“The hair was found in Henderson’s apartment close to the body. They believe he might have fought for his life and then pulled it out of the head of his attacker.”

“Why have I not heard of this before?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know, Wilde. I don’t know where you are half of the time these days. A lot of stuff was found in his apartment, and I can’t even keep track of it, but this one is the only one that matches someone that can actually serve as evidence. Are you going to fight me on this? Are we going to have a problem here?”

I shook my head. “No, sir. Of course not.”

“Okay, good,” he said and sat back in his chair, folding his hands over his stomach. “Now bring him in.”

He was fixing me with an intense stare. “I’m sorry,” he added. “I know he just lost his daughter and that it is a lot right now. But it has to be done. My guess is he killed both Henderson and Cassandra. Your case is solved.”

“Why would he kill his own daughter?” I asked.

He threw out his long arms. “Who knows? Maybe she saw something? Maybe she threatened to tell on him. Maybe it was the other way around. Maybe he was abusing his daughter and the doctor saw something and threatened to report him. Lots of possibilities here. That’s what you need to ask him about.”

I nodded reluctantly and turned to leave the office. I didn’t feel good about this, but he was right. It had to be done. I just couldn’t figure out how this related to Emma, or if this was evidence that it didn’t at all. Maybe Pete could answer that if we could get him to talk. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I replied resolutely, “Yes, sir, I understand. I’ll do whatever it takes to bring him in.”

With that, I stepped out of the office.

FIFTY-SIXBILLIE ANN

We got Pete Perez in the next day, early in the afternoon. Luckily, he came willingly, as we had a local patrol drive by his house and ask him to come to the station. Tom and I did the interrogating. We went at it for hours, asking him about the murder of Bryan Henderson. We had him dead to rights with a lock of his hair found at the crime scene that matched his DNA profile. However, he remained steadfast in his claims of innocence.

“I don’t even know who the guy is,” he claimed. “I have never seen him before in my life.”

“I know that’s not true,” I said. “I spoke to Dr. Henderson’s nurse, and she said you brought in Marissa and Emma Clemens. You knew him.”

That shut him up. He stared at me, biting the inside of his cheek. “Okay, so I did know of him. I’m a son of undocumented immigrants myself. I knew not to ask questions when Marissa came to me. I knew she was going to need a pediatrician, one who wouldn’t ask any questions either. So, I asked around and that’s how his name came up. But that doesn’t mean I killed anyone.”

I knew the Chief wanted this guy to confess, so we could move on with booking him. I was trying my best, especially since I knew the Chief was watching us through the one-way mirror. I didn’t want to let him down and knew my career depended on me solving this case.

I leaned forward and said, “Pete, you’re not fooling anyone. Just tell us what happened.”

Pete’s eyes darted around the room as if searching for an escape route. Finally, he muttered, “I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. I have nothing to do with this. I can’t keep saying the same thing over and over again. You have to believe me.”

Tom chimed in, “Don’t lie to us, Pete. The evidence is right here. You can either confess now or make things harder for yourself down the line.”

Pete shook his head vigorously and said, “I swear on my mother’s grave that I didn’t do it. Why won’t you believe me?”

I took a deep breath. “Let’s cut the crap, Pete. Stop playing games with us and give us the truth.”

Silence hung thick in the air like a noose waiting to be tightened.

Finally, Pete spoke up. “I’m telling you everything I know! Honest to God, I’m innocent!”

I placed the bag of hair on the table in front of him.

“Pete, you’re not telling us everything. What are you hiding?”

Pete shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I swear to God, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, unconvincingly. He looked at the bag. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“That’s your hair,” I said, tapping the bag. “Found at the scene of crime. A whole lock of it. We ran it against the DNA sample you gave us, and it was a match.”

He shook his head. “That can’t be. Are you sure it’s mine?”

“Yes, we’re sure,” I said. “It was a match.”

He looked desperate and groaned. “But I didn’t kill anyone, I swear.”

“Come on!” Tom chimed in, slamming his hand on the table. “Just tell us the truth and we can work something out.”

“I told you already, I didn’t do it!” Pete yelled back, sweat beading on his forehead.

“Okay, then why were you at Bryan Henderson’s apartment?” I asked calmly, trying to reason with him. Stirring him up didn’t seem to help anything. “We have clear evidence that proves you were at the scene.” I grabbed the bag and held it up. “This proves you were there.”

“But I wasn’t,” he continued.

We were getting nowhere with this. “Okay, let’s get back to that injury of yours. The side that you keep touching and wincing when you move. How did you get that?”

“I told you I fell off my bike.”

“Well, the other day you said that it was while doing yard work. So, which is it?” I asked.

“I… I don’t… I can’t tell you.”

“That’s convenient,” Tom exclaimed.

“And why can’t you tell us?” I said. “Is it because it stems from your run-in with the woman, Ashley Wittman, who was in the apartment when you murdered Bryan Henderson? She stabbed you so she could get away from you, right? We have the piece of glass and blood in her apartment; all we have to do is run a match with your DNA, which is being done as we speak. Then we will know for sure. You might as well tell us now. Save us some time. Where is Ashley? Where is Emma?”

His eyes hit the table. “I was attacked.”

“You were attacked?” I asked. “Now that’s rich. By Ashley Wittman, who is half your size?”

He shook his head. “No, at the park. Walking the dog late at night. Someone came up from behind me and kicked me down. I tried to fight back, and that’s when they grabbed me and pulled a lock of hair out of my head. Right here.”

He turned his head and removed some strands of hair, so we could see a small bald spot.

I frowned. “And why didn’t you report this attack to the police?”

His gaze was still avoiding mine. It made it hard to tell if he was lying or not. “Because… because I owe someone money. I borrowed some money from some bad people and hadn’t paid them back. I assumed it was them, punishing me.” He shook his head with an exhale. “My wife doesn’t know this. I have a debt, from gambling. I didn’t know it was a problem till I was on the ground being beaten up. I have been trying to stay away from it, but it’s hard. My wife doesn’t know anything at all. I lost all of our savings just a few months ago and have been trying to win it back. If I don’t then we’ll have to sell the house Marissa is in.”

The desperation in his voice was palpable, and I got the feeling that he was telling the truth. We kept asking deeper into the ordeal, and soon we realized we weren’t getting anywhere. I decided to let him go. I needed more evidence.

As he walked away from us into the darkness outside, I couldn’t help but feel that there was more to this story than met the eye. A lot more.

But what was it I was missing? And why did it feel like we were constantly three steps too late, that this person was outsmarting us?

“Wilde, we have news,” Scott said as I returned to my desk, feeling defeated.