Now Patricia Vance, a real estate mogul whose development projects had displaced hundreds of low-income families over the past decade. The pattern was becoming clear, even if the killer's ultimate motivation remained obscure. All three victims were wealthy, all had made their fortunes in ways that could be considered exploitative, and all had been literally gilded as if to highlight their obsession with money.
Vic approached the body carefully. It was odd to study a dead body that had such a beautiful element to it. The gold was hard to ignore; its shine was eye-catching.
"The metaphor's a little on-the-nose, isn't it?" she muttered to herself, crouching beside the body. If someone wanted to make a statement about the corrupting influence of wealth, coating victims in actual gold was about as subtle as a shotgun blast to the face.
But Vic's instincts told her there was something deeper happening here. The killer's methods were too sophisticated, too precise, for simple vigilante justice. If there was some sort of message the killer was trying to convey, it was a complicated one. The careful positioning of the bodies, the selection of crime scenes, the elaborate preparation required—all of it suggested a mind that was both brilliant and deeply disturbed, operating according to a plan that went beyond mere symbolism.
Her phone buzzed, making her jump slightly. She sighed and took it out. It was an incoming call from Quantico. She chuckled; if they were looking for an update already, they were shit out of luck.
"This is Agent Stone," she answered.
"Agent Stone, this is Assistant Director Hayes. Did you arrive without hassles?”
“Yeah, I’m already on the scene. It’s…it’s a weird one for sure.” She took a moment to consider why Hayes was calling her. He wasn’t her assigned director, though shehadworked with him on a few cases here and there. “Is there something I can do for you?”
“I wanted you to know that I'm sending someone to assist with your case."
Vic straightened, immediately wary. Though she’d never worked under Hayes, she knew what the lingo meant. When he said "assist," he probably meant "supervise" or "second-guess."
"Sir, I've got local support from PDandthe bureau field office. What kind of assistance are we talking about?"
"Dr. Miles Sterling from our Laboratory Division.”
She knew the name, but didn’t actuallyknowthe man. He’d garnered a bit of a reputation for out of the box thinking. She was pretty sure he was a lab geek or something of the sort. But she’d also heard other agents describe him as someone who could find connections in evidence that others missed, though his theories sometimes pushed the boundaries of plausibility.
“With all due respect, sir…why?”
“Sterling is a forensic toxicologist with some insights that might be relevant to your case. He…well, he has some bizarre theories on this, but the man’s got a brain that works a little differently."
"What kind of insights?" she asked.
Hayes paused, and Vic could hear papers shuffling in the background. "Sterling believes your San Francisco murders might be connected to a series of deaths across the country over the past several years. He's developed a theory about the methodology that could be...unconventional. To be fullytransparent, I don’t know that I buy it just yet but if he’s evenremotelyright on this, it could be big.”
"What sort of unconventional methodology are we talking about?" she asked while still looking at the golden body of Patricia Vance.
"He thinks the killer might be working through the periodic table of elements. Using different chemicals as murder weapons in sequential order."
Vic looked at the golden figure of Patricia Vance and felt a chill that had nothing to do with the morning air. "Goldisan element."
"Element seventy-nine, according to Sterling. He's convinced that your case fits into a larger pattern of murders spanning the past three years… murders using other elements from the periodic table."
"Sir, with respect, that sounds—"
"Insane?" Hayes interrupted. "Sterling knows how it sounds. As do I, believe me. But he's also one of the best analytical minds we have, and he's been tracking these cases longer than anyone else. And as I said, if he’s even close to right on this…”
“Yes, sir. I get it.”
And even though the last thing she wanted was one more bureau-head on her case, she had to admit the extra help might be warranted. Three murders in under two weeks, each more elaborate than the last, each demonstrating a level of sophistication that suggested advanced planning. If Miles Sterling was right about a larger pattern, it could explain the killer's confidence and technical expertise. And maybe there were breadcrumbs from the cases he’d been studying that could help her here.
"When will he arrive?" she asked.
"His flight lands at SFO in six hours. Agent Stone, I should warn you—Sterling can be intense about his theories.He's been working on this for three years, and he's completely convinced that these deaths are connected. He might need some...grounding in practical investigative reality."
Vic smiled grimly. She'd worked with obsessive analysts before, academics who saw patterns in everything and sometimes lost sight of basic police work. But she'd also learned that the best insights often came from unexpected directions, from people who looked at evidence differently than she did.
"I believe I can handle that, sir.”
"Thanks for the flexibility, Agent Stone.”
