Kiss the Witch Goodbye Read online

  “Damn right she didn’t. I’m not going to sit here and take this.”

  “Why don’t you have a seat and we can just relax for a minute, get our heads on straight. If you’d like a lawyer, you’re certainly entitled to one and I couldn’t blame you.”

  “I don’t need a lawyer, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Jax insisted. “I didn’t even know there’d been another murder. Jesus, that poor girl.”

  Nick sat down, spreading his hands out on the table for a visual cue that he was being open and honest. “Look, I want to help you, but you’re going to have to give me something to work with. I’m not your enemy, Jax. All I want is the truth. Be straight with me and I’ll be straight with you.”

  Jax stared at him for a long moment before he sat back down again, running a hand through his spiky hair. “Fine, yeah, okay. What’s with that shit about the razor blades then?”

  “Didn’t you know?” Nick blinked in surprise. “All four of the victims were killed by razor blades, just like the kind in your shaving kit.”

  “And you think I…? It’s not a crime to own razor blades. Shit, you can pick them up all over the place.”

  “I know, I know. But you can see how it looks. Especially with these murders following you up here from L.A. and you having a personal, um… connection with two of the victims. What do you say, can we talk?”

  “Alright. What do you want to know?”

  “Let’s walk through what happened last night after the show again. You were hanging out with the band and some girls in the backstage area, right?”

  “Right. It’s on the level beneath the stage, but yeah. Most of the band was there and some of the crew. Gideon, my manager. I had a few drinks with some fans, including the Hayley chick, is that her name?”

  “Hayley Lambert, yes.”

  Jax looked down at his hands, picking at a callus on the side of his thumb. “And she’s really the dead girl? You’re not screwing around with me?”

  “Trust me, with a murder on my hands the last thing I have time for is to screw around with you or anybody else. Had you ever met her before?”

  “No, she was hanging around the backstage area with the others after the concert. We got to talking and hit it off okay.”

  “Out where others could see you or in private?”

  “Out with the others at first, but then we moved into my dressing room.” His head came up to meet Nick’s gaze, desperation there. “But she was walking on her own two feet when she left, I swear. Plenty of people had to have seen that.”

  Nick nodded soothingly, his voice the calming best friend. “We’ll do some checking around to confirm that. What happened then?”

  “The party was still going with some of the other guys, but like I said, I had an interview the next morning, so I left and went to bed early. Well, early for me.”

  “Alone? As in no alibi? What about your sister, can she corroborate any of this?”

  “The parts where we were still at the venue, probably. She took off at some point, I’m not sure when, but she wasn’t around when Gideon and I left.”

  “And you’re sure she didn’t hear you come back to your hotel room?”

  “No, she was sleeping with a little chemical assistance last night. It happens sometimes after a gig. She’s too wound up to sleep and we had that interview coming up,” he shrugged and Nick didn’t push. Ruby’s drug use had no bearing on the case.

  “Then you have nothing to corroborate your movements last night after you were dropped off at the hotel? No one you ran into in the hallway, no staff you interacted with, nothing?”

  Jax gave him a helpless shrug. “What can I say, man? Do you have an alibi for last night? No, because you didn’t do anything wrong. Well, neither did I.”

  Nick leaned back in his seat with a shake of the head. “I’m going to be honest with you, Jax, it doesn’t look good. You’ve got no alibi for any of the murders. You have the same kind of murder weapon in your possession. You’ve admitted contact with two of the victims, and the biggie – the fact that these murders have followed you here from Los Angeles narrows our pool of suspects down considerably.”

  “Hey, I’m not the only guy that came from L.A. to Portland,” Jax insisted, catching on to the idea with enthusiasm. “If you’re so set on pinning this on me, then consider I have a whole slew of people who follow Forsaken around from gig to gig. Roadies, light and sound technicians, pyrotechnics guys, hair, makeup… we take up three whole busses.”

