Page 156 of Chameleon Killer

The first could have been coincidence. The second had been deliberate. The third had been a message.

Carter shifted beside me. I glanced at him. He wasn't watching any of the information flowing onto the screen I’d taken over. He was watching Mallory.

Of course he was.

She leaned closer to the monitor inside the room. The camera angle showed three-quarters of her face. Enough for me to let us see concentration rather than fear.

The concentration bothered me a great deal. Fear would have meant she was keeping her distance, emotionally if not physically.

The speaker crackled. Mallory's voice came through first. “I don't trust you.”

Carter exhaled quietly beside me.

Then the unsub answered. “You will.”

Every muscle across my shoulders tightened.

Mallory's lips moved on the screen. The audio lagged. “I believe you.”

My attention snapped fully to her.

The unsub’s voice followed. “Trust develops through consistency.”

I reached for the keyboard and marked the timestamp.

“Again,” I said into my phone.

Ruiz responded. “We're still recording.”

“I know. Mark it.”

Onscreen, Mallory leaned back. Her expression was unreadable from the camera angle. “That's not the same thing.”

“No. But you're learning the distinction.” The unsub answered immediately.

“Any distortion?” I asked, keeping my voice low. Though clearly he was observing us.

“Just fuzz from the signal bouncing,” Ruiz reported.

I studied Mallory, she was falling into the trap I’d warned her about. The unsub wasn’t trying to convince her he was trustworthy. If anything, he was laying the groundwork that allowed her to reach that conclusion on her own.

Question. Verify. Reward. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. It was such a classic piece of operant conditioning that I wanted to put my fist through the monitor. I’d worked too hard and sacrificed too much to let him win now.

“She didn't say that.” Carter's voice was quiet.

“What?” I glanced at him. His attention remained on the screen.

“What?”

“She didn't say she believed him.” His yes were narrowed and his expression intent.

Frowning, I shifted so I could watch him and the screen. “You just heard her.”

“I heard something.” The skepticism rifling over that last word gave me pause.

Carter finally looked at me and his expression shifted. For most of the evening, he’d been angry but controlled. When the unsub pushed Mallory on any personal issues, Carter tightened up. When she answered, he focused on her only.

Now the anger was gone. Why? “What exactly are you suggesting?” I asked.