CHAPTER FOURTEEN

As they came upon the precinct, Avery saw the flurry of activity in the parking lot and around the front of the building. New anger rose up in her stomach and she let out a curse under her breath.

“What?” Kellaway asked. “What’s going on?”

“The media,” Avery said. “They’re onto the case. And that’s just going to make it harder from here on out.”

“Oh,” Kellaway said, staring closer at the craziness as Avery pulled the car closer.

There were three news vans parked bumper to bumper in front of the building. Several people were standing along the sidewalk that led to the front doors, reporters and cameramen just waiting for their chance to score something big for the six o’clock news. Another news van came screeching into the parking lot from the opposite direction, pulling in alongside the others.

Somehow, the media knows I’m on this case, Avery thought to herself. Not that she thought she was worthy of the attention. But she knew how the media worked. Victimized Detective Returns to Work on Creepy Spider Case. That or Howard Randall-obsessed Detective Back in Action on Creepy Case.

Something like that. Hell, she didn’t even blame them. If they could spin it a certain way, it was front page news for sure.

Avery sped around to the back of the building but it did no good. There was a news crew there, too. And by the time she had parked and started to get out of the car with Stefon Scott, several of the people who had been angling for position out front had managed to race around the building. As she walked quickly to the building with Kellaway racing to keep up and pushing Stefon along, cameras started flashing and about eight people started talking at once. Avery put her head down and carried on, refusing to give in to the pandemonium.

“Detective Black, why have you come back for this case?”

“Have you come back to respect the memory of Detective Ramirez?”

“Why is this man in custody, Detective? Is he a suspect in this case?”

“Do you feel that Howard Randall is dead even though his body was not discovered?”

“Are there any leads on the spider case?”

Mercifully, she reached the doors. She hauled Stefon Scott through them but Kellaway was nowhere to be seen. She looked over the shoulders of the assembled crowd and saw her wrapped up in their midst. She looked scared and out of her element. It did not piss Avery off, though; rather, she felt for Kellaway. The media could be vultures and they could smell fresh blood when it was around.

She pushed Stefon toward the first officer she saw in the hallway and then stormed back through the doors, back outside. She had to shoulder her way past a cameraman and nearly knock down a svelte reporter before she reached Kellaway. Thankfully, she was not offering up any information but all the same, the reporters had managed to snare her with confusion.

“How did you manage to partner with Detective Black?”

“How long have you been on the force?”

“Is the man in handcuffs the killer?”

“Can I get your name, please?”

Avery grabbed Kellaway’s arm and hauled her through the crowd. Some of them seemed outraged, especially when she had to nearly body-check the same tiny reporter she had collided with on the way out. She got Kellaway inside without any further trouble and let out a tremendous sigh of relief when the doors closed behind them.

“I’m so sorry,” Kellaway said. “I had no idea it could be like that and…what the hell?”

“It’s okay,” Avery said. “You handled yourself well. They can be monsters if you let them. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Just shake it off and refocus.”

“Hey, Detective Black?”

Avery looked back to the officer that she had practically thrown Stefon Scott toward. He looked confused, securing a man who had just now started to get a hold of himself and stop crying.

“Sorry,” Avery said. “Can you please get him to interrogation?”

The officer nodded and started down the hallway. Avery followed behind him, headed for Connelly’s office. Kellaway went with her and they both found the office empty.

“Get on the phone and get Connelly and O’Malley,” Avery said. “Let them know who we have and what he’s done. Tell them I intend to start interrogation in fifteen minutes if they want to be here for it.”

Kellaway did as she was asked but as she pulled up the first number, it was clear that she thought it was all a bit unorthodox. Avery supposed it was; she should certainly wait until everyone was present and accounted for before she started grilling Stefon. But she had come onto this case late and felt like she was making up for lost time.

She looked back toward the end of the hall where, through the glass doors, she could still see the media swarming like a nest of hornets. This case was just too good—too sweet for them not to be salivating over. Avery understood it and it made her start to wonder if the absurdity and graphic nature of the case was, in some way, behind the killer’s motive.

With that thought in her head, she started down toward interrogation. She thought of the spiders in the glass case in Stefon’s house and the way he had reacted to the mere insinuation that he had killed Lawnbrook. She let it all settle in her head as she gave O’Malley and Connelly time to join her.

Whether it was the thrill of the hunt or just the comfort of something familiar, Avery wasn’t sure—but she found herself bouncing back and forth on the heels of her feet to get started. She wondered if she, too, was sort of like an angry hornet, swarming around its nest with its stinger primed and ready to bite.

***

Stefon was no longer crying when Avery joined him in the interrogation room. In the end, she’d made him wait for nearly an hour. It wasn’t just to give O’Malley and Connelly a chance to arrive but to let Stefon stew in the events of the afternoon. She watched him through a monitor in the neighboring room, watching his expression go from thoughtful to sad, from pensive to worried.

