Page 81 of Secrets in the Dark
“Where is he staying?” Mason asked.
Rick Fields looked more confused than ever.
“Yes. Where is he staying?” Della repeated softy.
“I—I don’t know.”
“Then how did he pay you the two hundred pounds to lure her out of the pub?” Mason asked.
“Oh, he called me. And I met him and we had a pint and—”
“He called you?” Della interrupted.
“Yes, he called me.”
“We’re going to need to use your phone,” she said, removing it from her pocket. An officer had happily given it to her after it was initially confiscated from their suspect.
“My phone?” he said, startled. “I need my phone. I get work that way.”
“Well, you can’t do a lot of work in jail, anyway,” Della said gently.
“But I didn’t do anything!” he cried. “It was a joke, a prank—”
“That could have gotten a woman killed,” Mason reminded him. “Please, unlock your phone.”
“I haven’t been charged. I haven’t even asked for legal counsel because I swear, I’m innocent of trying to harm anyone and I swear that I didn’t even steal the prop knife!”
“We need to use the phone.”
Reluctantly, Rick Fields reached over and keyed in his passcode, tilting the screen so that they could see what it was.
He seemed to shrink into himself, looking very young, almost like a hungry child who had gotten in trouble for raiding the cookie jar.
Were his emotions real?
Della glanced at Mason. He knew that she wanted to talk to him—out of the room.
“Excuse us for just a minute,” he said.
“Wait, please! I’ve been here for hours and hours—”
“We’ll be right back,” Mason promised.
They headed out and into the observation room where Edward was seated behind a desk, watching through the one-way mirror. He turned to them as they came in.
“What do you think?” he asked, swinging around in his swivel chair to look at the two of them.
“Mason, I think he’s telling the truth,” Della said.
“If he’s lying, he’s damned good at it,” Mason said. “Edmund, you’re the lawman here when it comes to charges.”
“One way or another, we’ll need to hold him until we trace the number on his phone. We have lots of hours left, but then, well, laws are similar. We’ll need to charge him or let him go,” Edmund said.
“The phone is going to be a burner,” Mason said. “But if it’s still active—”
“You’re going to have him call Jesse Miller?” He shook his head. “Miller won’t answer. He knows that we picked him up.” He hesitated, shaking his head bitterly. “He knew the minute Della reached Stacey and Fields—and he managed to disappear,” he added bitterly.
“Edmund, we will get him.”
