CHAPTER TWELVE
“Hmm.”Kate pursed her lips and processed the information Marcus had just given her.“You think he’s our guy?”
“I don’t know if he’s the guy or if his client is,” Marcus admitted, “but he is definitely hiding something.”
The two of them were eating an early lunch at a Cuban café near a crowded beach.Well, all of Miami’s beaches were crowded.This one just happened to be crowded enough that the general hubbub would drown their voices out while they talked so they couldn’t be overheard.It also spared them the need to go to their hotel room and possible awkwardness.
“Did you call Rivera for a subpoena?”
“Yeah, it should be coming soon.I guess Maxwell’s a known quantity.”
Kate raised an eyebrow.“How so?”
“He crosses paths with law enforcement a lot.Typical P.I.bullshit.Pushing the boundaries of legal surveillance, impersonation, harassment, stuff like that.”
“How does that put him on the FBI’s radar.”
“Oh, sorry.Not the FBI.The court system.”
Kate crossed her arms.“So, he knows he can drag his feet, and it’ll be a while before he has to stop dragging them.”
“Exactly.Meanwhile, he can warn his clients, talk to a lawyer, and turtle up so tightly he could fart and we wouldn’t smell it.”
“Lovely analogy, Marcus,” Kate noted.“How did heseem, though?Did he seem like he could be the killer?”
Marcus thought for a moment, then finally admitted, “No.Not him.He’s too practical.The killer wasn’t practical at all.”
“Maybe from their perspective they are,” Kate said.“I decoded more of the cipher.One of the verses referenced was Matthew 5: 30.‘If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.’”
Marcus frowned.“That’s King James Version, right?”
“Yes, it’s a different version than the other verses, but I don’t think that’s important.Just like the last killer, this one is personal.Our killer was cheated on, and they’re taking it out on people who encourage others to cheat.”
“We don’t know that for sure, Kate,” Marcus reminded her.“We know that someone’s killing them for breaking the seventh commandment, but we don’t know that the motive is personal.”
“You don’t think cutting a person’s genitals off is personal?”
“I don’t think it’s evidence.”
Kate sighed heavily.“Okay, I’ll accept that we don’t haveproofthat the killer isn’t taking this personally.So maybe thereisa practical purpose.Maybe they’re cutting the offending part of their victims out to save their souls.”
Marcus leaned back and crossed his arms.“Then why not cut out their tongues?The voice box part makes sense, but the Carltons didn’t lose their tongues or voice boxes.”
“No one was around to hear the Carltons scream.”
Marcus sighed.“I’m just saying it would make more sense if that’s the commonality.They’re not screwing other people.Well, the Carltons were, but if the reason for this is that they’re leading others astray, then it’s not their private parts that are offending, is it?Same with Dr.Hammond.She lost her voice box, true, but she also lost her genitals.That’s not the part of her that offended.”
“Yeah, maybe not,” Kate said.“All right.We’ll wait for the warrant, I guess.In the meantime, I’ll look through Dr.Hammond’s patient list.”
Marcus’s eyes widened.“You got permission to do that already?”
“With restrictions and some severe warnings about what will happen if any of that information is misused, but yes, Winters greenlit a search of her office, and the judge signed the warrant.”
“Wow.Thank God for small blessings.”
“I’m hoping it’s not a small blessing,” Kate said.“You want to look through them with me?It’d be nice to have another pair of eyes.”
Marcus shook his head.“I’m going to go through the Carltons’ list again.”He slid from his chair and reached for his wallet, and Kate said, “No, it’s fine.I’ve got lunch.”