  He had a point and Nick wasn’t sure how much time Natalie had spent vetting the rest his crew. “Can you give me a list of names and contact information for them?”

  “Sure, I’ll have my manager put that together for you, no problem.”

  “Today, okay, Jax? The sooner we sift through all of this raw data, the sooner we’ll have a clear picture of exactly what happened in that motel room last night,” Nick said gravely, and Jax nodded.

  “I’ll give him a call as soon as I’m done here. Can I go now?”

  Reluctant to let him go without checking in to see if any key intel had come in yet, Nick put him off for the moment. “Hang tight for a sec, let me see what I can do to get you out of here. I’ll be right back. Feel free to go ahead and make that call to your manager.” To his great relief, Jax didn’t challenge him on being asked to stay longer, and dutifully pulled out his cell phone and started dialing.

  Natalie stood watching on the other side of the two way mirror, her gaze intent on the man inside talking on his phone. “The guy is dirty, I can feel it,” she muttered as Nick joined her side.

  “We need more than that to go on, we have to let him go for now.”

  “You don’t believe that bullshit story he was spinning for you, do you?” She turned, eyes narrowing in accusation. “I saw the buddy/buddy routine you had going in there. Is he getting to you?”

  Nick bristled at her tone, but didn’t call her out on it. “It’s called doing my job. I’d expect you to know that.”

  “Shit, I know, I’m sorry,” she winced, rubbing at her head above the Steri-strip. “What happens if we release him and he bolts?”

  “It’s not like he can easily slip away, half the nation’s teens have his poster up on their walls.” He rested his hand on her shoulder, massaging lightly. “Hey, are you okay? Maybe you need to see a doctor about that head? We can hold the fort down here.”

  “No, I’m fine,” she insisted, offering him a faint smile. “I just need to nail this son of a bitch and then I’ll sleep like a baby.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Nick spotted Annaliese being brought through the bullpen by Brady, and he snatched his hand off of Natalie’s shoulder as if he’d been burned. “Hey,” he said, meeting them halfway instead of letting her get a good look at Jax in the interrogation room. “What are you doing here?”

  “Are you kidding me? It’s all over the news that you have Jax in here for questioning in that girl’s death.”

  “Shit, already?” Nick frowned. That was fast, even for the modern media.

  “You don’t actually think he did this, do you?” she asked, green eyes fixed on him with more than a hint of worry crinkling the edges. It was a safe bet she wouldn’t like his answer, but Nick did his best not to make it any worse by telling her exactly what he thought about Jax May.

  “I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. It doesn’t look good. I can’t get into too many specifics with you, but he’s already admitted to being with the dead girl last night and he has no alibi.”

  “But that doesn’t mean he’s the killer.”

  “It doesn’t mean I can dismiss him as a suspect either. Try not to worry too much about it yet, Annie. We’re at the beginning of the investigation, it’s too early to speculate.” That was for his team to do. All they had was speculation at this point.

  Her gaze flicked to the white board, a pucker of sadness appearing on her brow as she took in the pictures affixed to it. Either Brady or Park had put up close-up
s of the wounds at the wrist, as well as the tattoos on each of the victims. “All these girls,” she murmured. “It makes you want to cry.”

  Nick knew what she meant, but he didn’t have that luxury. He couldn’t look beyond the evidence to the people behind them, not really. Sure, he had to dig into their pasts, learn what made them tick, their personalities, but only as much as it related to the case. He couldn’t stop to think about their lost humanity or he wouldn’t be able to focus on the job at hand. “Yeah well, I don’t have time to stop and cry over it. I intend to make sure this is the last blood that’s spilled by our killer, whoever it is.”

  It was hard to interpret the look she gave him after such a declaration, but eventually she nodded absently. “Can I see him? I can only imagine how badly he must be freaking out over all of this.”

  Trust his tenderhearted Annie to be worried about how the poor suspect was faring. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” he hedged. The less contact between them the better, as far as he was concerned.

