Page 52 of Psychic Obsession
Nikolai highly doubted it.Hjalmar would've had heads rolling if it was the case."He calls you the puppy."
A wide grin."Yeah?What does he call you?"
Nikolai didn't know, but he was sure it was flattering.He snorted to himself."Anyway, he's on his way in to talk about the composite sketches."
"There are more than one?"
"Two."Nikolai grabbed the folder and headed toward the conference room."Anything from forensics?"
Isaac shook his head."Not yet.Photos, but no facts.I'm sure Saylor will let us know as soon as he has something."
They went over the photos from the crime scene, compared them to the ones from the previous victims, when there was a light knock on the door.Isaac went to open and grinned as Frode greeted them.His hair was down today, and Nikolai held back a smile.He shouldn't have told him he liked it up; now he'd most likely never see it again.
"Frode, darling.Good to see you."
The glare would've made his head explode if Frode had possessed superpowers, but Nikolai acted as if Frode wasn't planning his demise and smiled.He grabbed the folder with the composite drawings.
"Talk to us about these."He placed them on the table.
A loud exhalation, then Frode neared the table."This guy is the one I think is the killer."He gestured at a man who looked to be in his mid-forties with a round face and almost boy-like features."And the other one was the last to touch the rug before this man touched it the first time."
Nikolai lifted the drawing of a handsome, dark-skinned man off the table and studied it.He didn't recognize him."Have you seen either of them before?"He'd remember, right?
Frode shook his head."No."
"And you're sure?"When Frode gave him an annoyed look, he hurried on."I mean, you'd know without doubt.You'd have remembered if you'd seen them before."
Frode opened his mouth, then closed it again, and something shifted in his eyes."I remember every face I see while touching something, not necessarily every person I see in the grocery store.I don't have a photographic memory when I see with my eyes."He glanced at Isaac."If that makes sense."
Nikolai nodded."So what you can give us with certainty is you haven't touched anything either of these two men have touched before the rug, but you might have stood next to one of them while picking apples in the store."
Frode nodded.
"How sure are you this is the killer?"Isaac grabbed the drawing of the suspect.
"As sure as I can be."Frode grimaced."He touched the rug after the victim's last time, but before Saylor.After Saylor, there was the dark-haired man."
"Who?"
"Don't know his name, but he's on the forensic team.Dubose also touched it, but not until later."
Nikolai glanced at Isaac.He didn't know the names of everyone on the crime scene investigator team; it hardly mattered, but maybe Isaac knew who the dark-haired man who wasn't Saylor was.
"Zachary Mallon?"Isaac was frowning.
Frode shook his head."He never touched the rug.I believed he was the one who did the autopsies and such."
"He is."Nikolai hadn't talked to him much, but he was the one who'd done the autopsies on all the victims and was most likely working on Morgan Benham right this minute.A wave of nausea washed over him.He didn't envy him for a second.
"I don't need to know his name."Frode waved a hand."He's on the forensic team.I've seen him before."
"Okay, so what you're saying is after Gabriela Montes last touched the rug but before the forensic team did, this man was there?"Isaac waved the drawing.
"Yes."
"And, to play devil's advocate, is it possible he dropped by and touched the rug without having anything to do with the murder?"
"Possible, yes.I can't tell how much time has passed between touches.Was he the one who called it in?"
