Authors: Alexa Grace
"Sheriff Chase is here?"
"Yes, he's questioning Ryder after you finish your interview with him. Sheriff Chase is going to show Ryder a map of Shawnee County to see if Ryder will tell him where additional victims are buried."
"Has Ryder admitted there
are
additional victims?" asked Carly.
"Yes, but he refuses to give any specifics. We hope you can help in that area."
Two armed agents approached either side of the car. Recognizing Dr. Anderson, they focused their attention on Carly.
"Good morning, sir. I see you have a guest," said one of the agents, peering into their vehicle, his hand resting on the gun holstered at his side.
"This is Special Agent Stone. She's here to interview Mr. Ryder."
"May I see your identification?"
Carly and Dr. Anderson handed their Bureau identification to the agents, who reviewed each card, then opened the car doors and led them inside the building. Though it looked like a pole barn from the outside, there were offices and several cubicles inside.
Leading them down a long hallway, one of the agents said to Carly, "Special Agent in Charge Isley is waiting for you."
Hearing the name, Carly tensed. Surely there was another agent in the Bureau with last name 'Isley.' He couldn't be the same man with whom she'd had an affair when they both worked in the Tampa field office. Saying nothing, she kept moving.
They hadn't walked far when she spotted Brody standing before an office and talking to whoever was inside. She was several feet away when Sam Isley entered the hallway from the office, and her stomach dropped to the floor. Both men stared at her as she approached.
"Dr. Anderson," said Isley. "We've brewed a fresh pot of coffee for you, sir."
Anderson smiled, heartily shook Isley's extended hand, and then darted into what looked like a break room across the hall.
Isley turned to Carly and warmly greeted her, "It's good to see you, Carly."
Coldly shaking his hand, she turned to Brody. "Good morning, Sheriff."
Brody told her good morning as if it were the first time he'd seen her that day. He gave no indication she had awakened in bed next to him that morning, or that they'd made love the night before.
To Isley, she said, "I was surprised to hear that you're heading this project. Isn't it a bit unusual for the Bureau to assign a special agent in charge of an Indiana project from their Tampa field office?"
"I'm assigned to the Indianapolis field office now. I moved from Tampa a couple of months ago," Isley said, inching intimately close to her, prompting her to step back.
Carly couldn't look at him without remembering how much she used to care about him. That was before she caught him screwing her trainee in his office, on his desk. The anger and pain were still very real, and she detested him for it. Had he succeeded in destroying her trust of any other men, as Brody suspected? She couldn't allow Isley to have that kind of control over her life. Not if she wanted a future with Brody.
Brody's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I wasn't aware that Brad Roth was no longer heading the Indy office." A muscle flicked angrily at Brody's jaw as he glared at the special agent in charge.
"I took over last month. Brad accepted a position with the Bureau's field office in Denver to be closer to his ex-wife and kids."
If there was one thing Carly didn't need as she prepared to interview Ryder, it was the thoughts and emotions now spinning in her brain. Why would Sam Isley make a lateral career move to a position in Indiana, and leave his cushy assignment in Florida? If he made the decision to be closer to her, he was in for an epic disappointment. Sam Isley was her past. Brody Chase is her future.
Frowning at Isley, she asked, "Where is Jim Ryder? Is he ready for my interview?"
"Follow me."
Isley took Carly and Brody to an observation room where Dr. Anderson sat at a conference table, next to a woman she didn't recognize, watching Jim Ryder on a huge, flat screen monitor mounted on the wall.
SAC Isley quickly made introductions. "Sitting next to Dr. Anderson is Special Agent Susan Black from our field office in D.C. Susan is an interrogation analyst, who will advise us on Ryder's truthfulness in answering any given question." Special Agent Black, who appeared to be a very serious woman, simply nodded. "This is Special Agent Carly Stone, who will be interviewing Mr. Ryder first this morning. Standing next to her is Sheriff Brody Chase, whose jurisdiction is Shawnee County, where Mr. Ryder committed his murders and was captured. The victims we know about were all found in the sheriff's county. He will question Mr. Ryder immediately after Special Agent Stone."
"Mr. Ryder appears to be annoyed and a little agitated this morning," Dr. Anderson observed, referring to the closed-circuit television. "I'm told he's been sitting in the interview room for close to twenty minutes."
"Ryder perceives himself as an important person, and doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"I agree," said Dr. Anderson. "Like most sociopaths, our Mr. Ryder is quite the narcissist, pumped up with self-importance."
Isley said to Carly, "The room is outfitted with state of the art camera and audio equipment. There are also armed guards just outside the room, who are ready if you should need help. Ryder is handcuffed to his chair by his wrist and ankle. The chair is bolted to the floor."
