Page 118 of The Woman Left Behind

And Christ, that fucking smirk, he wanted it to remove it from his face.

Physically.

“Okay then,” Rus said easily, making it clear why he was in there with Dern, and Harry wasn’t. Rus looked back down at the file and kept his eyes there. “You also interviewed their nineteen-year-old daughter, Lillian, at her home that same day.”

“If you say so.”

Rus looked at him. “You did. Her parents were released with a warning not to leave town. Upon attempting to pick them up for another interrogation after you got their prints and compared them to the ones at the scene, on May nineteenth, you found they’d skipped town. On that same day, you brought Lillian Rainier to the station and interrogated her for five hours. She repeatedly made the same statement she made on her first interview, a statement that fully corroborated the ones of her parents.”

Dern said nothing, just glared at Rus.

“What did you do on May eighteenth?” Rus asked.

Dern’s eyebrows twitched, and as far as Harry could read, they did this in confusion and surprise at the question.

“Again, what did you do May eighteenth?” Rus pressed.

“And again, I’ll say that was a long fuckin’ time ago. So, fuck if I remember,” Dern replied.

“I just ran a timeline down for you,” Rus pointed out. “May sixteenth, a major crime was reported, cars, guns, jewelry and other valuables to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars were missing. May seventeenth, you interrogated two suspects and interviewed their daughter. May nineteenth, you received word there was more evidence to indicate your suspects did it, you went to pick them up, they were gone, you interrogated their daughter. There’s a day missing there, Leland. This isn’t LA county. You didn’t have fifty robberies reported every day. You must remember what happened that day.”

“Well, I don’t,” Dern clipped.

Harry tensed.

And Rus went for it.

“That’s really too bad, since the night of May eighteenth, someone murdered Simon and Avery Rainier in Idaho.”

Dern’s entire body bucked in his chair, his eyes went huge, and his attorney held up a hand Rus’s way.

“I want a moment alone with my client,” he demanded.

“Take all the time you need,” Rus told him, gathering the file and standing. “He’s not going anywhere. The Feds are on their way, and they want time with him. We’ll be getting to that tomorrow.”

“You’re holding him?” the attorney asked.

Rus shot the attorney a penetrating scowl. “I got a clear frameup, obvious insurance fraud and two dead bodies, and the man sitting here who was found guilty of corrupting his office was the lead investigator on the case. Hell yes, I’m holding him.”

“Nothing’s clear or obvious,” the attorney retorted. “Sounds to me my client had purpose to pursue the Rainiers.”

“Then you don’t know your client had a reputation for harassing and badgering women he found attractive, using the resources of this department to punish those who didn’t fall for his charms. And Avery Rainier was one of those women.”

The attorney’s face got red.

Rus turned to Dern, and an expression came over Rus’s face the like Harry had never seen on his friend, and it gave even him a shiver.

“She wanted nothing to do with you not just because you’re all the nasty that’s you, but because she loved her husband. For some twisted reason, you couldn’t handle that. So you set Sonny up. You set Avery up. You picked them. You. And you delivered them to the Dietrichs. Which means you’re responsible for their deaths, you miserable fuck.”

With that, Rus left the room.

Harry and Cade turned to the door, so they saw Rus enter the observation room with them.

His eyes went right to Cade, but Harry’s didn’t.

“You good?” he asked Rus.

“I need a shower,” Rus answered.

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