Page 80 of Secrets in the Dark
“They were going to bring our canine corps out last night,” Edmund said. “Except we need something for the dogs to go on.”
“Too bad he wasn’t a major player in Stacey’s movie,” Della mused. “We’d have his costume.”
“François and I will be relentless today, I promise,” Sean said. “We’ll go from theater to theater. Maybe he did have a role that needed a costume in one of the movies or shows being filmed or even at a theater—and hopefully one where everything worn hasn’t been dry-cleaned already.”
“Edmund, you’re heading with Della and Mason to question Rick Fields?” François asked.
Edmund nodded. “I’d like to observe while they question.”
“When we finish with him, we’ll join you on the streets,” Mason promised.
They left the house and split up, Edmund driving to the station where Rick Fields was being held. They were assured that Stacey had police protection and that Fields had been under observation since he’d arrived. He’d refused any kind of legal counsel, saying he hadn’t done anything.
He’d accepted coffee twice but slept with his head on the table in the interrogation room most of the time he’d been there.
When Mason opened the door to the room, allowing Della in before him, Rick Fields lifted his head, blinking.
He’d obviously been dozing on the table.
“How long are you going to keep me here?” he demanded. “I told you it was all a joke. Listen, I needed the money for my rent. And you know I wasn’t going to hurt her,” he said. “You know that I had a silly prop knife, and no, I didn’t steal it—I got it from Kenneth Rippon!”
“Mr. Fields,” Della said quietly. “You may be young and foolish or you may be one of his accomplices.”
“Accomplice!” the young man said, looking from one of them to the other.
“Kenneth Rippon, AKA Lucas Braden, AKA Jesse Miller is a murderer, Mr. Fields. He killed one of the vampire victims, he’s entertaining himself with all his missives about his upcoming murders to the media, and we believe that he did commit the Ripper murder.”
“Oh, no, no, no. I couldn’t even give my dog an insulin shot for diabetes, I had to give him to my sister. I couldn’t really put a knife or—or my teeth, I guess, into anyone! Hey, ask Stacey! Ken—or whatever his name really is—comes off as one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Like not a sap, but really great to others, and he could have everyone laughing while we were just doing some of the endless waiting you can do on a movie set. Ask Stacey, please!”
“I’m afraid that at the moment, Stacey is under guard—and terrified,” Della said.
“No, no, I’m so sorry!”
“But you’re telling us that you were supposed to scare her,” Mason said.
“Right, but not... I mean, I would have told her right away—I was supposed to scare her just enough so that she wouldn’t be careless. I didn’t mean to...mess up her life. Stacey is great, so nice, so good to everyone, I mean... She’s just nice, if you’re a star or an extra.”
“She is a very nice young woman,” Della said. “But I am afraid that she's going to suffer for this.”
“It might have been a lot worse,” Mason said flatly.
“Worse? What do you mean?” Fields asked.
“Please!” Mason said. “We just told you the man is a murderer.”
Fields shook his head. “I just—I just can’t believe it!”
“You can’t be that naive,” Della said softly.
“I don’t get you—it wasn’t that big a deal. Hey, I didn’t make her follow me out—I didn’t drag her! And you know that I didn’t mean harm—”
Mason shook his head impatiently. “One more time. The man is a murderer. He wants to go down in history as a killer more heinous and brutal than Jack the Ripper. He had you lure her out—so that he could kill her.”
“What?”
Rick Fields truly looked stunned. But could he really be so innocent?
“Mr. Fields, whether you want to believe it or not, the man you know as Ken Rippon is really Jesse Miller, and he is a murderer. That is a fact, whether you accept it or not. He had you get her out to that alley so that he could swoop in and take over. He knows that Stacey would recognize him—no matter what disguise he might choose for a night. Now, what we need to know is where is he staying?”
