Cruelty Is Bitter Bane Log 6

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Kane and Kitty go to confront Westcott in his cell



He didn't have time to go through the usual channels and resorted to an old tactic in order to bring Kitty with him into the main precinct. Between his badge and identification clipped to his belt and Kitty wearing his FBI windbreaker, none of the local police challenged him. Kane knew that he wasn't going to get access to the prisoner, especially not without oversight, but like many stations, the holding cells and the records vault were next to each other, and at the time of night, the chances of anyone else coming done to look at a file were slim.

"You think this is gonna work?" Kitty whispered as they turned the corner. She had her doubts about whether or not Garrison could get the man to talk. He must have another trick up his sleeve, she thought. Like how he got us in in the first place.

"I don't know. But there's too many things that don't fit for this guy to be the only one involved." He said. Logan and Kitty's information from the morgue and the drop all didn't line up with any existing profile. Either Westcott was entirely unique or there was something they were missing. He paused next to the wall and tapped it. "Reinforced. This is where the holding cells start. There's going to be a camera in there you're need to take out before you phase me in with you."

"Easy." She took a breath, then pushed her head through the corner of the wall. It was the most likely spot for shadows.

Her eyes scanned the room quickly, locating the camera positioned on the upper wall. Pulling back through the stone, she walked around the outside, then phased. The skin of her body tingled as her footsteps ascended, moving through the surface until she reached the spot where she knew the camera was near. With a swift motion, Kitty plunged in, then dragged her fist to the left. The camera sparked, then shuddered. A faint tendril of smoke drifted from below the lens glass.

Jumping back into the other room, she spoke to Garrison, her words short and sharp. "It's done. We better hurry."

"Perfect." Garrison took her hand and she drew him through the wall with her. The experiences was a bit unsettling; the odd moment as his eyes registered seeing the concrete on the inside for a brief flash before going through into the dark holding area. Westcott was the only prisoner in the room, asleep on his small cot with the lights dimmed. Fortunately, the cells were locked with a simple turnkey tumbler. After all, they were meant to hold people for a short time as opposed to long term. He pulled out an automatic lock pick and in a few moments had the door opened to the cell.

"Want to wake him up?"

The look that Kitty shot Garrison said clearly that she wanted anything but.

In spite of her expression, she stepped forward, going solid. After her feet reached the floor, she padded across the concrete to the man slumped on a thin bunk against the wall. Her fingers reached out but then retracted swiftly as she thought better of it.

"Rise and shine," Kitty murmured, taking a step back as he stirred.

"Wha-" The man turned over and started, clumsily coming to a seated position. "Who are you?"

"Likely the only people in this city that don't think you kidnapped, raped and murdered those kids on your own."

"I- I don't-"

"We need answers," Kitty said. "And we need them fast." Her eyes noted the sweat starting to beat on the man's brow. It glistened even in the dark, a thick gloss that gave his skin a porcine cast. Something about him made her stomach crawl.

She leaned forward, fighting the will to phase. "Tell us what you did."

"I didn't kill anyone."

"Why should we believe you?"

"I- I didn't know what would happen. The guy said that he wanted to start a scare so he could up the ransom demands. 'Sex kidnapper stalks St.Louis', that kind of crap." He said. It had been made clear that Westcott was going to face charges of a capital crime, which all but guaranteed the death sentence. "He'd pick out the target and give me their schedules. I'd talk to them and when they were alone or not paying attention, he gave me this little dart gun. One shot and down they went. I'd keep them at my place until he picked them up."

"Why your place? Why not get them immediately."

"It was- uh, part of the deal." He said finally, his eyes on the floor. "The drug made them pliable. It gave me at least twelve hours to do whatever I wanted or get them to do- you know..." He said, avoiding the looks of disgust on the faces of those interrogating him.

Don't think about it too hard. Kitty told herself. She knew that otherwise, she might give in to other impulses swarming her brain. You need him...at least for now. Taking a deep breath, she composed her face.

"How did you connect with this guy?" She started there. It wasn't likely Westcott was going to give them a name--at least not easily--and at least a connection would help them track the man down even if a name wasn't forthcoming.

"He contacted me. I've got a prior conviction. So I'm a registered sex offender. He said that's how he found me." Westcott shook his head. "Look, I had nothing to do with their deaths. That was never supposed to be part of the deal. When I found out, I told him I was done. He said he'd turn me in if I didn't do this last one."

"Last one? DeMattis was his last one?"

"That's what he said. I don't know him, okay? No names, no information. When he came to pick up the guys, he'd have me unlock the door and wait in the bathroom until he was gone."

"That's not it, Scott. No one sets something like this up without an emergency contact."

"There's a phone. It's in a post office box down at Hillsview. The key is in a little magnetic box under my dash." His car had been impounded to swept for fibres and DNA evidence that any of the three young men had been in it. Kane knew he could get to it easily. "Now you have to tell them I'm not the murderer!"


It made her sick to say it but Kitty answered, "We will. But only if this pans out. Are you sure there isn't anything else you want to tell us?"

How many other lives have you destroyed? I wish you could burn for this. Her hands clenched and unclenched slowly, over and over.

"He's dangerous. When I told him I wanted out, there was... something in his voice. Like killing me didn't matter to the slightest to him if he felt it was necessary."

"We have something we agree on." Garrison said and got up. "If you keep your mouth shut about our visit and tell the FBI exactly what you told us, I'll see about having a word that you're scum but not capable of murder. If you don't, believe me, them sending you to the injection chair won't trouble me at nights." He nodded to Kitty, and they disappeared back into the dark holding area and through the wall.

"You ok?" Kane said as they solidified back in the records vault.

"Yeah," she said, avoiding his gaze. "It makes me sick, what he did, but he isn't lying. I can tell that much."

Kitty shifted in place, staring at the wall. "If they know he didn't kill the kids, how long will he actually be in there? Locked up, I mean."

"Convicted sex offender. He'll get kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap, rape and unlawful detainment at the very least." Kane looked her in the eye. "He'll be in jail the rest of his life. If not, he'll be used to collecting social security when he gets out. But he'll get conspiracy to commit murder minimum if I don't talk to the DA, and that's lethal injection."

Kane took a deep breath. "If you don't want me to talk to the DA, you've earned the right to ask. I don't agree, but I'll keep quiet if you tell me right now that's what you want."

"But he won't be back on the street," the woman spoke the words, lifting her head to meet Garrison's. There was absolutely no conviction in her tone.

We aren't the law, Kitty told herself. There is a process of justice and we have to let that be served. This isn't yours, isn't Garrison's to decide. You can't make that choice. Her mind went to words that her grandfather had spoken, in the dark, when the children were supposed to be in bed and the stories of the homeland came spilling out of broken lips... "If only one good man had spoken out..."

But you are not that good person, Pryde. Maybe you haven't ever been. And there are other fights, right now, to be won. She swallowed her bile and said, "I won't tell you that, Garrison. That's not my right."

"Good. I would have talked to the DA in any case, but I'm glad to know that I can trust your judgement, Kitty. We're all so damn new working with each other right now... just, thanks. I couldn't have gotten this far without you."

"You don't have to thank me. Comes with the territory." Kitty managed a grin, then shrugged. "Just buy me a beer when we're done, yeah?"