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“Not maybe. Yes or no?” Ripley said.
“Yes I did. That was his prized possession. Legend says it belonged to Simeon and Levi. I have my doubts, but it was my way of getting him back.”
“Simeon and Levi?” Ripley asked.
“Murderous brothers. Book of Genesis. You should read it sometime.”
“Wow,” Ripley said. “So if that’s a religious artifact, it must be priceless, right?”
Alden stayed quiet again.
Ella pulled a final picture from the folder, slid it across to Alden and said, “If it’s so valuable, it seems odd you’d use it as a weapon.” The photograph was a still image from the CCTV camera in the moments before their killer struck Gary Weathers. Alden peered closer, his single eye scanning every corner of the glossy picture. For the first time since Alden stepped in here, he cracked a genuine smile that roused a storm of unease in Ella’s soul. She felt like they were standing on opposite sides of a riddle and Alden had found the answer first.
“Something you want to say?” she asked.
“Yes. That blade doesn’t belong to me, and hasn’t for some time. I sold it.”
“Who to?”
“I don’t know his name. I was homeless for a while, so was he.”
“You’re gonna need to be more specific.”
“Easy money,” Alden said. “He was some kind of assassin. He said he needed the blade to find a new job. I didn’t inquire any further.”
Ella didn’t buy it. “Sure.”
“And,” Alden continued pointing to the picture again, “it’s ironic that a man with one eye can see something you can’t.”
A chill rushed through Ella’s veins, as though a block of ice had replaced her pounding heart. Every beat was now cold and cruel, blood flowing like a subzero current. Alden’s mask of sanity slipped away, revealing an expression of genuine emotion.
Alden scooped up the photograph and placed it next to his face. With a sickening grin, he slowly pointed to his missing eye, then moved his finger to the figure in the picture.
“Who’s the blind one now?” he laughed, the notes scratching Ella’s eardrums like the rumble of a passing train.
Ella couldn’t believe she’d been oblivious to what was right in front of her.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Ella stalked the office like trapped prey, temper simmering to a boiling point, a volcanic eruption waiting to happen. Ripley sat at their desk, palms wrapped around her face like a woman in the throes of a fatal mistake.
“This can’t be happening,” Ripley said. “Please tell me we didn’t miss the glaringly obvious.”
“I never even thought about it. His frame matched, his height matched.” Ella picked up the photograph and inspected it again, ensuing the perspectives matched up to their suspect’s deformities. It was all right there. Undeniable.
Despite the grainy quality, both of the suspect’s eyes had been visible at various points in the CCTV footage. Both eyes were present.
Ripley said, “It’s not him. I’m not saying Alden is completely innocent, but the man in the footage and the man in the next room are not the same person.”
“Prosthetics? Makeup? Maybe a double bluff? Like, if wecouldn’tsee his eyes in the footage then that would be enough to send this man to court. Maybe he considered that beforehand, so this was his little insurance policy?” Ella desperately sought out any solution, fully aware that her efforts would be in vain. Grasping at straws, saying these things aloud somehow helped exorcise the outlandish possibilities. It helped remove the impossible and leave only the improbable.
Ripley eyed her partner like she had two heads. She grabbed one of Gary Weathers’s notebooks and said, “You’re starting to sound like this guy.”
“He’s got no alibis for the nights of the murders. He was Joanne’s dealer. He even admitted to stealing the murder weapon. What the hell more do we need?”
Ripley pulled a ringing phone from her pocket, answered. She hung up within a few seconds.
“The sheriff?” Ella asked.
