Jack In The Box novel Chapter 23

“FBI Agent Flint Knight.” The tall handsome man introduced himself. “I’d like to start the interrogation now, I prefer to question you alone, Ms. Frazer without having your colleagues in the same room. If you can ask Dr. Shaw to wait outside.”

“Aaron...”

“I can hear you just fine, Agent Knight. I’ll be in the other room.” To me, Aaron said. “If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to call me.”

I nodded. The door of the room closed. Agent Knight was blond, emerald eyes and clean-shaven. He also had a sharp jawline, and although he wasn’t movie star handsome, there was something so attractive about him that would bring any woman to her knees. Probably the way he carried himself and the radiating power of authority. The room was also occupied by two other men. An equally attractive African-American and another Hispanic. Detectives Scott and Sanchez respectively. They were watching me intently, like hawks.

Agent Scott was poised with an iPad, typing away. He’d given me what was a hint of a smiled once and then he was all official and business like.

“Would you care for some water, tea or coffee?” Knight asked me.

“Thanks, but I’m fine.” I said. I knew how they would bring any amount of liquid I requested and then when I wanted to take a bathroom break, they’d deny until they had the truth tumbling out of my mouth. I wasn’t going to let them use “a bathroom” as a bait.

Also, I had nothing to hide.

“Ms. Frazer, what’s your relationship with Jackson Wolfe?”

“He was my patient and I was his assigned nurse.” I answered.

“Nothing more than that?” He inquired.

“No.” I said.

Jack had said he’d loved me, it was an all too consuming attraction from both sides but I couldn’t be sure what Jack could be thinking because he was highly manipulative and he could have said it for personal gain. He was smart enough to know that as soon as I left the cabin, I’d be here surrounded by marshals being questioned and analyzed.

Agent Scott continued to type on the device frantically.

“After you were kidnapped, Ms. Frazer, where did he take you?”

“I couldn’t be sure of the location because I wasn’t conscious. When I woke up, I noticed I was in a cabin, a very modest one surrounded by mountains and forest.”

He nodded slowly. “He didn’t hurt you?”

“He didn’t. Jack would go on with his business during the day, and return at the cabin at night.”

The agents watched me skeptically. And I could tell they were not believing a word I said. Eyes not wavering off mine, I continued to maintain eye-contact. If they thought I would be intimidated and confess to things that didn’t happen, they were wrong.

“Did he mention where he was going, what business he was attending to?”

“He never said a word about his business, he never told me anything.”

“Are you telling us the truth?”

“Yes.” I said.

“Where was Wolfe when Nurse Roxanne was murdered?”

“At the cabin.” I said.

Argent Knight’s brow shot up, “Are you sure? Think hard. Every little detail helps us, Ms. Frazer.”

“He was out until afternoon and he came back to the cabin that evening.” I said.

“The body was found the same morning, but the post-Mortem reports tell us she died the same day you were kidnapped. It’s almost too convenient.”

I stared hard at him. “Are you insinuating that I killed her before I was kidnapped?”

Knight chuckled, his gem like eyes glistening with amusement. “I like how you made your own assumption about what we think, but you’re smart, you know exactly what I was getting at so let me cut the nice guy act and get straight to the point. Did you kill Roxane Martin?”

“I did not. And you’re foolish to think I did it.”

“I have a good reason to think you did, Riley. It’s come to our knowledge that you have a certain obsession with bad boys and serial killers to be very precise. My gut feeling is, please tell me if I’m wrong here, that you took a fascination for Wolfe like a child taking interest in beetles and butterflies, that fascination might have turned into something more. Since he was your patient, you decided to repair him with your unconditional love and then conveniently staged your own kidnapping, helping him go through with his plans and here you are, acting like a victim.”

I laughed, it was a laugh of complete and utter disbelief. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. “If you have managed to build your own story about this entire case, why even bother to question me and waste my time?”

“I’m doing my job, Ms. Frazer. And you may want to ask in my department about my reputation to pin down a case with my logic. I’m right eighty percent of the time and manage to get a confession out soon, the other twenty percent are either lying or are already dead.” He smiled, radiating confidence and obvious arrogance.

“I’m not Jackson’s accomplice.”

“Exactly, but she was murdered before I left the place, Aaron. And it doesn’t help with the fact that you ratted me out!” I almost screamed at him.

It was shame on me I was yelling at my superior but I didn’t care.

“I ratted you out! What the hell does that mean?” He asked.

“You told them about the surgical knife I took and gave Jack. So now they think that not only am an accomplice but a cold blooded murderer and I have you to thank for that, Dr. Shaw.” I said sarcastically.

He threw his hands in the air in resignation, like it wasn’t his fault. “They wanted all the information, I couldn’t hide something like this. You took the knife, Riley, that’s the truth. If you have nothing to hide, then there’s no need for you be frightened.”

I pressed my hand on my head and pointed towards the car. “Let’s sit inside and talk.”

I slid behind the wheel and blasted the heater in the car. “Jack said that the killer was framing him. I think the killer is framing me too.”

“I regret assigning you as Jack’s nurse, Riley. I regret even considering to admit him in Woodville’s asylum.”

I looked at him. Could I even trust Aaron? The man who’d supported me, mentored me all these years. Then again, how could I be sure that Jackson was telling me the full truth. He could be lying and manipulating me into thinking he was innocent. When I’d stayed with him in that cabin for a week, I’d believed what I’d seen and what I’d seen that time was a man who denied killing all those people.

Someone was playing a very elaborate game.

“Be careful of Agent Flint Knight. He is as smart as Jackson can be. Flint being on the task-force means he will not rest until he nails the person who’s doing it.”

I smiled. “Well, that makes the two of us.”

* * *

As the agent had promised, there was another Officer who continued to follow me around, just keeping an eye on me while I continued my work throughout the day.

I was a prime suspect in this case and it was taking me a while to wrap my head around it. People were looking at me with suspicion. There were Officers outside my home. If I tried to contact Jack, they would know. I’d gotten rid of all the burners except one that I kept hidden. Just in case.

On the fifth day after the interrogation, I received a call from the WoodVille asylum at ten thirty.

“Riley, they captured Jack. He’s been brought to the asylum.”