Page 153 of D for Dead

He had the opportunity to find out when his friend returned twenty minutes later and was shocked and surprised to see him sitting on the couch. Troy had been quick to get Nadine out of the house under the pretext of a shopping errand.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he had hissed. ‘I thought we had a rule?’

Declan picked up the framed picture of Nadine and Amy, raising his eyebrows.

‘And I thought we had no secrets. You’ve got some explaining to do, Troy.’

And so the truth came spilling out: about Nadine and how Troy had been drawn to her because of the connection to Danielle Colton; the truth about Amy and how he had been watching her, obsessing over her for years.

He had been living and working in Spokane when a business meeting had brought him back into Oregon, to the city of Juniper, and it had been by chance he’d happened across an article in a local paper about an aspiring novelist whose first book had just been released. Troy had recognised Amy immediately, had kept the cutting from the paper and tracked down her book, giving it to Nadine as a present. When he had learned Amy was going to be doing a book signing, he used a ruse of a surprise weekend to take Nadine to Juniper and they just happened to be in the area to drop in.

She was even prettier than he remembered, those amber eyes drawing him in and kicking him in the gut, and although he shouldn’t have been surprised, he was disappointed when she didn’t recognise him.

Their paths had only crossed briefly as kids, and even back then she had barely noticed him, but given the secrets he knew about her it still hurt there was no connection. Nadine had been beside herself, getting to meet the author of the book she had loved, oblivious of the connection tying her to Amy, and Troy played along, the supportive boyfriend trying to keep his girlfriend happy.

Back home he could think of little else. Amy plagued his thoughts and filled his dreams. He wanted her to notice him, wanted to have her for himself – to smell her hair and taste her skin, feel her against him. And then there was the small dark part of him wanting to control her and hurt her; make her understand who he was, and see that same fear in her eyes he had witnessed all those years ago, as she understood he was going to end her life.

He wrote her a letter, anonymous of course, signing it from Mr X. She wouldn’t know it was him, but she would understand he was out there watching and that gave him some comfort.

A few months passed and he started hunting for work back in Oregon. He was good at what he did and it didn’t take long to secure a job with a decent firm. Initially Nadine didn’t want to go, but he sold it to her on the promise of a bigger wage and a beachfront house; three months later he was living in the same city as his favourite writer.

Initially Declan was furious with his friend for holding out on him. They had talked about Amy over the years, had even discussed how she would make a satisfying kill, given she had narrowly escaped death once before.

Had Troy been planning to go after her alone? Had he wanted her for himself? They were a team, they worked together.

Initially Declan considered killing Amy himself, getting Troy back for not telling him. He could take her somewhere remote, have his fun, then call his friend up and tell him what he had done. But despite Troy’s secrecy, he still felt a sense of loyalty. He was also growing bored with the kills they were doing. It frustrated him that no one had any idea of what they had done or of the body count they had achieved. It wasn’t that he wanted to be caught. He couldn’t bear the thought of being locked up in a cell and scrutinised by doctors and behavioural therapists, but he still wanted people to look at what he had done, to go down in history like Jack the Ripper or the Zodiac Killer.

He returned home, his mind in overdrive as he began to hatch a plan. Juniper was already renowned for the Alphabet Murders. They could emulate Rodney Boone by creating their own trail of death, bringing the city to its knees once again. And they could do it by using Amy’s books, re-enacting a murder scene from each novel.

When he suggested his idea to Troy, his friend was initially against it. Troy was happy to continue with their secret weekends at the cabin, but had no desire in bringing their kills to the attention of the public. It was the promise of the final kill that got him on board. The understanding that once the book series had been completed there would be a final death to conclude the murder spree. They would take Amy back to the house in the woods and relive the murder of Danielle Colton.

With Troy now a willing accomplice, Declan set about putting his plan in motion.

If they wanted to return to the basement, use it for their fun with Amy, they would have to take out Tucker Johnson. They did the deed one cold weekend not long after Christmas, driving out to Melford and attacking the man in his house, dragging him into the basement and using the knives he had tortured his victims with to butcher him to death. Once his body had been destroyed they returned to their lives, content in the knowledge Johnson was a loner and no one would come looking for him.

Declan had done his research on the Alphabet Killings, knew the federal agents who worked the case were Max Sutton and Joel Hickok. Max had just retired and Hickok was in line for a new partner. What Declan wanted, Declan got, and a word with his father about how much he felt he could learn from this man, and the pulling of a few strings with Chuck’s friends at the Bureau, saw Sutton’s replacement being reassigned and Declan stepping into his shoes.

Anything was possible if you knew the right people.

It was too dangerous to leave the case open, so they would need a fall guy to take responsibility for the murders. Troy was the one to suggest David Gavin. He had been watching Amy closely enough to know the volatile relationship she had endured with her ex, and although Gavin had relocated to Chicago, Troy was convinced his jealous streak, and the fact he was far from over Amy, would be enough to lure him back to Juniper.

They did so by playing on his suspicions that Amy had been cheating on him with her close friend, Ryan Caparelli. Gavin’s paranoia about the two of them had brought about the end of the relationship. Troy attended the same gym as Caparelli, had already struck up a casual friendship with him, and learned all the details over time. They would lure Gavin back with an anonymous note supposedly from Caparelli’s ex-girlfriend, suggesting he had been right about the two of them. Once he was in town they could begin the murder spree.

The plan worked and Gavin returned. It was almost too easy. But then he threw a curveball, going after Caparelli.

Of course Caparelli had denied everything and punches were exchanged. It was after Gavin had left that Troy found Caparelli unconscious in his apartment with injuries requiring hospitalisation. If he took the man to hospital it would lead to questions and the police would be on the hunt for Gavin before their killing spree had even begun.

That couldn’t happen.

Troy had used a pillow to smother Caparelli and then, with no acid to hand and needing to act quickly, he bundled the man’s body in the trunk of his car and under the cover of darkness took him out to a nearby farm and dropped his body in the pigpen. Caparelli was supposed to be heading out to Europe and, while he would be missed eventually, it would hopefully buy them the time they needed.

Gavin was proving dangerous and unpredictable and there was concern he would go after Amy next or confess to what he had done. Fortunately, he retired to the motel room he had rented and another anonymous note from the alleged ex-girlfriend, asking him to lie low and wait for her to get in touch, seemed to do the trick.

The first victim selected was Ben Hogan, a student at Juniper College and the nephew of Senator Blaine Hogan, a close personal friend of Chuck Rivers. That Hogan had a pretty girlfriend who happened to work in the place Amy sometimes bought coffee was a coincidence, albeit a rather fitting one.

Troy was responsible for kidnapping the two students and carrying out the first murders. It was the first time he had killed alone, aside from taking care of Caparelli, and Declan knew it would be a test. If he pulled it off they were good to go. He did, and Declan once again used his influence with his father, persuading him to convince Blaine Hogan that Special Agent Joel Hickok was the best man to help catch his nephew’s murderer, given he had already worked closely with the Juniper Police Department to apprehend the Alphabet Killer. It was an argument that made sense and Hickok was personally recommended, with Declan along for the ride.

From then on it had been plain sailing. Gavin had behaved himself enough to avoid detection and Declan was able to keep tabs on him, luring him to Troy’s beach house and taking him out of the picture when the investigation began to centre on him.