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“I take it neither of you have read it?” Justine said, as if she were appalled by the possibility they hadn’t.
Both Trent and Amanda shook their heads.
“Unfortunately, the job doesn’t leave us with much spare time,” Trent added.
“You two might be the only ones in the world.” A slight lift to Justine’s lips, falling short of an actual smile.
“We might be,” Amanda said, playing along.
Justine uncrossed her legs and wheeled in toward the table, where she set her elbows. Her hands unclasped, and her posture leaned forward—all the body language was indicating an openness to talk. “What is it you’d like to know?”
Finally, Amanda thought. They might not need to use valuable time reading after all.
NINETEEN
While questioning Luis Navarro had to wait, this meeting with Justine Livingston could prove quite enlightening. “All we know so far is the killer in the book was a bleeding heart, who targeted successful and beautiful women after being hurt by one.”
“That barely scratches the surface,” Justine said. “I might best start at the beginning. Do you know about the Queen of Hearts playing card?”
“Know of it, not much of its role in the book,” Amanda said.
“The killer is a professional poker player who travels the circuit. He meets his victims at hotel bars, chats them up, and they go back to the woman’s room. Beautiful, successful, as you were told. Also, self-assured and worldly.”
Amanda would circle back to the playing card in a minute. “What did they do for work?” Surely, they weren’t crime authors…
“Entrepreneurs, saleswomen on location for meetings, that type of thing.”
“Career-oriented,” Trent said.
“That’s right.”
Trent was swooping his fingertip around the tablet’s screen, letting the quick stroke app do its thing.
“What happens once they’re back in the women’s hotel rooms? Do they have sex?” Amanda didn’t assume this was a given.
“Sex, for sure. It sells books.” Justine winked at her, and for a brief moment the dark cloud of grief dissipated. “He’ll order room service and have a bottle of champagne brought up. He’ll pour it out, seduce them. Afterward, he lures them back to the living area. These women are wealthy and all staying in suites. He pours out more champagne and turns on the gas fireplace. Then, once the women are fully relaxed, he stabs them directly in the heart with a knife.”
Trent shifted in his chair and passed a side-glance at Amanda. “To testify to them being heartbreakers.”
“Precisely. And he takes the power into his hands, ending things before they can.”
So much of this was eerily similar to Felicity’s murder scene. Had the fire been lit to set the scene, the manuscripts and research merely collateral damage? Despite the fact Felicity was found long after the fire burned out. “Just the one stab wound?”
“That’s right. No hesitancy at all either.”
“Does this poker player have a medical background, so he knows exactly where to strike?” Though the lack of hesitancy could also indicate experience at killing.
Justine shook her head. “It took him practice. As it comes out toward the end, his first two victims took a few stabs to die.”
How lovely, Amanda thought. It amazed her that such violence qualified for entertainment. Though it wasn’t a new concept. Look at the gladiators of Roman times. Crowds packed coliseums to witness human bloodshed. But glorifying murder wasn’t limited to the Romans or that point in history.
“How are they found?” Trent asked.
“Lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, the knife he used to kill them still in their chest. They’re wearing robes provided by the hotel, over lingerie.”
The more they learned about this book, it was indisputable Felicity’s killer was influenced by The Romeo Killer. Now, they could add location of the body to the list of similarities between fiction and real life. Maybe that was why the rectangular coffee table and the rug were removed. As for her clothing, that was in sharp contrast to the book. Why, if the killer was so eager to copycat the fictional one? Surely, he had plenty of time to dress her after he’d killed her. But the lack of lingerie would work to lessen suspicion against Luis Navarro. If they had arrived on scene and Felicity was dressed for a romantic evening, he’d certainly have jumped right to the top of the suspect list. And speaking of a romantic evening… “You mentioned that the killer and each victim shared a bottle of champagne. Does he leave that and the glasses behind?”
“Yes.”
