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knew previously about the death of his associate Legerski, she guessed, was what he read in the papers or saw on the Internet.
    But he refused to take the bait, to say or do anything that could be used against him. A suspect couldn’t be arrested for blinking his eyes.
    She paused, her mind racing. There had to be a way to get him to admit he was the Lizard King.
    â€œExcuse me for a moment,” she said. She rose and rapped on the door and the deputy let her out.
    *   *   *
    â€œIT’S NOT working,” she said to Behaunek. Sheriff Puente nodded and looked away. He didn’t appear to be upset with Cassie but with the hopelessness of the situation. Agent Rhodine, on the other hand, appeared defeated.
    â€œNo, it isn’t,” Behaunek said. “He’s too good. Our chance to crack him was right after you walked in. It shook him up, we could tell. But now he’s settled in. There’s nothing you can say that will make him break character.”
    â€œI still like my idea about finding him hanging in his cell,” Puente said.
    â€œPlease,” Rhodine said with frustration. “Maybe he’s telling the truth?”
    It was a trial balloon that hit the wall with a thud.
    The four of them stared at the man in custody in the monitors. He hadn’t moved since she left.
    â€œIt’s him, I know it,” Cassie said.
    â€œThat doesn’t help us right now, you knowing it,” Rhodine said, brusquely running his hand through his perfect hair. “Despite what you led him to believe in there, you’ve never actually seen him in person. It’s in your report. Defense counsel will shred us if we try to go with that one.”
    Cassie stared at Spradley-Pergram on the screen. Rhodine was right and she knew it. She thought about what she knew about the Lizard King, about his past in Montana. About the fact that he’d murdered perhaps hundreds of helpless women and probably his very own mother.
    â€œWe’re going to have to cut him loose,” Rhodine said. “We’ve held him too long as it is. Sheriff…”
    â€œI know, I know,” Puente said, his face red.
    Cassie said, “I can try something else,” and spun on her heel. She didn’t reply when Behaunek asked what she was contemplating.
    *   *   *
    CASSIE SAT back down across from him. He beheld her with a weary expression and said, “Are we done here?”
    â€œClose but not yet.”
    Then she made her play.
    She said, “We know this Montana state trooper who was shot and killed was the mastermind behind the whole operation,” she said, continuing in the same tone she’d used to recount the tale. “It was on his property, after all. Of the three of you involved in the crimes, he was the only one intelligent enough to pull it off for so long. He was the only one with a college education. Even his ex-wife conceded how smart he was, even if he was diabolical.”
    Although he didn’t say anything or move in the slightest, she could hear the rate of his breathing increase. The Lizard King didn’t like it that she had so casually dismissed his intelligence. She wished he was plugged into a heart rate monitor so they could watch how he was reacting.
    â€œIt’s such a shame that the trooper was such a deviant,” she said. “But he must have been very charismatic and convincing to be able to recruit both of you into his sick world and to make you keep your mouths shut. I know it couldn’t have been the other way around.
    â€œI checked up on you, Ronald. I interviewed your old teachers, your neighbors, and the employees at your old trucking company. I think I might know you better than anyone else left alive.
    â€œLet’s talk about your new truck. Yellow—that’s kind of bright and cheery, isn’t it? Kind of, you know, metrosexual or something? Have you come out of the closet, Ronald?