Kate bristled.Just what she needed right now.
“All right, we’re on our way.”Marcus hung up and jerked his head toward the door for Kate to follow.
Kate did so without comment, because when you and your partner were recovering from a breakup but still had to work together, you put up with minor annoyances.Like your partner gesturing for you to follow instead of using words.
Freaking Tuesday.
CHAPTER THREE
Assistant Director Victoria Winters could easily be mistaken for an actress or a wealthy socialite.The tall, statuesque woman had medium-length hair dyed red that she kept perfectly straight.Today, she had bangs, and they fell perfectly over carefully plucked eyebrows and framed high cheekbones and skin that needed no cosmetic aid to remain taut despite Winters’ age being closer to sixty than fifty.She wore an olive turtleneck that advertised another part of her body that was firmer than her age suggested, and over that, a navy-blue sport coat that looked like it cost well into the four figures.
The charm ended there.Winters looked like an actress and could play politician with the best of them, but when it came to her agents, she was all business.Especially when one of those agents was Kate.She got straight to business before Kate and Marcus took the seats in front of her desk.
"Four victims: Jordan Prescott, a florist from Louisville, Kentucky; Karen De Luca, a postal worker from Buffalo, New York; Gloria Prentiss, a retired schoolteacher from Greenfield, Indiana; and finally, Warren Schulz, an accountant from Dayton, Ohio.All of them killed by asphyxiation due to manual strangulation, although Mr.Schulz was knocked unconscious by a hard blow to the back of the head prior to strangulation."
Marcus, not looking up from his notepad where he was furiously scribbling notes, asked, “Anything to connect this to the Commandment Killings?”
“No, not explicitly.”
Both agents looked up at Winters.Kate spoke first.“So why are you asking us to look at this?”
Winters sighed.She looked very unhappy.“This could be related to the manhunt.”
Marcus frowned.“How so?”
“Cox’s preferred MO is manual strangulation.”
“Same with almost every other serial killer.”
“Yes, but we’re looking at a killer on the move.”
“Same with… noteveryother serial killer, but it’s happened before.”
“The first murder was seven weeks ago.”
Kate’s heart clenched.That was about two weeks after Cox broke out of jail for the second time.
Marcus sighed.“Okay, so what’s the connection?It’s not enough that the timing matches.”
“The MO matches and the fact that there’s no sign of forced entry at any of the homes also fits.The killer was invited in.Cox prefers to gain his victims’ trust, even if only just long enough to invade their sanctuary.”
Invade their sanctuary.That made a lot of sense.His first confirmed string of crimes involved burning people he believed were false prophets in their place of worship.A Catholic priest in his confessional, a televangelist in the office from where he ran his ministry… And his second string of deaths involved killing workaholics at their places of business.
That’s what Cox did.He found you where you thought you were safe.He took that safety away.Then he took your life.
“What about between the victims?”Marcus asked.“Did they know each other?”
“It doesn’t look like there’s any connection between the victims.We’ve run their names through every database we can find.Nothing’s come up.”
Marcus rubbed the bridge of his nose.He did a poor job of hiding his frustration when he asked, “Okay.So why do we think this is Cox?”
“As I said, the timing is suspicious.The method matches him, and the fact that the locations are spread out across the upper eastern half of the country suggests someone moving constantly but not fast enough to get very far.”
“Someone taking buses or hitching rides,” Kate inferred.
“Or relying on disciples to ferry him from place to place.”
Marcus lifted a hand, palm out.“Let’s not act as though we have a connection when we don’t.”Winters eyes flashed at the rebuke, and he backed off a bit.“I’m just saying, we need to hear hoofbeats before we think zebras.At this point, all we have is trampled grass.”
