CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kate couldn’t drum up any emotion at the sight of Diane Walker’s mutilated body.The emotion was there, but she couldn’t bring it to the surface.She felt like she was in shock.Seeing a fourth person with their groin mutilated and their throat slit could do that even to the most seasoned investigator, but it wasn’t Diane’s grisly fate that had seared Kate’s heart.
To her left, Marcus was interviewing Diane’s business partner, Robert Chen.Robert was actually in shock, staring fixedly at an electrical outlet next to a statue of Mary Magdalene and replying to Marcus in hoarse single syllables.This was the first time Kate had seen him since last night.After Cheryl left, Kate had tried to talk to Marcus about arranging some sort of protection for Cheryl, but he had brushed past her without another word.When she broached the subject this morning, he just growled, “I’ll handle it.”
He hadn’t spoken to her since.Kate’s shock was due to the fact that whatever might have existed between them in the past was gone now.
All thanks to Cox.Elijah fucking Cox.The Lawgiver.The Lifetaker.The demon that had haunted Kate for over a year and possibly for many years prior.Possibly?No, definitely.Whoever had killed her father, it was under Cox’s instructions they’d killed him.
She regarded Diane, and slowly her own selfish pain receded in the stark reminder of those who had suffered far more than she had.This was Cox’s fault too.This poor woman whose crimes couldn’t possibly have been great enough to earn this fate.The partner and friend thirty feet away who had to stare at three evenly spaced holes in a wall to keep from descending into another bout of shrieking.All Cox.
This was the god he worshipped.One of pain.One of torture and loss.
“Diane Walker,” Rivera said to Kate’s right.“Thirty-nine.Wedding planner.Catered to the upper-middle-class.Not quite fancy enough for destination weddings on private islands, not quite poor enough for ordinary weddings at a person’s home church.Famous for her abilities to coordinate multiple vendors so that everything ran seamlessly and to placate even the most troublesome and demanding of couples.That’s what Google reviews says anyway.”
Kate shook her head.“A wedding planner.”
“That’s right.”
“Divorced?”
“No, happily married.Oh, Christ.”Rivera wiped a hand across his brow.“I just realized we’re gonna have to talk to the husband.”
“She wasn’t—” Kate glanced at Robert and Marcus and lowered her voice.“She wasn’t maybe more than just business partners with Chen?”
“We’ll look into it, of course.Maybe.I don’t know.Christ.”
Rivera ran another hand across his brow, and Kate rescued him.“Go figure out the husband.I’ll wrap up at the scene.”
Rivera nodded and trudged out of the chapel to do that.Kate stared at Diane’s body.She was dressed professionally, in a name brand skirt and a white shirt that fit her attractively without looking slutty.She wore a gold necklace with a pendant sporting a real pearl ringed with diamonds.Kate wasn’t a jewelry expert, but she knew a necklace like that would fetch quite a bit of money.
So, the killer’s not motivated by money.Good to know.Excellent investigative work, Special Agent Valentine.Boy, you are sharp today.
She looked away from the body and saw the cipher inscribed at the base of the altar.This was a historic church.The killer had defaced the sanctuary.
That wasn’t unheard of for Cox.In fact, the first murder Kate had ever investigated involving the Lawgiver was the burning of a church with the priest still inside the confessional.
The victim just didn't make sense.The point of the seventh commandment was to protect the seventh commandment.Targeting a couple who specialized in swinger parties and hooking married people up with other partners made sense.Targeting a therapist whose guiding philosophy was "cheat on your spouse; you'll be happier that way" made sense.Killing a wedding planner made no sense.They'd have to figure out what skeletons were hiding in Diane Walker's closet if they were going to determine how she fell into the killer's bad graces.
Kate took pictures of the scene and the cipher, then walked over to Marcus.He was turning Robert Chen over to a pair of paramedics while another pair walked toward the body of Diane Walker.
“Christ Almighty,” one of the paramedics said.“Whoever did this is one sick bastard.”
“Watch your fuckin’ language,” the other one scolded.“We’re in a church.”
Marcus lifted his chin in acknowledgment when Kate reached him.“Robert’s the setup guy.Diane worked with the bride and groom to make the plans, and Robert got everything ready and coordinated with the vendors when they arrived.He showed up early this morning to get started.Says he saw Diane and thought it was a drunk homeless woman praying.”
“A homeless woman wearing a designer skirt?”
“He says that’s what tipped him off,” Marcus said.“Says he saw the blood but didn’t want to believe it, so he told himself it was wine.Went to shake her awake.She rolled over, and presto, it’s a murder victim.”
He didn’t seem angry with her.That was good.Maybe last night would blow over.
Sure.And maybe Cox will find the actual Jesus and release a manifesto condemning the murders and urging his followers to run soup kitchens instead.
“Did he have any idea why someone would want to kill Diane?”
"None.Said she was the second-sweetest woman he had ever met, behind his own wife.Sometimes even planned weddings for free when couples couldn't come up with the scratch."
