Page 62 of Chameleon Killer

Nothing useful.

Mallory reread the message.

“Better,” she said. “He thinks I’m doing better.”

“Approval.” The son of a bitch was offering her a pat on the head.

“I think he’s assessing the methodology.” No she didn’t. Her tone told me more than her words.

“He’s grading you.”

Her jaw tightened.

The caller had been monitoring the investigation, measuring each conclusion as if the work belonged to him.

But you’re still asking the wrong question.

Mallory turned toward the board.

WHY THEM?

FUNCTION?

SAME PURPOSE?

All questions about selection.

About motive.

About the dead.

The caller had told her she was closer when she stopped looking at the bodies. Now we had returned to them, only from another direction.

Maybe that was still wrong. Though, he was assessing the board at the office, not this one.

“What question does he think we should be asking?” I said.

Mallory stared at the board for so long, I worried she might have checked out. Two men who didn’t fit the pattern. Both linked to her. The most obvious question was who killed them.

The better question would be why…

She picked up the black marker. Beneath the two names, she wrote: WHO NEEDED THEM TO LOOK GUILTY?

I read it twice. Huh. “That’s not the same as asking why they died.”

“No.”

“Because the accusation may matter more than the murder.”

She nodded.

The Auditor’s original victims had been exposed. Their crimes had been part of the punishment.

Colin and Guy had been branded with vague sins no one could challenge because death had taken away their defense.

Their reputations had been altered along with the crime scenes. Whoever killed them hadn’t only wanted them dead. He had wanted the world to misunderstand them.

No. That wasn’t right.