Page 80 of Forever Dark
Connor shifted forward.“You said some of these people are fragile.That means you know more about their histories than you’re admitting.”
“I know what they choose to confess.Nothing more.”
“You keep records of those confessions?”
“No.And if I did, I wouldn’t give them to you.We have payroll records, fuel receipts, permits, the usual things required by the world.That’s not the same as me keeping files on wounded souls.”
“Payroll means names at least,” Connor said.
“And you’re not getting those tonight, my son.”
The reply came mild as cream.
Selena took over again and pushed harder, asserting pressure where she felt it was needed.“And what aboutyou.Where were you on the seventh and ninth?The nights Brenda Colter and Lauren Gimble were killed?”
“In this bus.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“No driver?No assistant?”
Croft smiled without showing teeth.“I value solitude more than people imagine.”
“Can anyone confirm you stayed here all night?”
“No one watched me as I slept, but my security team stays outside the bus and would have seen me if I’d gone.”
Connor let out a quiet breath through his nose.“Convenient.”
Croft’s expression did not change.“You asked, Sheriff.”
Selena said, “Did you leave the grounds at any point?”
“No.”
“Did anyone see you here?”
“Perhaps.I don’t keep watch over who keeps watch over me.”
“You ever visit members of your flock outside of the revival?”Selena inquired.
“Not that I recall.”
Connor grimaced.“You don’t seem to recall a lot.”
“Memory is not a filing cabinet, Sheriff.”
“No,” Selena answered.“But guilt tends to dull it.”
That one drew the first true pause from him.
Only a second.Enough.
Croft lowered his head a fraction, then looked back up with hurt so measured it almost impressed her.“If you’re asking whether I had anything to do with these deaths, the answer is no.I’m devastated by them.I will pray for those women, and for whoever loved them, and for the soul of the monster who did this.But I will not confess to a crime I did not commit simply because disbelievers like yourselves wish to make a villain of a preacher.”
Footsteps sounded in the corridor.Light ones this time.The door opened before Selena could look back.
