Blood List(37)

The three of them watched Jerri smooth her skirt and sit across from Paul Renner. After a few calculated moments arranging her notepad and pens, she looked up at Paul. "Mr. Renner, this isn't a standard interrogation, as it's at your request. You claim to have information to provide. Please begin."

Doug Goldman stood near the door. A practiced look of complete boredom as he leaned into the wall typically had even experienced perps assuming he was there for muscle or intimidation. In truth, Doug did provide bulk when necessary, but his keen mind had already begun examining Paul's body language and mannerisms.

"Seven people," Paul said. "A man hired me to assassinate seven different people. He's hired at least one other person to kill two more. He made efforts to conceal his identity, and I don't think that he knows that I know it was the same guy each time, and there is, as far as I can tell, no rhyme or reason to the targets.

"I'm going to give you the targets' names." He paused for a drink of water. Unless Renner was stupid, and Gene had no reason to believe he was, he knew full well that once he gave them names they might change their minds and put him away forever.

Jerri interjected. "How do you know he hired another killer for these other two jobs?"

"That, I'm not going to tell you. If it makes less paperwork for you, pretend I did them," Renner said. Jerri motioned for him to continue. Behind the glass, Marty sneered. Gene put his finger to his lips and kept watching.

"And?" she asked.

"And I need you to use your fancy databases to find the link," Paul said.

"Mr. Renner," Jerri began with her first scripted question. "Sometimes the insane will pick targets at random. What makes you so sure there's a pattern here?"

"No one, not even the richest of the filthy stinking rich, spends fifty-thousand dollars a pop killing people at random. There's no such thing as a psychotic who hires out his killings. That means there's a pattern, and I just don't see it. The only thing I know that they all have in common is that they're all over forty."

Marty, Gene, and Carl shared knowing glances, having plenty of first-hand experience with how difficult it was to find a pattern to Paul's kills. "Let's start with the most recent contract," Jerri's voice came through the glass.

"The most recent contract, or the most recent completed contract?"

"Part of the pattern may be the timeline itself, so let's start with the most recent event and move backward." Gene knew that Jerri deliberately avoided words like "murder"' and "killing." Let him use them all he wants, he thought. But there's no sense putting him on the defensive. Not yet, anyway.

"The last time I was called I turned down the job. It was for a retired guy in Lincoln, Nebraska," Paul began. He fingered one of the electrodes stuck to his chest and frowned at the mirror. "His name is Kevin Parsons."

Sam broke in through their ear-beads. "Paul, do you know his street address?"

"271 Hawkes Drive," he said with annoyance, though Gene couldn't tell what annoyed him.

"One moment," Sam said. After a brief pause, she rattled off information into their ears. "Okay, got him. Kevin Sean Parsons. Born May 17th, 1945…." Her voice trailed off. "A missing persons report was filed on him seven months ago. He never showed up for church. His house was destroyed. Arson. Is Mr. Renner sure he turned that job down?"

Renner looked even more annoyed. "I'm sure."

Sam was obviously lost in thought, so Jerri jumped back in. "What date were you contacted for this contract?"

"This past June. I think the 22nd or 23rd."

"Do you remember the time of day?"

"Not really," Paul said. "It's just a text to a cell phone. I don't even check it every day."

Jerri continued with question after question. Even though they recorded all interrogations, she wrote down every detail in stenographer's shorthand. "The contract that preceded Kevin Parsons involved whom?"

"Larry Johnson."

It was as if the temperature had dropped by fifteen degrees. "Here we go," Carl whispered to Marty as Gene looked through the glass.

"And how did you eliminate Mr. Johnson?" Jerri asked.

"You know damn well I didn't get him. You interrupted me."

"But…." Jerri hesitated. "What about the psychotic break?"

Paul leaned forward, his eyebrows raised. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jerri looked at the mirror, then back at Paul. "You're telling me that you didn't kill him while he was in custody?"

Paul's eyes widened. "No, I didn't even know he was dead. My employer must have found someone else."