Page 49 of Wicked Deceptions
“No, it can’t. You have to come with me now.”
“I’m in the middle of an interrogation, Brady. I can’t just leave.”
“Sir, trust me. You need to come with me.”
Daniels shook his head. “Fine. Give me a minute.” He went back into the room and told the two women sitting there that he needed to excuse himself for a minute. He apologized for the inconvenience but said it was unavoidable. Daniels then closed the door behind him, leaving the two women with Officer Shark. He followed Brady to forensics.
When Daniels walked into the room, he saw the head lying on the table in the center of the room. As he approached, he could not believe what he was seeing. He really didn’t know what he expected to see when he looked at the woman’s head, since he had never seen a severed head before, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he had thought that perhaps there would be more life or expression in her face. But looking at the evidence before him, there was nothing. He glanced at her eyes, which were open and distant, almost faded. The blank stare would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Her skin was dirty with small holes in the flesh scattered around. He assumed it had been eaten away by maggots or bugs, but he really didn’t care to ask at this point. There was a large bruise and laceration on her left temple. He nodded, and thought to himself;well that explains how she died.His eyes traveled to the neck. It was a clean slice for the most part, with a few jagged edges around the spinal cord at the back of the neck. This surprised him as he expected more of a botched-up slice, especially if it was a woman who committed the murder. Lt. Daniels knew for sure it was a woman, and better still, Lt. Daniels now knew who that woman was.
How did he know this? Because the most astonishing thing about the head lying on the table before him was that he recognized her. The person that everyone thought was the Bunny Man was no fucking Bunny Man at all or Bunny Woman for that matter. Daniels believed he had known her well, but obviously he had been terribly wrong. It had all been a lie. How could he let this happen? He was always so careful, so sure of himself, and yet, it happened.
The thought caused bile to rise into his throat. His heart raced as he broke out into a cold sweat. The sight before him made him sick, and he quickly turned away. He felt like he was going to throw up, so he took several conscious breaths to calm his stomach.
He turned back toward Brady.
“Hate to say I told you so, but, well...” Brady said.
Daniels had to sit down. He walked to the chair on the side of the room and rubbed his temples. The shock of what lay on that table consumed him. He could not believe this. All his years in law enforcement and he never had been duped like this. Getting himself together, he got up from the chair and walked back to the severed head. “You’re sure that head belongs to Abigail Andrews?”
“Absolutely.” Brady looked like he had never been surer of anything in his life.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.Daniels had to stop and think about what his next move was going to be. He had to proceed carefully, or the murderer would slip through his hands, and he was not going to let that happen. He may have had the wool thrown over his eyes, but he was not going to let the murderer get away with it.
He walked slowly back to the interrogation room. After pausing at the door, he took a deep breath and then opened it. “I’m so sorry, ladies, for the interruption.”
Ms. Stone fidgeted in her seat. “I’m telling you I ain’t done nothing wrong!”
Calmly, Daniels spoke. “Officer Shark, will you please take Ms. Stone to another room and ask Officer Smith to join me here. I have some pertinent information that I need to share with Ms. Jordan, and I need an officer present to add it to the report.”
“Yes, sir.” He walked to Ms. Stone and said, “Ms. Stone, if you would come with me please.”
Irritated, she rose from her seat and walked out with Officer Shark. A few minutes later, Officer Smith came back into the room.
Daniels sat down. “So what’d you find?” Anna asked eagerly.
“Before I tell you, I’ve got a couple of questions. First, did you find out anything on Ms. Andrews’s sister?”
Without a care in the world, she shook her head. “No, everything came up dead. It’s as if she didn’t exist.”
Daniels nodded. “I see.” He looked down at the table and then back at Anna. “And you’re sure Ms. Stone is our murderer?”
“Oh yes, definitely. Hell, her fingerprints were on the murder weapon.” Anna seemed sure. Daniels wasn’t. In fact, Daniels knew Anna was lying.
“One more thing, Anna, before we bring Ms. Stone back in. Do you have any family?”
The look on Anna’s face went from eager FBI profiler helping with the case to something almost sinister, to say the least. He knew then his assumptions were correct. He had found his murderer, and it most definitely wasn’t Melanie Stone.
A satanic grin came across her face. “So you figured it out,” she cooed. The change in her demeanor and facial expression was almost terrifying.
“Yeah,” he said, disgusted. “We’ve found your sister’s head.”
He got up from his chair and began to pace. Wiping his hand over his face, he turned toward Anna. “I have to tell you, Anna, I’ve been involved in thousands of cases throughout my career and never have I been so surprised at the outcome of a case until now.”
She leaned back in her chair as if she were proud of herself, perhaps the fact that she had surprised him or perhaps the fact that she had finally been caught. He had no idea, but one thing he did know. She was going to give him answers, and she was going down for this.
He turned toward Officer Smith and said, “Cuff her,” and he turned back toward Anna as Officer Smith pulled out his cuffs.
