Free Deadline by Craig McLay

would know that nothing that happens in that building is being recorded,” Giordino observed.
    Colin sat back. “Well, you’ve got me there. Me and everyone who reads the paper, that is. Which, I grant you, is not a multitude. We’re not exactly the
New York Times
. But then, neither is the
New York Times
these days.”
    “Do you have a problem with police officers, Mr. Mitchell?” Giordino asked.
    “Of course not, detective,” Colin said. “I won’t say that some of my best friends are police officers any more than you would be inclined to say that some of your best friends are reporters. Reporters don’t generally make for great friends. It’s no fun to have a friend that’s always finding fault. I don’t imagine if I were in your shoes, that I would care to have it pointed out that the department has the lowest closure rate for violent crimes in the entire province. Or that your very own chief of police has seen 13 corruption allegations, two conflict of interest charges and one harassment complaint against him dismissed without a hearing in the last two years alone.”
    “Little peckerhead,” Betts growled.
    Giordino shot Betts a warning look. She didn’t want to have to kick him out of an interview with the same subject twice. He rolled his nicotine gum to the other side of his cheek and went back to leaning on the wall next to the door. Giordino reached into the file and pulled out a photo. Colin recognized it as a close-up of the image that had been painted on the tree and drawn on the box that had been delivered to the newsroom. They probably didn’t have any shots of the one from the locker yet.
    “And you’re sure you’ve never seen this image anywhere before?” she asked.
    “Positive,” Colin said. “As I stated repeatedly earlier, I had never seen that image before I opened that box yesterday morning.”
    “Are you aware of any other enemies Mr. Devane may have made?”
    “Are you kidding?” Colin said. “You’ve seen his website. There are only about 200 or so women out there he drugged and raped who might just have a teeny little bit of an axe to grind. If I were one of them, I would have given serious thought to sawing his head off myself. Not the one on top of his neck, though.”
    “Do you know any of them we could contact?” Giordino asked.
    “Just the one whose hand showed up in that box I opened this morning because your fat partner over there decided her life wasn’t worth an hour of his precious time.”
    Betts pushed himself off the wall and charged towards the table. Giordino had to jump up to stop him from grabbing Colin by the neck.
    “You little asshole!” Betts yelled. “I think you did it, yeah? I think maybe we should hold you overnight downstairs with the gangbangers and the junkies. See how much of a smartass you are after that!”
    Giordino shoved Betts back towards the door and told him to go get himself a cup of coffee. Betts’s face was flushed red and he was breathing like a charging rhino. He gave Colin one last furious look and then ripped the door open and slammed it shut behind him. Giordino took a moment to allow the temperature in the room to return to normal.
    “That was…not helpful,” she said.
    “If we’re talking about not helpful, he just left,” Colin said.
    Giordino sat back down. “This is important, Mr. Mitchell. Any one of these women may be a potential suspect or a victim. Whoever is doing this already killed Shalene Nakogee. He may move on to one of them next.”
    “Even if I
did
talk to one of those women and knew her name, she would be entitled to protection as a confidential source,” Colin said. “Take me to court. Throw me in jail for contempt. I still wouldn’t tell you her name.”
    Giordino sighed. “I believe you, Mr. Mitchell. I’m afraid that’s part of the problem.” She tucked the loose papers back into the file. “I think we’ve gone as far as we can with this tonight. I’ll arrange for someone to take