"I'm not afraid of Ryder," Carly stated calmly to Isley, while offering a smile to Brody, whose expression was a combination of tension, anger, and protectiveness. Clearly he still did not agree with the decision Carly had made to interview Jim Ryder.
"Perhaps that is why he will talk to only you," Dr. Anderson stated. "I doubt there have been many people Mr. Ryder has encountered, especially women, who didn't fear him."
Brody spoke up, "None of my deputies feared the bastard. They thought he was a good ol' boy, one of their buddies."
Dr. Anderson adjusted his glasses. "I don't doubt that, Sheriff. Sociopaths are consummate actors and prolific liars. Outwardly, they appear very normal and know how to blend in. They're very good at charming others when they want to."
"You keep referring to Ryder as a sociopath. I'm convinced he is a psychopath."
"If I were a psychiatrist, I would agree with you. But to a criminologist like me, Jim Ryder is a sociopath. As a criminal, a psychopath is erratic and disorganized, with a tendency to leave clues, because he or she acts on impulse. Psychopaths are fearless and take excessive risks. They are unable to maintain normal relationships or keep a job for very long." Anderson paused, then nodded to Carly for her to take over the explanation.
"As a sociopath, Ryder's crimes were very organized and he was careful about not leaving clues like forensics on his victims or at his crime scenes, which made it difficult for Sheriff Chase's team to catch him. He appeared to have maintained a relatively normal relationship with his sister, Erin, and provided for her, thanks to his position as a deputy. That is, until the day Alison Brown escaped. I'm sure he blamed Erin for that, and killed her."
Anderson turned to Carly. "It's time to interview Mr. Ryder. We don't want him too worked up about waiting when you question him. Remember what we talked about in the car. Before you ask him about additional victims and dump sites, get him into a dialog about his personality, background, and development. It's useful for us in the Behavioral Analysis Unit to understand when and why he started killing."
"Yes, sir." To Brody, she shot a smile to reassure him that she was going to be okay.
Rising from his seat, Brody said, "Special Agent Stone, may I talk to you before you interview Mr. Ryder?"
"Of course." Carly quirked her eyebrow questioningly.
She followed Brody into the hallway. After he closed the observation room door, he pulled her close and whispered in her ear, "I love you, Carly, and I know if anyone can get information from Ryder, you can."
"Thank you, Sheriff." Her voice was laced with tenderness. "If you have no plans for later, I'd like to show you how much I love you in return."
His mouth eased into a seductive smile, and her hormones did an excited little dance. "It sounds like I'd better call the office after this and tell them I'm heading home early."
"Sounds like a plan."
After making sure no one was in the hallway to see them, Carly lightly kissed him on the lips, then returned to the observation area in order to enter the interview room.
"Good morning, Mr. Ryder. I apologize if I kept you waiting."
His eyes undressed her as she moved from the door to the table where he sat, making her skin crawl with revulsion.
Sitting across from him, she waited for him to respond, which he did in seconds. "You can call me Jim, and I'll just call you Carly."
"Sorry, but that's not going to work for me. You'll refer to me as Special Agent Stone," Carly began. "In addition, let me set up some ground rules. You will at all times treat me with respect and answer my questions honestly, per the plea bargain agreement."
His eyes blazed with sudden anger. "You're such a cold, uppity bitch."
"Fine," she said as she leapt to her feet. "I won't mind telling the prosecutor that you're not cooperating. I'm sure he'll want to rethink the plea agreement."
As she headed for the door, Ryder called her back. "Wait. I can be cooperative."
She turned to glare at him, and then returned to her seat. "Are you ready to get started?"
"Yes."
"Let's start by talking a bit about your childhood. What was it like? Where did you grow up?"
"Seriously? Are you trying to shrink me?"
"Not at all," Carly insisted, meeting him eye-to-eye.
"Fine. I grew up in a small town in Ohio. My dad was a high school principal, and Mom was a nurse. Is that what you wanted to know?"
"No kidding," Carly said. "I heard you and your sister, Erin, grew up in Francis, Utah, as a member of the Dawson family. Your father was the town drunk, and your mother was a weak-willed woman who did nothing to protect her children from his beatings."
Ryder looked as if she'd slapped him across the face. He stared fiercely at her from across the table.
"So let's start over. Tell me about your childhood."
Ryder exploded. "What the fuck does my childhood have to do with the additional victims I agreed to talk about?"
In her calmest, most soothing voice, Carly said, "It would really help me to understand your side of things if you'd give me some information about your background. I just want to get to know you better before we move on to the subject of additional victims."