“Isn’t it something he can snap out of? I’m sure the FBI has ways of making people talk. As far as anyone knows, this entire operation doesn’t exist, so we need to do whatever it takes to get answers out of him. I want to know who wants me dead. I don’t care how you get the information.”
“Trying to force the truth out of him may not work, sir, especially if, as I suspect, he’s been this way for a while because of something traumatic he’s witnessed.”
“What are you implying?”
“It’s still a theory,” I said. “But if this boy is indeed a little right now, it stands to reason that he might have a Dominant.”
“Are you saying the Dominant may actually be the Handkerchief Murderer?” Knight asked.
“It’s possible, the only thing I can come up with for him driving that car and having that gun. Did he see something? Was he trying to escape? I think it’s safe to say the way you captured him was too easy. Our killer would have never made that mistake.”
“But if he knows something and doesn’t come forward, he’s still an accessory,” Knight said.
“I’m not saying he’s completely innocent. He obviously has some connection to this, but we all know he can’t be behind this for obvious reasons.”
“And what are those reasons?” Governor Roffe asked.
“He’s too young to be our killer, sir. Not only would he have started killing in his early teens, but he would also have had to go through rigorous training to be such an excellent marksman.”
“So he’s just a patsy, then,” Governor Roffe said. “Which means that beyond what he knows, he’s of little use to me. I want the man responsible for threatening my family, not some pawn. Since you’re the expert, Detective, how do you propose we handle this?”
I straightened up. “I’m hardly an expert—”
“But you’re the closest to one that we have.”
“I’m not sure what you’re asking of me, sir.”
“I’m asking you to get through to him,” Governor Roffe said. “I don’t care how you do it. Be this Dominant you speak of if that’s what it takes. We need answers, and we need them fast. I need to know that my family is safe, and when that maniac’s still running around looking for an opportunity to put a bullet in my head, they aren’t.”
“We understand, sir,” Knight said. “You have my word that we’ll do anything in our power to find the man responsible as soon as possible.”
“That is all I ask, Special Agent Knight. Reach out to me if there are further developments in the case.”
The governor signed off, leaving Knight and me in silence. The agent took another donut and bit into it.
I raised my eyebrows.
He scowled. “What? A man’s still got to eat.”
“We need to discuss how to get the boy to open up and talk.”
He shrugged and got to his feet. “You heard the governor. Be his Dom. Get him to confide in you and let you in on all the secrets he has in that head of his.”
Heat surged into my face. “Me? Are you crazy? I may know surface information about the lifestyle, but there’s no way I could convince him to trust me as a Daddy, especially not in these circumstances.”
“A Daddy?” Knight choked on his donut and reached for a water bottle on his desk.
“Yes, that’s what their caretakers are usually called, and I’d not make a convincing one.”
“It has to be you, Neely. None of us can do it.”
“You’re not listening to me. I’m not in the lifestyle. You need to come up with something else. There must be someone in the FBI who’s a Dom.”
“You expect anyone to come forward and admit that fact? If you can help this way, Neely, and you don’t, can you live with that?”
Damn him for trying to guilt-trip me. No one wanted to solve this case more than me, and for him to imply otherwise was insulting.
“I’ll try to talk to him, but that’s all. I’m sure your guys have been rough on him. Who knows? Maybe a gentler approach will do the trick without anyone having to be a Daddy.”