  “I’m betting he can use a friend right now. Come on, Nick. If he does know anything, who do you think he’ll tell, you or me?”

  “He’s actually been very forthcoming so far, I’ll give that to him.”

  “See, he’s not the enemy.”

  His hands came up in a supplicating gesture. “I’m not saying he is. But you can see why he’s under investigation now, can’t you?” Truth be told, they had to cut him loose anyway. It couldn’t hurt to let her talk to him and see what she could dig up. “Fine, you have ten minutes, but I want to be in the room the whole time.”

  “Is that really necessary?”

  “Is there any reason why you don’t want me in the room?”

  “Only that you aren’t the closest of friends. The last time I saw the two of you together, you both looked like you wanted to take each other’s heads off.”

  “I’ll have you know I’ve been the very soul of courtesy since he got here,” Nick protested. “You can ask him yourself.”

  “I will.” Annaliese didn’t say anything else as he led her to the interrogation room, barely sparing a nod to Natalie, who still stood outside the window, watching Jax like a predator about to pounce.

  “Anna,” Jax jumped up as soon as he saw her, relief written all over his face, and Nick tried not to let it show how much it bothered him when they embraced.

  “Hey, how are you holding up?” she asked, taking a seat at the table.

  “Other than being right in the middle of another murder investigation, I’m peachy keen. How about you?” he quipped, a wry grin twisting his face as he slumped beside her. Nick remained standing by the door, his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Try not to worry, the truth will come out in the end,” she said with a soft pat on his arm. “As long as you’re innocent, you’ll be cleared in no time.”

  “That’s what I thought before, but they’re really not letting this go.”

  Annaliese darted a quick look in Nick’s direction. “Nick won’t try to railroad you, he’s better than that, I promise. Tell him, Nick. You want justice, not just another conviction to your belt.”

  “Like I said before, all I want is the truth,” Nick agreed, his face neutral, but he couldn’t resist getting in a subtle dig. “I’m going to catch the killer, no matter who he is.” As much as he knew it might crush Anna, he wouldn’t hesitate to pursue May if he turned out to be the killer.

  Annaliese nodded in approval. “That’s what we all want.” She exchanged smiles with Jax, her hand smoothing over the back of his hand in a comforting touch. It made Nick want to smash something, but all he did was smile along, especially when Jax spoke.

  “I talked to Gideon, he’s going to put together that list of employees for you as soon as possible.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate that.”

  “So can I go now, or did you need anything else?”

  “You can go for now, but you know the drill. Please don’t leave town without talking to us first.” Nick handed over one of his business cards. “And if you think of anything else, anything at all, don’t hesitate to give me a call.

  Jax accepted the card, glancing at it briefly before tucking it into his jeans and extending a hand. “Hey, thanks for being straight with me, man. It means a lot.”

  There was the briefest hesitation before Nick clasped his hand, a twinge of guilt marring his returning smile. “I’m just doing my job.”

  Annaliese rose too and they all filed out of the interrogation room. “Let me give you a ride to the hotel,” she offered, and he instantly objected. The last thing he wanted was for this murder to bring the old friends closer together.

  “That’s not necessary, we can drop him back off. It’s the least we can do for your cooperation,” Nick said politely.

  “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather catch a ride with Anna than in a cop car,” Jax smirked. “That’s all I need, a shot of being dropped off in front of the hotel, the tabloids will go nuts.”

  Anna’s face twisted with dismay. “I hate to break it to you but…”

  “Already?” Jax’s shoulders slumped. “Fuck, it’s gonna be a zoo at the hotel. You know what, you don’t have to give me a ride. No sense in dragging you into all of this. I’ll take a cab.”

  “I said I’d give you a ride and I meant it. I don’t care about the press.”

  “Maybe he’s right,” Nick said. “Remember what happened the last time you ended up in the news.”

