CHAPTER 65

65

LOG 10/16/2023 21:37 GMT-4

TRANSCRIPT: AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING Analysis Note: The subject's vitals stopped reporting for thirty-seven seconds. All are back now and appear normal, but the subject has gone oddly quiet.

Sordello: Deputy? What's going through your head right now? Maro: Can we take a break? Sordello: I don't think that's a good idea. Analysis Note: Sordello retrieved the files for Hannah Hernandez and Malcolm Mitchell and placed them in the carrier but did not send them over to the subject. Instead, she removed them and set them on top of the others at her side.

Sordello: Did you know Hannah Hernandez? Maro: It's a small town. I knew her enough to wave or say hello. I couldn't tell you any personal details. That's probably a good thing. It means she never crossed my radar. Sordello: Never got in trouble, you mean? Maro: Yeah. Sordello: Was that true of Malcolm Mitchell? Maro: I knew he dropped out of school. Ellie had him on her radar as a potential problem, but nothing much came of it. Caught him shooting once, about six months back. Out near Misty Pass. Just some Coke cans with a .22. Said he'd gotten the gun from his father. His dad backed him on that, but I had the impression his father was just covering for him. No crime, though, nothing I could prove. This thing with Hannah … that was … that was horrible, but I'm not aware of any prior incidents. Marcie Holden never mentioned him. If she had, we'd have looked into it. There's no way he took six other girls. Town this size, that just doesn't happen. A girl disappears, we … Sordello: You what? Maro: We mobilize. We work together. Always have. Analysis Note: Sordello retrieved a sheet of paper from Malcolm Mitchell's file and pressed it to the glass. The subject leaned closer.

Maro: What's that? Sordello: His six other victims. Maro: I don't know any of those names. If that's true, they're not locals. Sordello: Did Malcolm Mitchell ever mention living in Columbus, Ohio, to you? Maro: Columbus? No. Sordello: Same mask. Same MO. Six dead girls attributed to the same killer, four of whom were connected by DNA. One girl escaped, claimed her abductor kept talking to himself. Probably schizophrenic. If I were to take a sample from Malcolm Mitchell, do you think it would match? Maro: Unless he was traveling back and forth, I don't see how. When were the Ohio girls taken? Analysis Note: Sordello broke script here. She wasn't supposed to mention the killings in Ohio. That's probably why she backed off and changed the subject.

Sordello: Did you expect Stuart Peterson and his group to fire on you? Has he ever exhibited violent tendencies in your presence? Maro: Peterson is one of those people who always feels the need to be in charge. He's the first to report potential poachers when he spots them up on the mountain, and he's not shy about speaking up at town meetings when something doesn't go the way he'd prefer. But take out a gun and fire on someone? No way. Sordello: Do you think that was him showing his true self, and the time you'd known him had always been some kind of charade? Or do you think the stress of the current situation caused something in him to snap? Maro: That's probably a question better left to a shrink. Sordello: I'm asking you. Analysis Note: The subject's vitals dropped again. No readings for twelve seconds. Although Sordello was told through her earpiece, she did not authorize someone to go into the subject's chamber and check the leads. She didn't want to interrupt. When his vitals returned, the subject opened the water bottle and took a long swig. He grimaced and spit it out.

Maro: This tastes terrible. Did you do something to it? Sordello: It hasn't left your chamber. Nobody touched it. Analysis Note: The subject clearly knew this. He spent the next thirty seconds staring at that bottle. If he had further thoughts, he didn't communicate them. Nor did he drink more. He set the bottle down and continued.