17

We parked and went inside. "Do you want me or Noah to be in there with you?" Amanda asked.

I looked at her. "Noah," I replied. I went into the interrogation room. Noah was already in there which is one of the reasons I had picked him. I sat. "So you're Ken Sole, Lisa's mysterious date."

He looked at me. Yes, and you're Detective Zone. The person they sent after me." There was no emotion in his voice.

"Yes. Now tell us why you killed all those children."

Ken sat back. "I had a female friend when I was five. She had brown hair. She moved away and when I grew up I decided to kill brunettes starting from a young age to grown-ups. Of course, you got in the way so I went after that woman. She still managed to cuff me after I stabbed her." He chuckled. "That move really did come back and bite me in the ass."

"We don't give up easily," Noah said.

I frowned at him. "Hilda doesn't give up easily," I corrected. Then I turned back to Ken. "You killed Mr. Hoot. He wasn't a female."

Ken shrugged. "He started using my symbol. I had to end him."

"You made sure the girls knew each other as well. Why is that?" Noah asked.

"Made it seem like the same girl was growing up. I'm surprised you didn't notice," Ken said smugly.

I glared. "We noticed that they knew each other. How do you think I knew Conya was going to be your next victim? Did you enjoy getting your arm broken?" Actually, it was Amanda who figured out Conya was next but I didn't want this guy setting his sights on her.

He glared. "Did you enjoy your head injury?"

I inhaled and exhaled slowly until I was calm. "Why were you trying to get close to Lisa? She was a blond, not a brunette."

To my surprise, Ken's eyes softened. "I like her. I didn't know she was suicidal. She probably found out about me so she killed herself in shame."

I looked away. I had to tell him. I wasn't mean and I can't ignore Lisa's request. "It wasn't your fault. She killed herself because of her mother."

"Oh."

I looked at him hating what I was about to say but knowing I had to. "She liked you too. But if she knew that you were the killer we've been after, she probably would have hated you."

He nodded. "Probably. Just know that killing her had never crossed my mind."

I blinked. He was telling the truth. "Um…" How the hell do I respond to that?

"Why should he believe you?" Noah asked coldly.

Ken looked at me. "Because he knows when someone is lying and he knows when they aren't."

I looked away. "Yeah, I can." I sighed and looked at Noah. "He's telling the truth."

Noah nodded. "Okay."

I looked at Ken. "Daila Dee, Sarah Ruth, Halla Air, and Paris Rong. You killed all these girls. You almost killed Conya but I got involved. You almost killed Hilda but she got you instead. You met them all on an app minus Hilda, right?"

"Yes," Ken said.

"You got them to tell you where they lived, right?"

"After a couple of conversations, yes."

"How many specifically?"

"Two to three."

"How many conversations before they sent you pictures of themselves in different outfits?"

"Six."

"How long did you talk to them before killing them?"

"A month."

I blinked. "So you were talking to them all at the same time?"

"Yes."

"Did you ever spy on them?"

"After they told me where they lived I would drive by to see if they were the girls I needed."

Noah scowled. "So you knew what they looked like before they sent you pictures," he said angrily.

"Yes."

"Did you have them tell you their heights?" I asked.

"Yes."

"When?"

"Seven conversations."

Okay, so he never guessed their heights like I had been thinking. "So the only reason you did this is because of that one girl?"

"Yes."

"Stupid," Noah said.

Ken shrugged. "You asked for the reason and I told you."

"But you killed Mr. Hoot differently," I said. "Why was that?"

"I had him alive as I cut into him. I wanted him to realize that he should never have copied me before he died."

"He's dead and his helper is in jail," Noah said.

Ken smirked. "I know."

I stared as I realized something. "You made sure we found his notes and stuff. You wanted us to catch Mrs. Light."

"Yes. She should have arrested him but instead, she slept with him."

"So you were being generous," Noah stated unhappily.

"No, just letting Zone know his mother-in-law wasn't as good as she pretended to be. It was only right for him to know."

"Now the only ones in the Light family are Jasper and Mr. Light," Noah snapped.

Ken sighed. "I hadn't meant to mess up the ME's family so much."

Once again I felt like I had to reassure him. "Lisa wasn't your fault and Mrs. Light shouldn't have thought she could get away with helping and sleeping with a killer," I said. I can't believe I was doing this. I decided to get us back on track. "It only took you thirty minutes to kill one of the kids. That's kind of quick."

He smiled. "All I had to do was beat them up and strangle them."

"You gagged them too."

"I couldn't have them screaming now, could I? I probably would have been caught sooner if I had let them scream."

I stood. "That's all I needed to know." I left the room and Noah led Ken to a cell.

Amanda came over. "All this over one girl he knew when he was a child."

"Killers always have strange reasons for killing," I replied.

"Do you think he would have kept killing if Hilda hadn't caught him? Or go into hiding and then start killing again after things blew over?"

I shrugged. "Who knows? He might have kept killing or he might have gone back into hiding. The important thing is he's going to prison now."

She nodded. "Do you think he actually cared about Lisa?"

I smiled sadly. "Yes, I think they both cared for each other." He probably would have stopped killing if he could be with Lisa.

"So what's next?"

I chuckled. "Home and a vacation for me."

She laughed "Go spend time with your family."

I left.