Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 17

Jay Halstead and Deonna Purrazzo stood in the observation room for Interview Room 2. They were watching the second day's interrogation of Randy Orton. Adam Ruzek was still the one asking the questions, but this time he was joined by Amanda Rose, who had shown up for work exceptionally well dressed made up, for the specific reason of appealing to their suspect.

"He still hasn't cracked," Purrazzo said in near disbelief. "Look at him looking at her like a piece of meat. If his hands weren't cuffed to the table I'm sure he'd lunge at her."

Halstead had little doubt she was right. But they were not going to get a conviction for murder based on how Orton looked at a police officer. They needed to break him and get a confession.

"It's time to up the ante," he announced. "You stay here. I'll be back in a minute."

With that, Halstead walked out of the observation room, knocked on the interview room door and opened it. Ruzek, Rose, Orton and Orton's lawyer all looked at him. He motioned with his head for his two colleagues to come and speak to him outside.

Ruzek excused himself, and led Rose out of the interview room. She closed the door behind them.

"What's up?" Ruzek asked.

"Rose, I think it's time you said something, if you're comfortable with it? Doesn't look like he's going to say anything otherwise."

Rose nodded immediately. "I'm up for it. How do you want me to play it?"

"Why don't you start by telling him we found his pictures of you?" Ruzek suggested. "I haven't mentioned that yet, so drop that in. Then you can ask him what he would have done with you. I know it won't be easy to listen to..."

"It's fine," Rose cut in. "If it puts the bastard in a cell for life, I'll do whatever it takes. Once I get him talking, assuming I do, hopefully he'll tell us about the rest of his crimes."

"That's the plan," Halstead confirmed. "I'll let you guys get back to it."

Returning to the observation room, he found Purrazzo waiting eagerly. "You're going to let Rose have at him?"

Her stock went a bit higher with Halstead in that moment. She wasn't simply looking at Rose as a competitor for a spot in Intelligence, and that said a lot about her professionalism. He wasn't going to say that, of course.

"Yeah. Let's see if that gets anything out of him," was all he said.

In the interview room, Ruzek and Rose had sat back down across the table from Orton.

"Randy, you don't seem to want to tell Detective Ruzek anything, so why don't you talk to me?" Rose said. "You could start by telling me why we found a collection of photos of me in your house."

Orton looked like he was going to say something, but he didn't.

"I know you were on my social media. You printed pictures from a couple of different accounts. How did you know who I was?"

"I saw you in the park. You were on duty in uniform, greeting people who arrived to look at the body and sending reporters and the public away. I had seen you from a distance. You looked hot, so I mixed myself in with a group of a few people and ended up standing nearby to get a closer look. One of your colleagues called you Rose. Once I had that information, it wasn't hard to find you online."

"It's frightening how useful the internet is to people like him," Purrazzo commented.

"Sshhh," Halstead said quietly, encouraging her to listen to what was happening in the interview room. At last, they had Orton talking.