Page 22 of Girl, Empty
‘Follow me,’ said Riggs.
***
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department had a patio area, complete with potted plants and a stone dolphin in a bird bath that cycled water.Ella was momentarily disoriented by this collision of domesticity and law enforcement, but then she turned her attention to the security guard hunched at the table.
‘Mr.West, these are the FBI agents I told you about,’ said Riggs.‘Agents, this is Terrence West.’
Terrence gave them a nod.‘Alright, ladies.I’ll tell you the whole story but it won’t be any different from the last two times I told it.’
Ella gestured to Riggs.‘It might, because we’ve got something else this time.’
Riggs placed his laptop on the table in front of Terrence.‘This is the security footage from the building.Can you talk us through it as it happens?’
Terrence abruptly pulled out a packet of cigarettes and slammed them down.‘You want me to look at the dead body of a guy I’ve worked with for nine years?Again?’
The frustration and anger was good.Guilty people usually went straight to being helpful and cooperative, but the innocent ones had room for ordinary responses to horror.
‘There were no cameras in Michael’s office, so you won’t see his body,’ Ella said.‘But sometimes the details can bring up something we might have missed earlier.’
‘Fine,’ Terrence said, ‘but I need a coffee before I do this.My throat is dry as a bone.’
‘Be right back,’ said Riggs as he disappeared back into the precinct.When the door shut behind him, Terrence gestured for Ella and Ripley to come closer.
‘I know what you’re thinking, but I had nothing to do with this,’ Terrence said.
‘We never said you did.’
‘You don’t have to say it.I know how it looks.Just me and Michael alone in that building, and I’m the only one with a keycard that accesses the whole place.’
‘Is that right?’
‘Yeah.I mean, it still logs me coming and going, but I have free reign.I must be a suspect.’
‘You are,’ Ripley said, ‘but there’s a big difference between suspicion and guilt.’
‘Good.’
‘Unless you have a reason to want Michael Rankin dead.’
‘No!’Terrence snapped.‘I liked the guy.It was just me and him most nights.I’d go as far as saying we were friends.’
‘Anyone else at Morrison & Associates have a grudge against him?Any enemies?’
‘Doubt it.Rankin might have been a top-floor suit, but he was one of the good ones.Always had time for the little guys.I know all the goss in that place, and no one had a bad word to say about him.’
Ella and Ripley exchanged a look.As bittersweet as it was, she hoped that wasn’t true, because a random victim made for a much more difficult investigation.If someone had a tangible reason to kill Rankin, then such things would have a mental trail.‘Talk us through what happened, please.’
‘It started with the lights.They were flickering off and on, so I went and checked the electrical system in the maintenance closet right behind my station.Everything was normal, so nothing had tripped, I know that much.’
Ella made a mental note.The killer hadn’t tripped the lights by hand.‘How long were you in there?’
‘Two minutes max.’
‘Got it.And then?’
‘I got back to my station and checked the cameras.I have a grid which shows every feed at once, right?And one of them was just static.’
‘Just one?’Ella asked.