  “And it faded just as quickly when the next news story came along. Come on, Jax, better to get a ride from me than a cab driver who ends up selling some made up story to the Inquisitor the moment he drops you off.”

  Natalie approached, staying well behind Nick, her voice calm and composed despite the twin looks of resentment she got from the other two. “Let her go, Nick, we’ve got work to do,” she said softly.

  Unwilling to make a federal case out of it, Nick simply offered Annaliese a hopeful smile. “I’ll call you later?”

  “I’d like that. You know where to find me.”

  It was on the tip of his tongue. I love you. But it wasn’t the time and it certainly wasn’t the place. In the end, he settled for a tight smile as his suspect left with his girl, and allowed himself to be pulled back to the bullpen.

  Natalie was right, he had work to do.

  * * *

  After Park got back to the office, they started off the briefing by watching the tape of May’s interrogation. Nick snapped off the monitor, leaning against the desk. “So now we’ve got a link between the latest victim and May. What else have we turned up since we last talked?”

  “I just got back from harassing your forensics department,” Natalie reported. “It turns out the partials we got on the hundred dollar bill are too smudged to be of any use, so that’s a dead end there. I still haven’t heard back from my contact on the L.A.P.D., so no word on whether or not hundreds were used at the other motels. I figure I’ll hold off on bugging my banking guy until we know for sure if there’s an angle worth pursuing there.”

  Nick nodded his agreement on that score. Knowing when to use an asset was as much of an art as a skill, and it wasn’t smart to push too often unless it was worth it. “Fine. Don’t forget to press the locals down there for info on their investigation into the tattoo parlors as well. Park, how’d you make out at the Lambert residence?”

  “I couldn’t get much out of the family,” Park admitted with a rueful sigh. “They were pretty broken up when they got the news. I left my card and promised to be in touch soon for a follow up interview. Her sister did give me the boyfriend’s name and number though.”

  “Good save,” Nick approved. “Anything else you pick up on while you were there?”

  “Only that I got the sense the parents weren’t particularly familiar with any of their daughter’s friends or what she was up to. They didn’t even know she was at the concert last night, they thought she was studying at a friend’s h
ouse. Only the sister seemed to have a clue.”

  “Be sure to follow up with her after you hit up the boyfriend,” Natalie said. “There’s a chance he didn’t like his girl crushing on May and liked it even less that she disappeared into the guy’s dressing room with him. Not that I think it’s likely, but it’s still worth pursuing.”

  Nick was glad to see her embracing other options instead of focusing all of her attention on Jax. Maybe there was something of the investigator he remembered to her after all. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he fumbled for it, a grin spreading across his face as he read the message.

  “What is it, boss?” Brady asked.

  Waving him off for a sec, he sent Libby back a quick message of thanks, adding a winky face and a heart at the end. “Libby came through for us with a few more facts. She was able to whittle down the time of death to between two and four a.m., so that helps us narrow our focus. She also confirmed that there definitely is GHB in the girl’s system.”

  “So much for the boyfriend angle,” Park said with a low whistle. “This pretty much establishes it as the exact same M.O. as the other deaths.”

  “Work it anyway,” Natalie insisted. “I don’t want to miss anything on this case.”

  “Right,” Nick backed her up. “We want to explore all options. Let’s start tracking down the security working at the Crystal Ballroom. Management should have a list of who was there last night. May is also working on getting us a list of crew and musicians from their manager.”

  “Is that information we can trust, sir?” Park asked with a frown and Nick could understand her trepidation.

  He wasn’t sure he could trust anything that came out of May’s mouth either. “We’ll take it like all information we get, Park, with a grain of salt. It’s a place to start, not end.”

  “Let’s see if we can get a list of who all had backstage passes as well,” Natalie added. “Find out if the venue has a list of whose names were left at the door, or if the stage manager had a list, or what. We’ll want to see if anyone remembers the backstage scene as any different from the picture May painted.”