And then, Julia felt a blow to her temple and everything went black.The last thing she felt was the cold embrace of the ground, and with that, the night collected one more secret.
CHAPTER ONE
Ella Dark sat in meeting room 3B on the ground floor of the FBI headquarters.This room was positioned right under the grand staircase, and by her math, it was the only meeting room in the whole building without windows.She actually didn’t even know this meeting room existed until Terrance Dever had called her on Friday night and asked her to meet him here at 9 AM on Monday.
A week since Ella’s previous case in Connecticut, and today was her first day back from mandatory recovery.The scars from the Novelist – as the press had taken to calling him – had since healed, but Ella hadn’t yet freed herself from the grip of Austin Creed and his cryptic words.
Austin Creed.The first serial killer Ella ever caught, and the man who was now tormenting her from his cell on death row.
Or at least that’s what she believed.Austin Creed’s version of events was much different when she met him three weeks ago, and he claimed to not even know Ella’s name.However, someone had killed three people in Ella’s circle in as many months, and all of their deaths tied back to Creed.Ella knew it was foolish to think a serial murderer might tell the truth, but his body language had suggested that every word out of his mouth had been genuine.
And that left her here.Because while Dever might have requested the meeting, Ella had the plan that might just unravel this whole mess.
The door swung open, and a suited gentleman slipped inside.He moved in haste, and his suit jacket flapped with his movements.‘Agent Dark, sorry I’m late.Thank you for coming.’
‘Thank you for the invitation.You’re not late.’
Ella extended her hand.The man gripped it firmly.‘Terrance Dever.Lead agent on the D.C.murder case.I took over it back in January.’
‘I heard.It’s good to meet you, finally.’
Dever laid a stack of files on the table and took a seat.‘You weren’t busy this morning, were you?’
‘Paperwork never ends.I’ve just got a ton of FD-302s to get through, but I’ll put them off as long as I can.’
‘Wise.Now, the reason I wanted to meet was to ask if you could walk me through everything that happened with you and Creed, because I want to make sure we haven’t missed anything.’
Ella scrunched up her face because that felt like a waste of time.'Agent, sorry if I misunderstood, but last time we spoke, you said that Creed mentioned me alotin his letters to people on the outside.Shouldn’t you begin there?’
‘Well, we did, but we found something… bizarre.’
‘You’re not kidding.What’s bizarre about it?’
‘Yes, Creed mentioned you in letters, but those letters… didn’t go anywhere.’
‘Come again?’
‘It was fantasy ramblings on his part.His mail is heavily monitored.Nothing gets in or out without it going through three sets of eyeballs.Creed would write letters, even write names and addresses on envelopes.But he never sent them.They just piled up in his cell.The addresses didn’t exist, nor did they match names on his incoming mail.It was just roleplay, and for a moment he fooled us.’
Tension began to knot between her temples.She’d been holding onto the hope that one of Creed’s penpals had been responsible for the murders of Julianne, Jenna and Ben, but if what Dever was saying was true, then Creed had just been toying with them, despite him lying to Ella about not knowing her name.
Dammit.Creed was playing games, and he was smarter than they – and even Ella – gave him credit for.
‘You checked every name?Every address?’
‘Yes.He would adjust his handwriting for each one, but we had a graphologist check them.They’re all written in Creed’s hand.They’re nothing more than fiction, unfortunately.We’re just wondering why he’d go to these lengths.’
Ella nearly spat.It was obvious.‘Because he’s messing with you, and he’s got 23 hours a day to do nothing but think up ways to mess with you.Hewantsyou to think that's what's going on.During the investigation, he misdirected us multiple times.It's what he does.This whole thing is a game to him, and he gets off on outsmarting the cops.He's going to waste as much of your time as he can.'
‘Certainly, so that’s why we need to know everything about you and Creed, because… well.’
‘Because you’ve got nothing.’
‘Not nothing.’
Ella saw beyond the excuse.The only thing worse than being up shit creek was being unable to admit it.‘Okay, I’ll give you the short version.Back in October, I testified at Creed’s trial in Louisiana.I gave a behavioral profile, and according to the prosecution, that profile helped secure a death sentence.When I was there, my hairbrush and cell phone went missing.’
Dever began making notes, even though Ella was sure he must have heard all of this already.‘Went missing how?’
