Page 45 of So Savage

She watched his face to see if her reacted to their names, or to the confirmation that Delgado was dead.He might not know that Delgado was still alive, but he might, and his reaction might show that and confirm that they had their killer.

He didn’t react.

“Did you kill them?”Faith asked.

A flicker of emotion crossed his face, a sort of bitter amusement.”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, it matters,” Faith replied.“It matters very much.”

"No, I mean, does it matter if I answer?If I tell you I didn't, will you believe me?"

“We’ll look at all of the evidence and make a determination,” Marcus replied.“It will help us very much if you tell us the truth.”

James gave Marcus a brief, sarcastic smile.“No.I didn’t kill them.”

“Can you account for your whereabouts last night?”Faith asked.

“No.I can’t account for my whereabouts for the past three months.I’ve been homeless for five months, and the shelters fill up fast during winter.I’ve been living at my old property on Beakman Road where your officers picked me up.”

“You still own the property?”

“No, I foreclosed on it years ago, but the bank’s never bothered to do anything with it.”

“They’ve just let it lie fallow?”

“I don’t know what fallow means, but they haven’t touched it.”

Faith frowned.“I don’t believe that.They wouldn’t just let a property sit like that so they can pay property taxes on something that’s not making them any money.”

"They would if they wanted to list it as an asset for tax purposes," James countered.He shrugged."But I don't know if that's the reason.I just need a place to sleep where I can get out of the cold, and that's the best place I can find right now."

“And you were there last night?”

“Every night for the past five months.But I can’t prove it because no one sees me there.No one sees me at all.”He smiled sourly.“I’m the world’s most invisible giant.”

Faith shared a grim look with Marcus.That could complicate things a little.True, without an alibi, James couldn’t prove his innocence, but it would be difficult for them to prove guilt just because he lived in an abandoned building that was out of the way.

And she hadn’t found any weapons or darts there.That seed of doubt was germinating again.

“I understand you had an encounter with one of our victims,” Marcus said.“Miss Delgado.Can you explain what happened?”

“If I knew who she was, maybe,” James replied.

He was being sarcastic now.Faith decided to call him out on that and see how he reacted.She leaned forward and held his eyes."This isn't funny, James.It's not a joke to us.People are dead, and hearing you taunt them makes me think that you don’t care about the fact that they’re dead.Or maybe you’re happy that they’re dead.”

“It’s the first one,” James replied.“I don’t care that they’re dead.The world doesn’t care about me, so I don’t feel a need to care about them.”

Marcus cleared his throat.“Miss Delgado is a K9 handler who visited the practice of Dr.Nathan Hayes with her Dobermann.From what we understand, you and Miss Delgado got into an altercation.”

James eyes widened."Oh yeah.I remember that now.She had a Dobermann whose hips were already showing signs of arthritis at five years old."His hands slowly closed into fists."Five years old, and the dog needed to be put on medication for the rest of its life.That's just bullshit.It's animal abuse, but we accept it because, hey, they help the military.Why risk humans getting killed when you can just kill dogs?"

His eyes fell to Turk."That's a pretty nasty scar your dog has," he told Faith."He gets that in a fight with a suspect?"

“Yes.”

James nodded.“Then you’re a piece of shit.”

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