Page 32 of So Deadly
The silver lining was that the CIA would see Faith in the news working on a case far away from home, without a care in the world for David.Then again, would that make them think they knew where he was?
Her blood chilled.If they thought she knew where he was and wasn’t worried, then they would realize that the kidnapping was conducted by a friend of theirs.Well, not a friend, but—
“You think she’s stalling?”Jessica asked.“She’s guilty, and she’s trying to throw up smokescreens?”
Faith shook her head, both an answer to Jessica and a way to pull herself out of her emotional spiral.“Maybe.It’s hard to say.Both of our suspects hated our victims.We know Prowse couldn’t have committed the murder.Mitchell could have, but we don’t have any hard evidence.Turk didn’t seem to recognize Mithcell’s scent.The boxcutters are suspicious, but it’s a common enough purchase.”
“We can get a search warrant for Mitchell’s house.She’ll pitch a fit, but we have her confessing that she threatened to kill one of the victims, and we have the boxcutters.It’s enough for a closer look.If nothing else, we might find evidence that shedestroyedevidence.”
Faith nodded.“Yeah, go ahead and get that done.Newton PD can handle it.”
Faith didn’t actually think they were going to find anything, but they didn’t have anything else to do.The investigation had stalled.Unless Mitchell was their killer, they were just waiting for the killer to strike again and maybe leave more evidence.That, obviously, wasn’t the way they wanted to solve this case.
She texted Michael again.Updates?
He responded a minute later.None yet.Might have lead on David’s location.Working on it now.
Faith tried not to get her hopes up, but on the other hand, hope was all she had right now.Please, please, please, let him find David.Alive and okay.
She texted back,thank you.Keep me posted.
While she waited for Michael to reply, Faith worked on a profile of their killer.The violent MO was the key, in her opinion, perhaps even more so than the possible attempt at mimicking a dog or some other sort of animal.Nearly all of the murders she investigated were violent, but the violence was rarely the defining factor.In most cases, it was just a means to an end.A victim would be exsanguinated so the killer could avoid leaving evidence when he staged them.A victim would be posed naked with her legs spread but only to provide a shocking artistic statement, not because the murderer assaulted them prior to death.A glassblower would be encased in her own work and left to suffocate to demonstrate the crime the killer felt she had committed against him.
Faith cocked her head.Actually, that might be part of it.The killer was targeting people who flouted the laws regarding service dogs.Their first two suspects had been attacked or threatened by a fake service dog.If the killer was also attacked, then maybe the violent death was supposed to symbolize the pain they’d suffered or the potential for danger improperly trained dogs represented.The violence could be a recreation of an attack the killer had suffered or a fear the killer had.
“Okay, thank you,” Jessica said.She hung up the phone and turned to Faith.“Okay, I had to sweet talk him, but he’s getting a warrant.”
“Outstanding,” Faith said.“Good work.”
“Thank you.”
She plopped onto the bed and crossed her arms.“So, what do we do now?You’re not confident Mitchell’s our girl, and to be honest, I’m having doubts too.”
Faith got to her feet and started pacing the hotel room.Turk glanced at her, and when he satisfied himself she wasn’t having a breakdown, he went back to his nap.
“I think the killer is recreating an attack,” Faith said.
“You think they were mauled by dogs?”
“Maybe.The boxcutter gloves could be mimicking a dog’s claws.Dogs kill with their teeth, but it’s hard to make something humans can use to mimic that.The claws might be the next best thing.”
“Well, they’re not going for realism, then,” Jessica said.“If the killer had been attacked that badly, they wouldn’t be able to rip people apart like this.”
“Well, maybe it wasn’t an attack on them,” Faith suggested.“It could have been an attack on a loved one.Maybe even an attack on their own dog.You saw the way Mitchell looked at Turk when Minnie approached him.”
“Well, to be fair there are gerbils bigger than Mitchell’s dog.”
“And not all dogs are as well-trained as Turk to where they’d avoid eating an animal that size.”
“So, you think the killer’s dog was eaten?”
Faith sighed.“Maybe.I don’t know.But I think the violence could be to prove a point.It could be to show people what it looks like when a dog loses control.”
“You don’t think it’s just a psychopath letting himself go?”
Faith shook her head.“A psychopath wouldn’t choose his targets based on correcting misbehavior.They have preferences, but those preferences are almost always related to sexual preferences or narcissism.This killer is definitely going after breakers of a very specific rule.”
“So, there’s something personal related to fake service dogs,” Jessica said.“You want to start looking at recent dog attacks?See if any of them pop back to our victims?”She frowned.“Actually, I just remembered that Thomas Webb didn’t own a dog.According to his property manager, he never owned a dog, right?”