Now, sitting across the table from him, Avery gave him a moment to get used to her being in the room. She’d easily bested him in conversation and physical ability at his house so he needed to be reminded of that by her silence. She knew that O’Malley, Connelly, and Kellaway were watching from the same spot she had been sitting less than five minutes ago. She thought of Kellaway and how she could best direct the interrogation so that the young officer might learn a thing or two.

“Do you have an account of everywhere you have been this week or week and a half?” Avery asked. Her tone was gentle and conversational, clearly not what Stefon had been expecting.

“I didn’t do much of anything,” he said. “I spent most of it at the house with Clarissa.”

“And how long has she been staying with you?”

“Today makes three days that she’s stayed there. But she’s come over a few times before that.”

“When was the earliest?” Avery asked.

“Three weeks ago, maybe?”

“Were you still physically involved with Alfred Lawnbrook at that time?”

“That’s personal.”

“Yes, I suppose it is. But since Alfred Lawnbrook is dead, I don’t see how it can harm you or him. So…were you involved with Alfred when you started seeing Clarissa?”

“Not really,” Stefon said, looking away in an ashamed manner. “I mean, we had hooked up a few days before I invited Clarissa to my house. But like I said…there was no relationship with Alfred. Just fooling around.”

“And he knew this?”

“Yeah. We both wanted it that way.”

“Before her stay of three days, when was the last time Clarissa had spent time with you?”

He thought about it for a moment before answering. “Two days before. We spent the day together. Had lunch, went back to my house and messed around. Had dinner. She left for her house around midnight.”

“She indicated that you guys stay up late. What do you do during those late hours?”

“Hit up some parties. But…it’s mainly just sex. She’ll tell you the same. We’re both…I don’t know. Freaky, I guess.”

“Freaky in the same way you thought Alfred got off on knowing there were spiders in the same room even though he was terrified of them?”

“Sort of.”

“Well, we’ll talk to Clarissa and check your alibis. If we can determine your whereabouts within twenty-four hours of Alfred Lawnbrook’s death, you’ll be free to go. It will have to be airtight, though. You have to understand how bad this looks for you, right?”

“Yeah,” he said. “But I swear…it wasn’t me. You know…even if you can’t come up with an alibi between me and Clarissa, there might be something on my computer. You guys can track log-ins and log-outs, right?”

“We can. Why do you ask?”

“The forum I met Clarissa on…I’m on there a lot. I’ve been trying to make some connection to maybe write articles for people. About spiders and things like that. Some obscure online nature mags pay pretty good for that kind of stuff.”

Avery recalled seeing the beginnings of a few articles on his coffee table. It wasn’t an alibi by any means, but it was at least something that added up.

“We’ll look into that,” Avery said. “In the meantime…can you remember anything Alfred ever said that might make you think he had enemies? Someone who really had it out for him?”

“No. He was a quiet dude. I mean, he was afraid of what his mom would think if she knew he was in a gay relationship but…no, nothing like enemies.”

“And do you know of anyone else that knew of his intense fear of spiders?” Avery asked.

Again, Stefon put some actual thought into his answer before slowly shaking his head. “Not that I know of. He seemed to be embarrassed about it, though. So I guess he wouldn’t really have shared it.”

“And have you told anyone else about his fear?”

“I told Clarissa. But that was right after I saw that he had died. Me and her, we got in a fight about that. She said it would be a good way to go and I thought it was insensitive.”

Avery nodded, relaxing a bit. She was pretty sure Stefon Scott had nothing to do with the murder of Alfred Lawnbrook. Even though the trail pointed there, it was all in his demeanor and his willingness to have them look into his computer records and speak to Clarissa.

“We’re going to need you to stay here until your alibis are checked out,” Avery said, getting to her feet. “In the meantime, I suggest you do your best to be polite to anyone else that asks you questions. Do you understand?”

He nodded, finding it hard to look at her. “You know,” he said. “There’s one thing about Alfred that I found a little weird…but it only just dawned on me right now.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“He was open to the possibility of facing his fear of spiders. I think that’s really the only reason he kept seeing me. He wanted to get over the fear. And I know I didn’t kill him, even though you aren’t convinced. But…if he wanted to get over a fear that badly, I couldn’t be the only one he told, right? Someone else had to have known. Someone he trusted.”

It was a good point. Avery had considered it already but the way Stefon put it added a new twist.

He wanted to get over his fear of spiders.

She felt like it meant something, but she wasn’t sure what just yet. But she thought Stefon was right: if he was set on overcoming his fear, he likely told more than one person. And if it had not been his mother, then who?

It was a good question…and one she thought they needed to find an answer to as soon as possible.