They all offered similar descriptions of Warren.Quiet.Pleasant.Gentle.Unintimidating despite his size.Kept to himself.No close friends or family.
A wallflower, in other words.The perfect target for a serial killer.
But not for Cox.Elijah Cox didn’t target wallflowers.Each of his murders was a statement.He wanted the world to see someone deserving of punishment receive that punishment.He wanted to warn others what would happen if they broke God’s commandments.Warren just didn’t fit that bill.Marcus feared that this was going to turn out to be another dead end.
And how would Kate react?Would she accept that, or would her zeal to find Cox override her better judgment and send her spiraling off the deep end again?
And if she dove into those deep waters, could Marcus pull her back to the surface?
CHAPTER SIX
Kate stared at the ceramic cardinal, as though willing the bird’s shiny black eyes to transfer the memory of what it had seen to her brain.She even asked aloud, “What happened here?”
The bird gave no response.
“Kind of funny that he didn’t have anything else here,” Detective French opined.“Think this bird belonged to the killer?”
“I do not,” Kate replied.She walked to the fireplace and pointed at a ring on the mantel where something with a base the exact size and shape of the cardinal had lightened the stain of the wood.More rings and squares decorated the mantel, but the objects they belonged to were missing.In fact, the ceramic cardinal was the only object in the house that appeared decorative.Cox had made sure to highlight this bird.What had happened to the other objects?
She filed that question for later and said, “This was definitely Warren’s bird.Did he have a criminal record?”
“No.None.That’s always the first thing we run when we get a report of a murder.Usually a criminal record is a good lead to a motive, but Warren was clean as a whistle.”
“Hmm.”
That didn’t support the idea of Cox being involved, but it didn’t necessarily discount it.Cox punished people for breaking commandments, not laws.Then again, stealingwasbreaking the law.And she was bothered by the lack of a written cipher.She’d scoured the entire house and found nothing.Nothing but this ceramic bird.
Still, they’d seen this before, or something similar.The Second Commandment Killer, Thomas Brennan, had left sculpted clay heads at the crime scenes in place of a written cipher.The disciple in this case—or Cox if he was really active again—could be using these objects for a similar purpose.
She pulled a pair of latex gloves on and picked the figurine up.It was lighter than she expected, and she shifted her grip, afraid of dropping and shattering it.She turned it over, noting the slight chips and swirls that identified it as a hand-crafted object rather than something made in an assembly line.It was a curious thing about humanity that they valued imperfection so much more than perfection.
Then again, it wasn’t so curious after all.Imperfection was what made people human.
“If you’re looking for prints, we already dusted.No prints, no DNA evidence of any kind, no fibers.CSI says the killer used latex gloves, so I guess they found some of that but nothing else.Oh, and they said something about the dirt on his shoes—the killer’s shoes—not being from here.”
“Where is it from?”
“Somewhere from Virginia.”
“Virginia?”
“That’s what they said.I forget exactly where, though.”
Kate made a mental note to call the crime lab and get the full answer.Detective French didn’t seem very invested in this case.Some locals resisted FBI intervention.Others accepted it but worked closely with the FBI, intending to be as equal a partner as possible.French, unfortunately, appeared to occupy that third set of locals, the ones who were happy to drop the case in someone else’s lap and pay no more attention to it.
She set the bird back on the coffee table.“Bag that.It’s important.I don’t know why yet, but bag it anyway.”
“You got it.”
The door opened, and Marcus stepped through.He nodded at Kate, then glanced at French, who was opening a vinyl evidence bag.Kate got the hint and followed her partner outside.
On the porch, Marcus crossed her arms and frowned at Kate.Uh oh.Here goes.
“I got nothing from the neighbors.Schulz was a wallflower.Nice but kept to himself.Attended church once a week but there’s no indication he was particularly devout.They didn’t notice anything or anyone suspicious, although that’s probably just because most people don’t notice anything unless they’re nosy.”
Kate’s brow furrowed.Maybe this wasn’t the conversation she thought it was.“Okay.Well, I think the bird is important.I think the music box, the watch, and the thimble at Gloria Prentiss’s home are important too.”
“The thimble?”
