Page 39 of Constant Risk
“What’s your plan?” Tanner asked.
“I’m going to get into the room where the interrogation cameras are kept. I can probably buy us a window of ten minutes. Nothing will be recorded in that time. I’m not saying to hurt him—I’m just saying be as persuasive as possible.”
Whitaker stopped walking and grabbed Penelope’s arm. “Pen. If you get caught, that could mean your badge. At the very least you won’t ever be doing detective work again.”
She shrugged. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take, especially if it means we’re not going to watch three women drown in some sick water coffin. That’s why I brought you guys rather than anybody else on the team. If I get caught and you two get busted, you’re going to get a slap on the wrist and sent back to Colorado. I didn’t want to take a chance with anyone else.”
Tanner nodded, understanding. He believed in the justice system, but sometimes when your hands were tied, you had to use whatever tools you could reach. They weren’t always the best, but they were the only option. “You buy us ten minutes. We’ll get as much as we can out of him.”
They came to a fork in the hallways.
“Wait for my text, then move as quickly as you can.” Penelope took the turn to the left, and he and Whitaker continued down to the interview room.
“I hope this doesn’t blow up in our faces,” Tanner muttered as they arrived at the outside door.
Whitaker shrugged and opened it. “Penelope has the most to lose. But yeah, I don’t want to see Elliot walking free because of a mistrial.”
They could see Elliot through the two-way mirror, picking his nails. He definitely looked less confident than when they’d interviewed him before. Bree’s words had spooked him.
A few seconds later Whitaker’s phone chimed. “That’s Penelope. Let’s do this.”
They walked inside.
“Where’s my lawyer?” Elliot asked.
“I’m sure he’ll be here any minute.” Tanner sat down across from Elliot this time and Whitaker stood up against the wall. “We’re not here in any official police capacity.”
Tanner took his badge out and slid it across the table.
Elliot studied it for a second. “That says Colorado.”
Tanner nodded. “That’s right. Whitaker and I both work in the Grand County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado. We have no jurisdiction here. We just want to talk person to person before your lawyer gets here. Nothing you say here is going to be admissible in court.”
“Look,” Whitaker added. “If your partners kill those women, you’re going down with them for conspiracy to commit. The only way to save yourself that charge is to tell us who and where they are.”
Elliot crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know.”
Tanner put his elbows on the table. “Don’t knowwhoor don’t knowwhere?”
“Both, okay? I met them online. I don’t know who they are and they don’t know who I am. We all agreed to some rules—patterns we all had to follow—and thought it would be a cool game.”
Whitaker took a step closer. “You thought it would be acool gameto drown women slowly in a coffin-sized box?”
Elliot shook his head wildly. “I wasn’t ever going to let her drown. She never saw my face. I was going to let it go on as long as possible, then let her go.”
Tanner slammed his hand down on the desk. “You turned the water on high when we infiltrated the building.”
“That was an accident, man!” Elliot squirmed in his seat. “I was trying to turn itoffwhen I found out you guys were coming but you got there quicker than I expected. I panicked and ran. I never wanted that woman to die.”
Whitaker walked forward and leaned all the way across the table into Elliot’s space. “What about Shelby Durrant and Kelly Quinn? Did youaccidentallykill them too?”
Elliot’s eyes grew big. “Who? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t kill anyone, man! I just wanted to mess with the cops. Get in and out of their system without them being able to trace me. That was how this all started. I wasn’t going to let her drown.”
Tanner glanced over at Whitaker. Damn it, he almost believed the kid.
“The other people, Elliot, your partners. Who are they?” Tanner demanded. “This is your one chance to do the right thing before your lawyer gets here and stops you from talking to everyone. Who are the other three people you’re working with?”
“I promise I don’t know. I don’t know their names or what they look like or where they’re doing their part of this. We met in an online chat room and—”
