Chapter 19

He couldn't keep the smile from forming on his lips as the guards escorted him to one of the interview rooms. He knew she wouldn't be able to resist him. The fact that her partner was accompanying her was an added bonus in his mind. He'd come this far and there was no way the great Detective Goren was going to stand in his way.

Bobby and Alex waited with Carver and Wentworth's attorney in the interview room. His lawyer broke the thick silence voicing his protest again to the meeting but conceded he had to do what his client wanted.

"I tried to get him to plead on mental defect but he claimed he wasn't crazy. This meeting and subsequent deal only proves that he is," his lawyer sighed.

"In the end, it is your client's decision," stated Carver in that calm deep voice of his.

"Yeah well I'll be happy when this case is over. To be honest this guy makes me nervous and I will be happy to get as far away from this as possible."

"I'm sure that will make the families of those he killed feel better," replied Alex. Despite everything, she found herself nervous at the thought of confronting Wentworth. The memories were too difficult and conflicting.

The door buzzed signaling the entrance of the prisoner. Marshall Wentworth walked into the room in such a relaxed way that one would never suspect he was a murderer who was about to confess to his crimes. In fact, to Bobby he seemed happy which made him more than a little nervous about letting Alex anywhere near him.

"Alexandra," Wentworth drawled as he sat down at the small table across from her.

"Mr. Wentworth, the Detectives are here to take your formal statement regarding…."

"I knew you'd come," he said to Alex, effectively cutting off Carver. "Tell me, how does it feel?" He spoke to her as if she was the only person in the room.

"How does what feel?" asked Alex.

"How does it feel to have everything you ever cherished taken away from you?"

Before Alex could respond Bobby jumped in. "Well you would know, wouldn't you?" countered Bobby trying to draw Wentworth's attention from Alex. But Wentworth's stare never wavered from Alex. "You're father disowned you, threw you out like trash."

"You think this was all about him? This was never about him. I did what I did because I could," Bobby merely stared at him. "You think you are so high and mighty but you couldn't catch me." Wentworth's voice was haughty and cold like ice.

"You're here now," replied Alex.

"Because I let you catch me. You were too busy with each other to do it yourselves."

"Because of course you're smarter than all of us? Tell me do you still feel in control? Because we get to walk out here," Alex was becoming annoyed and was tired of playing games.

"But no matter what you do, you'll always think of me."

"I promise you Wentworth, a few weeks from now I will not even give a thought to you. Why did you do it, if not to get back at your father?" asked Alex.

"It's simple. Power. You've killed before so you know what that kind of adrenaline feels like. The first time I felt it I was afraid because I didn't understand it. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to do it again. You see, my first, he was an accident. He was trying to arrest me, but he was so sure of himself that it was easy to overpower him. It was rush. The adrenaline I felt when I pulled the trigger and the power I felt over him when he was dead was unimaginable. You're a cop you've shot people before right?"

"Yes but I didn't feel powerful afterwards. I felt sorrow for doing what I did," replied Alex, sickened by his description.

"Well that is where we differ."

"Why take his badge?" asked Bobby.

"I don't know. It was there, so I took it. After that, it just became habit. Something to remember them by if you will."

"You said you felt a rush of adrenaline after killing, is that why you kept doing it?" Bobby was still trying to get a feel for Wentworth's psychopathology.

"It's funny. I traded an addiction to drugs to an addiction to killing cops," he laughed a little before continuing "Then it just became a game to see how long it would take for someone to catch me. And in the end I still had to do all the work. I really thought you would be different," he finished looking right at Alex. "Guess I was wrong."

"This is a game to you?" she replied dropping a folder of crime scene photos on the table before him.

"What? You didn't have fun?"

No one in the room answered. He merely laughed at their silence.

"Don't you want to know Alexandra? I mean it is the real reason you are here isn't it?"

"Know what?"

"What his last moments were like? How he begged for life before I gave in and ended it? Why do you think I chose you? It made the game more interesting."

"You chose me because you are sick."

"I may very well be what you say I am but there is a part of you that seeks the information I offer. And that, Alexandra is why no matter where you go or what you do, I will always be in your head."

Alex had to fight the urge to throw up. She wasn't sure if was the morning sickness or her total loathing of the man sitting across from her. "You really think that by doing all of this I'm going to waste to even a moment of my time or life thinking about you? You can tell me anything you want about my husband's death, it won't change the fact that I loved him and that he was a good cop. And definitely won't change the fact that you are nothing but scum, who is going to rot in prison," Alex's voice started to crack with emotion, but she was determined not to show Wentworth any quarter at this point.

"Still feel you are in control here?" asked Bobby. He could hear the stress in Alex's voice and was determined to move this little interview along.

Wentworth went silent for a moment, as if thinking over his options but then, without warning he let out scream and lunged across the table at Alex.

"You bitch!" He yelled as he pushed the table out of his way.

Alex was so stunned by the outburst that she barely had time to react before the table was shoved out of the way. Things seem to happen in slow motion for her then and she steadied herself for Wentworth's imminent blow but it never came. Before he could take even one step towards her, Bobby had crossed the room, grabbed Wentworth by the neck and plowed him into the adjacent wall, holding him there by his throat.

"Detective Goren!" yelled Wentworth's attorney. When Bobby didn't release his grip he turned to Carver "Call him off, Mr. Carver."

"He was about to assault a police officer. Detective Goren is well within his rights to restrain him."

"Feel that control slipping away now? We're not playing your game anymore. We're done and so are you," The hatred for Wentworth dripped in Bobby's voice.

"Bobby, let him go," Alex said as she felt a wave of dizziness overcome her. "Please."

Hearing the trepidation in her voice, Bobby turned and saw the pallor in her face. Leaving Wentworth to the guards, he crossed the room to her and gently lifted her face to his. "What is it?"

"Dizzy," she replied thickly .as she raised an unsteady hand to her forehead.

"I believe we have everything we need. The guards can escort your client back to his cell now," added Carver.

"No! She's is going to listen to me."

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say," she replied in a shaky voice before Bobby led her out of the room. Once outside the room her knees gave out and she collapsed into Bobby's arms.

"Alex" he yelled as he caught her but she didn't respond.

TBC...tell us what you think!