Andrew always catches his man Who: Andrew When: Tuesday August 12, late afternoon Where: Burlington Police Department Interrogation room 2 Summary: Andrew caught the murderer Warnings/Rating: Language Status: NARRATIVE
Jeffrey Myers. He was calm, collected, controlled. He sat back in his chair in the interrogation room, one leg crossed over the other, his fingers linked loosely together as they lay in his lap. Relaxed. Too relaxed. Anyone, it didn’t matter if they were guilty or not, were always nervous in the interrogation room. There was always a little something, especially when left alone for a long period of time; there was no nerves shown in this man.
As if the man could sense Andrew staring at him through the glass that separated them, he looked up at it and smirked. Irritation swam through Andrew; it was as if the man was saying I’m smarter than you.
Andrew couldn’t wait to rattle his cage.
Yes, the man was smart and it had taken Andrew bending some rules to catch him. This man was the murderer. He was a hundred percent sure of it. Without Liliana’s help, he’d never have caught him; the girl was awesome when it came to the computer.
Liliana had scourged camera’s all over the city-illegally-and had compiled video and photos of the murder victim. It had taken a long time to go through it all, the woman had lots of interactions, but one person kept standing out that had been the invisible link the whole time.
Avery Munoz had kept a certain man a secret.
With a sigh, he flipped through the file he had in his hands. It was basically empty. Jeffery Myers didn’t have so much as a parking ticket. He kept his life fairly simple, low-key. He traveled, was new to the area. Based on a hunch, he was checking for murders in the places that Jeffery had been. If he were right, this wasn’t the first kill for him.
Finally, it was time to interview the guy. Heading out of the one room, he went right next door to where Jeffery waited.
“Mr. Myers,” Andrew greeted formally, shutting the door behind him. “I apologize for the wait.” Really he didn’t, but niceties and what not.
“Detective Grayson,” Jeffery said with a bored sigh. “I’d like to go home soon. I have an early flight. What is this all about?”
“Right, well, just a few questions and I’ll try to get you on your way, Mr. Myers,” Andrew took a seat across from the man.
Taking a photo of Avery Munoz from the folder, he laid it on the table and slid it over to Jeffrey. The man took an uninterested look at it and then sat back in his chair again. “The dead teacher in the news? What does this have to do with me? I haven’t been in town long and I never met her.”
“Oh?” Andrew rose his eyebrows and then took another photo out, this one of her going into his apartment building. Jeffrey started to object, saying that didn’t mean anything but before he could get the words out Andrew placed a picture of her going into Jeffrey’s apartment and then the next picture of the two of them leaving together.
There was a shift in Jeffrey then, an agitation that he had been found out. “Okay, okay,” he tried to gain control back, but Andrew could tell he was fighting it. “She and I met at a speed dating event,” he admitted. Andrew, of course, already knew that. One of the pictures Liliana had found was the two of them at the speed dating event.
“So why would you lie about knowing her?” Andrew asked.
“It was only a couple of dates,” he said. “I didn’t want to be associated with her…death,” he tried to explain.
“So you thought the best thing to do would be to lie?” Andrew asked back. “You had to know that eventually your name would pop up,” he shook his head.
“Listen, Detective Grayson, it was two dates. Nothing more, nothing less,” his voice rose just a mere octave, but Andrew caught on to it. “You can’t keep me here because of a couple of dates,” he ground out.
Andrew didn’t say anything, just sat back and watched Jeffrey.
“Detective Grayson,” Jeffrey’s voice squeaked. “Did you hear me? I’m leaving,” he started to get up.
“Sit down!” Andrew bellowed, his hand slapping the table. “We aren’t done!”
Jeffrey jumped slightly and quickly took his seat back giving the door a last look.
“Sir?” Officer Burn’s came into the room, a folder filled thick with papers. “Here is the information you were waiting on.
“Thank you, Burns.” Andrew took the file and gave a nod to dismiss the officer.
Jeffrey’s eyes bounced around the room, from the officer to the video camera in the corner of the room back to Andrew and then locking on the folder.
I have you now, you asshole!
Andrew stood, moving away from the table and flipping through the folder. Picture after picture, unsolved case after unsolved case of murdered women across the country; all had been strangled and all had happened in the time period that Jeffrey had been in that city.
Yep, he had the bastard.
“What was it about Avery Munoz that made you want to strangle her?” Andrew asked.
“Wh-What?” Jeffrey stuttered. “I told you I didn’t do this. I didn’t strangle her!”
“But you did!” Andrew raised his voice. His voice was already loud that it carried pretty well, but when he brought the noise volume of it up, it made you sit up and take attention. “Not only did you strangle Avery Munoz, but you strangled several other women across the United States as well,” he growled. “Abigail Hemlock! Victoria Peterson! Jane Briscoe!” He started naming off all the women in the folder, slapping their photos on the table in front of Jeffrey. “You were in those cities at the time of each murder. You joined speed dating events just like you did here, take them on a couple of dates and kill them right before you leave town. No one the wiser! Except this time, you landed in MY city and you got caught!”
“You have no proof! You have nothing to hold me! I want a lawyer!” Jeffrey scrambled over his words.
Andrew backed off, taking all the pictures and putting them back in the file. “I wondered when you would lawyer up,” he smirked at Jeffrey and pulled on a forensics glove. “The proof, well, it’s right here,” he reached for the cup of water that Jeffrey had been drinking from. While we wait for your lawyer, I’ll have your prints and DNA ran. I bet your prints will match the prints found on Avery Munoz’s neck as well as every other victim you have strangled.”
“WHORES! THEY WERE ALL WHORES! ONLY LOOKING AROUND TO USE MEN!” Jeffrey shouted.
“No, Mr. Myers, they were looking for someone so they wouldn’t be alone,” Andrew stated as he headed for the door. “They were lonely, just like you, and was looking for someone they could spend the rest of their lives with.” With that he left the room and shut the door behind him.
“Get him a phone so he can call a lawyer,” he ordered someone. No one but Conor, Liliana and himself knew that he had found the guy illegally and no one needed to know. They just needed to know he had found the guy and everything else that followed was done legally. “Also, take this down to forensics and get prints and DNA and run them against the prints we found plus prints across the nation. This bastard is going away for a long, long time.”
His men went scurrying, doing as he had asked. Going to his desk he laid the files down and picked up his phone and sent a text to Liliana. Not only did they catch their guy, they stopped a serial killer.