previous exposure to Special Agent Rudkowksi had been the dialogue she’d overheard while hiding in the safe room with Drex. Her opinion hadn’t improved upon meeting him. Since he’d entered the interrogation room where Menundez had ensconced her, Rudkowski had been railing at her, virtually without taking a breath.
As he continued to rant, she kept her expression as aloof as possible, her gaze steady on him. She wasn’t accustomed to the cops-and-robbers environment, much less to being shouted at. Her failure to react with fear and trembling had roused him to become increasingly loud.
Menundez said now, “Ease up, Rudkowski. She’s not a suspect.”
“I’ll determine that.”
Talia seized her first opportunity to get a word in edgewise. “Agent Rudkowski, I’m well aware of the seriousness of the crimes.”
“Are you? Then why have you hampered the investigation by avoiding this interview? You also tampered with evidence.”
“I did no such thing. When I left my house before you served the search warrant, I took nothing from it except a couple of changes of clothing and some toiletries.”
“Your husband’s cookbooks. Menundez here says they filled that shelf above the stove. That shelf was conspicuously empty.”
“I didn’t take the cookbooks.”
“Then it was Easton.”
“He had nothing with him when we left the house. Not even his personal belongings.”
“Then his cronies made off with them. How come? What did they do with them?”
Since Jasper’s cookbooks had turned out to be a disappointing false lead, and therefore irrelevant, she saw no point in either denying the action or defending it. But Rudkowski’s yammering about them was keeping him preoccupied, which was what Drex needed her to do.
The agent propped his hip on the corner of the table, crowding her in an obvious attempt to be intimidating. “What tactic did Easton use to get you to pull a vanishing act with him?”
“No tactic.”
“Come on. He’s a con man. Did he schmooze you with his boyish charm? Hate to be the one to break it to you, but you wouldn’t be the first to fall for it, you know.”
“He convinced me that my husband is a career criminal and, given the opportunity, would very likely try to kill me.”
He scoffed. “You believed that?”
“If I had a grain of doubt, it was dispelled last night when Jasper killed that woman and critically injured Mr. Lewis.”
“Those crimes have not been attributed to Jasper Ford. They’re relative to nothing. Alleging that your husband was involved is just another of Easton’s wild hares. Had your husband ever met Gif Lewis?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Then how did he recognize him to attack?”
Drex had been unable to explain that. She refrained from answering.
Rudkowski cupped his ear. “Come again? I didn’t catch that,” he mocked.
“See what I’m getting at, Mrs. Ford? Easton makes up stuff to support his crazy notions. His claims of a serial killer have no basis, and never have.” He poked his index finger against his temple. “He’s nuts. He’s obsessed with a bogeyman of his own invention.”
She leaned away from him and gave him an unhurried once-over. “Then why are you so unstrung?”
He blinked. “Pardon?”
“I don’t understand your agitation. If you believe that Drex is a mental case, why haven’t you dismissed his wild hares as such, and gone on about your business?”
“Because he’s impeding my investigation.”
“Excuse me,” she said coolly, “but from my perspective, it seems you’ve contributed very little to the investigation of Elaine Conner’s murder and the search for my husband, whether he’s dead or alive, innocent or guilty. By contrast, you’ve spent a great deal of time pursuing Drex and deriding him at every opportunity. If anyone has an obsession, Special Agent Rudkowski, it appears to be you.”
Menundez snickered.
Rudkowski’s whole body inflated with indignation. His forehead broke a greasy sweat. He pushed off the table and, placing his hands on his knees, bent down until his face was level with hers. “You had better watch it, Mrs. Ford, or Shafer, or whatever you choose to be called. I’ll put you in lockup until you decide to cooperate.”
“How could I possibly be more cooperative? I came here of my own volition.”
“But you haven’t answered my question.”
“Which one?”
Rudkowski returned to his full height. “Where is Easton?”
With a pleasant smile, she said, “Right behind you.”
Chapter 36
Drex had arrived in time to overhear Talia’s putdown of Rudkowski. Based on his apparent choler, she had effectively fired him up to his pressure-cooker state. From the threshold, he said, “You sound out of sorts, Bill. We could hear you from the end of the hall.”