Chapter Fourteen

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Harry

I'm impressed. And even that I'd claim to be an understatement. Ava Nicks is phenomenal. My jaw is dropped to the floor at how she handled the interview and how composed she was, despite facing the wrath of Alexander Cross.

There were moments I was unsettled at his actions as he spoke to Ava. It made me furious at moments, but it almost seemed like she wanted to get under his skin. The way she talked in circles to get him confused had me in awe. There are ways she went about things that I never would have even thought of. She is truly the best at what she's doing and deserves every bit of credit for it.

"Detective Styles," a knock on the door sounds. I look up at one of the police officers. She walks in when I welcome her.

"Here are the fingerprint analyses of the case you're working on," she tells me. I thank her and she walks out. I look at the results and I'm displeased to find that Alexander Cross' fingerprints do not match those of the notecard from the neighbor.

I look through some of the notes I had taken while Ava was in the questioning room and I type them into the computer. While doing so, my phone rings.

"Detective Styles," I say, holding it to my ear.

"Gabriel Torres is in the questioning room. We just hooked him up to the polygraph test," the Chief tells me. I thank him and hang up the phone.

Ava and I switched roles for this one. I'm the one doing the questioning while she observes. Ava seemed exhausted after yesterday's questioning, so she allowed me to take the reins today. Granted, this polygraph test won't be nearly as intense as yesterday's.

I walk in and shake Gabriel's free hand, thanking him for coming in today.

"What can I help you with?" he asks, and I begin my questioning.

"I'm going to go over a few things we discussed last time we spoke. Now, explain to me the events of last when Alexander Cross came to visit," I say, and he nods.

"He came to my apartment on Tuesday afternoon. We hung out that night. The next day he left, told me he had to run some errands, then came back after before he went to his girlfriend's. Came back and hung out with a few of our buddies," he starts, following his prior story.

"I hadn't seen him much on Friday. All I can recall was one instance when I found him looking in my truck. Said he needed to borrow something for work," he explains, my hand quickly writing it down.

"Do you know what it was?" I ask, and he sighs. He seems distressed and I want to know why.

"To be honest, I'm uncomfortable with what he took," he explains, my eyebrows furrowing. I'm not sure I understand what he means.

"How did it make you uncomfortable?" I ask, and he pinches the bridge of his nose. I'm not sure what he knows.

"I'm not positive," he tells me, my head nodding. I'm really trying to understand, but I have no idea how to get to my answers.

"Mr. Torres, we have reason to believe Alexander Cross had something to do with the murder of Victoria Peters," I explain to him. His eyes meet mine. "If you have any information to give us, anything at all, we'd like to hear it."

He nods, almost as if I gave him the assurance he needed.

"I work in fertilization," he states, a fact I had already known of. "And I keep chemicals in my truck from time to time for storage. Then I take them to work and formulate the fertilizer for use."

I nod, encouraging him to go on.

"When I had gotten to work Saturday morning, one of the chemical bottles was open. As an employee, we are only allowed to use the chemicals on job sights and in the company's building. I had them for storage, yes, but it was only for a day because I had to pick them up from the Buffalo location because we ran out at ours," he elaborates, my hand writing it down.

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