Page 42 of Make No Mistake

I shook my head. “I understand. What happened here?”

He looked around and seemed to make a decision. “You’ll hear about it soon enough.” He paused and his featured softened. “There was another attack on a young lady.”

Confusion coursed through me. “Here?”

He nodded.

“But the suspect? He was arrested.”

“Looks like we got the wrong guy.”

The air in my lungs depleted.

“The victim? Was it another girl?”

The detective nodded.

“Was it in a dark area? I mean, with a dark, secluded area around?”

He narrowed his eyes and nodded again. “She was taking out her trash and on her way back to her apartment when he hit her on the back of the head.”

I nodded, hating that my theory had been right again.

“How did you know that, Ms. Page?”

I had his attention and I knew he would listen, so I told him what I’d figured out about Christina’s attack and my theory about the one at the dorms.

“So you believe he’s hiding and waiting to strike from behind?”

“Yeah, I mean I know that describes most assaults.”

He shook his head. “Not necessarily. Many people that choose to assault others like to play games. They like to mess with the victim first, or make sure that the victim sees them. They like to see the fear in their victim’s eyes. This is different.” He paused and seemed to be thinking through this. “He’s not doing it for the thrill. He’s acting out due to something else.”

I appreciated that he’d listened to me. I had thought the same thing. Maybe knowing he was a different type of criminal would help us find him.

“Mac!” I turned to see Jay hurrying toward me. He nodded at the detective when he got to my side.

“Detective Larson, this is Jay Donovan, the editor-in-chief of the paper. Jay, this is Detective Larson, he’s over the attacks.”

The men shook hands before Jay looked directly at me. “They said that you can’t go to your apartment for a little while.”

“Really?” I looked between him and the detective hoping he’d give me better news.

“Sorry. We haven’t finished searching the area. It may not be safe to return home yet.”

“Okay.”

“You and Aubrey can stay at my place tonight.”

“Thanks, Jay.”

I turned back to the detective. “Thanks for letting me know about this.”

He nodded once. “I’ll look more into your theory. I may contact you later.”

I waved bye and followed Jay back to Carter’s car where he and Aubrey were waiting. They both got out when they saw us walking toward them.

“What’s going on, Mac?”