator. At least she
could try and make certain that he wouldn’t take any more girls, until they
could find evidence of his guilt. “We’ll be monitoring the situation closely,
as you can imagine. The video feeds from the cellar led us to a server,
bouncing signals all over the world. We have our best technicians working on
tracing the signal, and it’s only a matter of time before we trace it back to
the killer.”

“I know very little of such things, but I assume that the
trace would lead you to my home, if Thomas used my internet feed to orchestrate
everything.”

“Yes, we fully expect that. But if Thomas is on the run, as
you say, then he’ll tap into the server in another location. When he does,
we’ve got him.” Jeri lied, that was not the way it worked at all.

Graham paled. He had no idea if the feds had the capability
to backtrack, and isolate, a signal to a buried server. Was his entire
operation in jeopardy?

“And what does this have to do with me?”

“We would like your permission to monitor your internet
signal. Tech tells me that it’s possible for anyone to piggyback on your
service, from anywhere. It’s possible that Thomas will continue to use the
familiar setup, especially if he is still in the area.”

“What makes you think he’s still in the area? If I were him,
I would be long gone,” Graham grinned to cover his discomfort.

“He has other ties to the area,” Jeri offered, but did not
mention Clevestone. “So, do we have your permission? You did mention that you
wanted to help our investigation.”

“Yes, you have my permission,” Graham said, grudgingly.
“Now, may I leave?”

“Of course, you’re free to go. Please don’t leave the state,
unless you advise us first,” Jeri said, pleasantly. “As a witness to an ongoing
investigation, we may have more questions for you.”

“I’m not planning any trips out of state. Good day.” Graham
walked out of the interrogation room, his head held high.

“You have no idea how much I wanted to wipe that saccharine
smile off of that bastard’s face,” Jeri seethed as she and Ethan left the
police station.

“Oh, I think I do,” Ethan draped his arm around her as they
walked. “The most difficult part was letting him walk out of there.”

“Tell me about it. But the bastard was smart. He planted
evidence against the butler, and made sure that nothing led back to him.”

“We do have a few things on our side. The Samoan authorities
are at least considering giving us the account holder’s information. That’s
something. And Anna is still unraveling the
iG
old
information. Either of those things can lead us straight to Grant. Not to
mention the girls themselves. When they’re ready, they could tell us something
helpful.”

“They’ve already said that he wore a mask, that they never
saw his face.”

“What we need is Thomas the butler’s body. Maybe then we
could convince the District Attorney, the FBI, everyone who believes that
Graham Grant is innocent, that he’s really a devious psychopath.”

 “Do you really think that would be enough? His mother
called in favors from here to Washington, to get her son released. I’m surprise
that he agreed to speak with you for as long as he did.”

“He liked it, at first. He believes that he’s superior to
everyone, that he’s untouchable. But I know we rattled him with the Samoa
account, and with the
iG
old info. He’s smart
enough to know that if we know that much, it’s only a matter of time before we
get to him.”

“Why did he agree to let us monitor his internet?”

“He really didn’t have much of a choice. He’d already stated
that he wanted to help, so how could he deny us such a small favor?”

“You could tell he didn’t like it,” Ethan opened her car
door.

“As long as it keeps him from perving on other teenage
girls, I don’t care what he likes. You caught the part where he knew Diana’s
name, right?”

“Of course. Brilliant,” Ethan grinned as he slid in beside
her. “Too bad it’s not enough to convict him now.”

“His attorney will say that he heard a cop mention it. But
we know differently. Whatever doubt I may have had about his guilt, he squashed
in that moment.”