Page 37 of The Truth You Told

“I get it,” Pierce said, though there was a sharpness to his voice that hadn’t been there before. This had to be hard on him. He had been the lead agent on the Alphabet Man case, of course. But what was moreimportant was that he’d led the investigation into Shay’s death. The fact that Kilkenny didn’t trust the results must hit like a personal blow.

If it got out that Kilkenny was down here because of the new information released by Kate Tashibi, it could tarnish Pierce’s reputation as well. Cynically, Raisa wondered if that was the reason Pierce wanted to take a hands-on approach here. He could make sure he tilted this in a way that would reflect best on him.

Or maybe he just wanted to help an old friend, and Raisa was being a judgmental dick.

Probably it was a little of both, as most things were.

Pierce’s attention slid to her for the first time. His expression turned speculative, and she didn’t blame him. Her friendship with Kilkenny was so new, it hadn’t made it to the Bureau’s gossip grapevine. “Agent Susanto. A pleasure to have you in Texas again.”

There was a question in the space following the greeting, but Raisa didn’t rush to fill it. She didn’t care if people talked or speculated. That was none of her business, and she had the track record to keep the whispers just that.

“Good to be back,” she said. “Are you joining the interrogation?”

They moved as one toward the front gates.

“If you’ll have me,” Pierce said.

Of course they would have him. There had been a narrative built around the idea of the Alphabet Man versus FBI agent Callum Kilkenny. It had an appealing cinematic quality to it—a real-life showdown between an expert psychologist and a serial-killer mastermind. But as it often did, mythology had flattened reality into black and white. In truth, Pierce may have even known Conrad better than Kilkenny did.

After all, Pierce had been the point person receiving reports from the entire task force, not just Kilkenny. Kilkenny may have done a deep dive into the killer’s psyche, but he’d also flown in and out of the case, coming to Houston only as needed. Pierce had probably lived and breathed the Alphabet Man investigation for five years straight.

“You think he’s lying?” Raisa asked Pierce once they got through the prison’s security process.

“Of course. Conrad loves getting attention from both the media and Kilkenny,” Pierce said. “I’m sure he wants to have one last confrontation with Kilkenny.” He paused, thoughtful. “Honestly, I think this might be the cherry on the top. He really just wanted back in the spotlight. Now people are buzzing about this miniseries. He might even think he can magic up a stay with this.”

The idea slammed into her, not because it was shocking but because she felt a little foolish for not thinking of it herself. She could tell from Kilkenny’s expression that he hadn’t traveled down that path, either.

It made sense, though. If Conrad could convince Kilkenny that he had information on Shay’s death, there was a chance in some universe that either Kilkenny or Pierce would want to keep him alive until they figured out the whole mess.

Would buying a day, a week, a month appeal so strongly to Conrad that he would lie about his victim count?

Still ... there were the letters.

Her science proved that he was telling the truth, or at least part of it.

“Did any other suspects come up during the investigation into Shay’s death?” Raisa asked, as they settled into the interview room they’d been assigned.

Pierce leaned against the wall closest to the door. He briefly met Kilkenny’s eyes before returning his attention to Raisa. “The Alphabet Man left the first letter with her car.”

“So you didn’t investigate anyone else?” Raisa pressed, not to be antagonistic but because she needed a clear answer.

“No,” Pierce said. “We knew we had three days to find Shay. We didn’t want to waste time with anything else.”

As much as field agents wanted to dismiss her experience sometimes, Raisa wasn’t a newbie to task forces. The one in Houston would have been up and running for four years by the time Shay was taken.There would have been a few spare men to chase down speculative leads, no matter how wild.

At least that’s how well-organized task forces operated, and she’d always been under the impression that Pierce’s fell under that category.

Perhaps she’d been wrong there.

“There was nothing to suggest someone could be framing the Alphabet Man?” Raisa asked.

“Everything matched his MO,” Pierce said, a muscle in his jaw ticking.

She wasn’t even interrogating him, not really, and he was getting annoyed.

“But all of that was public knowledge,” Raisa said. “I know you wouldn’t have been able to tell the letters were different at the time—”

“What?” Pierce cut in.

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