to his mouth and giggling.

“Hello, David, I’m Mr. Montoya,” Gil said. “Do you remember me from last night?”

Geisler just kept talking. Among the mumblings, Gil could only hear a few distinct phrases. “A right wall no matter dumb, dumb.”

Gil continued. “I need to get your age and address for the paperwork. Can you help me with that?”

Geisler looked up and said with an elfish smile, “Rarely heaven is dog symptom . . . move a consciousness my hip hip lock.” Then he started giggling again.

Gil sighed and said, “David, can you understand what I’m saying?”

Geisler got up suddenly and walked to the wall, facing it. There he fluttered his arms and started saying, “Giraffe spoiled drum pink.”

“Did you know Brianna Rodriguez?”

Geisler, still facing the wall, jumped on one foot and muttered.

Gil shook his head. He watched Geisler for another moment before getting up and leaving. He went to the room next door, which was the other side of the mirrored window. Joe stood in there, watching Geisler.

“I think he’s worse,” Gil said sadly.

“I agree with that,” Joe said. “Now what?”

“Now we call the DA and try to figure out what to do.”

Gil put a call in to the district attorney’s answering service and asked that the lawyer on call get back to him about Geisler. In the meantime, he would interview Ashley’s dad. They needed him to confirm two things: their suspicion that he had nothing to do with Brianna’s disappearance and that he was—or wasn’t—Brianna’s father.

Gil wasn’t looking forward to the interview. Sexual abuse was a delicate issue that needed lots and lots of interview time to even begin to break the suspect down and get at the truth. They just didn’t have that kind of time right now, especially since they had no evidence to support the claim. In the end, the abuse charges would be turned over to the sexual offender detectives, who specialized in that kind of work. At the moment, it was the murder charges that concerned Gil. He had to know if Rodriguez had impregnated his daughter. Their blood evidence against Geisler now depended on finding Brianna’s father.

The complexity of the situation meant that Gil would have to break the interview up into pieces. The first part would be easy. Gil would only ask Rodriguez about Brianna’s disappearance and not mention Ashley’s abuse. It was the second part that would get ugly.

Gil grabbed a general interview form and went into the room. He introduced himself again to Rodriguez before sitting down in one of the two chairs. The chairs were the only furniture in the room by design. They called it an interview room, but it was really an interrogation room, devoid of distraction.

Rodriguez was definitely sober now, his polo shirt and pants wrinkled from the overnight accommodations. Gil asked him to confirm his name and address, which he wrote on the interview form. The form served no actual informational purpose. Instead, it gave Gil a baseline from which to judge the way Rodriguez responded to questions. It allowed Gil to check the man’s normal verbal and behavior patterns so that later, when asking the tough questions, Gil could determine if Rodriguez’s answers fit the baseline. Anything outside the baseline could be a lie.

Gil leaned forward in his chair before saying, “Rudy, what is your understanding of the purpose for this interview with me here today?”

“I don’t know,” Rodriguez said, looking confused. “To talk about Brianna?”

Gil didn’t respond to Rudy’s question and instead said, “As you know, we have recently found evidence that leads us to believe that Brianna is dead.” He stated this firmly with little intonation, following the basic interview script. It was the same method used by police across the country, and Gil found some comfort in staying within the rules of questioning someone. When it came to interviewing suspects, he rarely colored outside the lines. Gil continued, “If you know anything about Brianna’s disappearance, our investigation will find that out. But if you had nothing to do with it, it will show that as well. If you know anything at all about it, you should tell me now.”

“I don’t know anything,” Rodriguez said in a rush. “I swear.”

Gil had been direct with his question on purpose. To throw Rodriguez off. Suspects rarely expected anyone to ask them directly if they committed a crime.

“Do you know who could have done this?” Gil asked.

“I’ve thought a lot about that, but I just can’t think of anybody.”

“Do you know anyone that you feel