Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“What’s gotten into you? Why are you making all of this noise?” His brows bunched, then he walked to his desk and took a seat.
Slamming his door closed, she locked it and sat right in front of him, her body a moving flame.
“Don’t act coy with me. You know exactly why I’m here. I had just left a client, minding my business, driving in my car to get to my next appointment. Instead, now, I am here. Looking at you. I hear over the radio that an arrest has been made, and it was let out that the individual is also a suspect in the beach murders. How unprofessional can you get!”
“…Ethan. Did you hear the entire broadcast, Lee? He was arrested for beating up his girlfriend. I figure that—”
“Right, he was arrested for assault, but someone should have told me before this was made public.”
“Why would that have mattered?” He threw up his hands. “The arrest was being made with or without you present, and I should remind you that you are no longer a police officer, Lee. You aren’t even supposed to be a part of this, and—”
“Don’t you sit there and tell me what the hell I am and am not supposed to be a part of! It was okay when I was clawing through trash, running surveillance and giving you tips and clues that you were able to use though, wasn’t it?! Now you want to pull rank on me.”
“I’m not pulling rank on you.” He sighed, flopping back in his chair as if exhausted from her mere presence. “I’m explaining to you that you’re legally crossing boundaries by causing a scene, and then expecting to be notified of each and every thing. Besides, there was no time!”
“This isn’t just some typical DV case. Y’all have pulled his dental records and everything without contacting me, and you don’t even have the results back yet! Without me,” she pointed at her chest, “you wouldn’t know about the bite! The braces! The girlfriend in the photos… None of it! Because of me, you now have more meat on the bones, and then you have the nerve to—”
“Do you want credit, or do you want things to get resolved, Porsche?” he stated. “I thought you of all people would be happy about this.”
“Well, you thought wrong. You have the wrong guy.”
“What?!” He laughed incredulously. “No, there’s proof that he beat that young lady up! It’s definitely the right guy.”
“I’m not talking about the domestic violence charges. Ethan is definitely strange. Despite his talent and intelligence, he has difficulties, and though I am no psychologist, he probably has some sort of personality disorder. But despite all of that, I don’t feel confident that he’s responsible for all of these murders, and for y’all to get your behinds on the airwaves and tell the public that, with little to no evidence, is irresponsible.”
Captain White clasped his hands together and put on a faint smile. His eyes tapered and he cleared his throat. “Do you know what he did to that girl? Her name is Katherine Jiang. He bit her… on her face, and then he choked her. Strangled her. She pretended to fall limp, he got up to get Lord knows what, and she managed to get away from his apartment, run across the hallway, and get the neighbor to help her. That neighbor dialed 911. They’d had an argument. He accused her of cheating. She denied it. He showed her some text messages and pictures he’d obtained. Things escalated. So now, we have strangulation. Just like the murders. A bite. Just like in at least one of the murders. And yes, I credit you for that. It’s his M.O.”
“No. No. No. Do I think Ethan could murder someone? Absolutely—but an unplanned, spontaneous crime of passion such as confronting a cheating lover and losing your shit over it, versus the planned and calculated beach murders is not even comparable. Nothing about what he did to this young lady lines up with the exception of the bite and strangulation!”
“Isn’t that enough to delve deeper?! He was already on the suspects list!”
“It’s not enough to publicly name him suspect numero uno! The psychology and actions of a serial killer and an unplanned murder of passion are not comparable. He has no prior serious criminal charges, and it’s obvious his attack on her stemmed from an emotional overload. He lacked control of himself and the situation. Furthermore, that’s a woman! From what I understand, because I already looked into her background when I saw her photo in his trash and we identified her later, she is not a drug addict. On top of that, they weren’t near or around Old Orchard Beach at any time that I was surveying them, and he had a direct connection with her.”