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“Essentially,” began Knox, “he was pleased with his chosen victim but it didn’t last and so he killed her.”
Levi nodded. “That’s how it seems.” He scraped his hand over his jaw. “There are no echoes of physical pain. She was terrified, but I don’t think he physically harmed her. At least not until he killed her.”
“She didn’t appear to have suffered any wounds other than the broken neck and the X on her forehead,” said Knox. “It’s true demons heal relatively fast, so I didn’t rule out that he might have hurt her. You really don’t think he did?”
“No. Pain, fear, and anger are always the most dominant and easiest to sense emotions. There’s no pain. She went through emotional agony—there’s no doubt about that. Not physical agony, though. The mark was carved into her forehead after death.”
As they walked through the house, searching each room for clues, Levi repeatedly tried connecting with Diem. His every attempt failed. He simply couldn’t reach her.
Frustrated, he flexed his fingers. “Diem’s lost to us.” He had enough experience with these situations to know when he was fighting a losing battle.
Knox looked from Levi to Tanner. “Speak with the neighbors. See if they have anything to say that can help.”
Most of the nearby residents were stood in their front yards, so it was simple enough to question each of them. Only one claimed to have seen anyone enter Diem’s property.
“It was about four or five days ago,” Edith told them. “It was a man, but I didn’t get a good look at him.”
“What do you remember about him?” Levi asked her.
“Not much,” she replied. “Nothing about him stood out to me, I suppose.”
Levi kept his tone patient as he asked, “Was he tall? Short? Thin? Bulky?”
“I truly can’t recall, I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right,” Tanner assured her. “Can you remember what he was wearing?”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “White cap. Blue jeans. Black jacket … or maybe gray … It could have even been tank green, come to think of it.” She tutted, opening her eyes. “I wish I’d paid more attention, but I didn’t think much of it. Plus, it was raining and I was trying to hurry to get inside the house.”
Disappointment simmered in Levi’s gut as he and Tanner returned to Diem’s living area and reported the information to their Prime.
“Only a few of the neighbors have CCTV cameras,” Levi added. “And none of those cameras have a good view of this house. In other words, we have no idea who could have done this.”
Knox twisted his mouth. “I know you don’t want to believe it’s the same person who killed your aunt and those other women many years ago, because then it would mean we were all wrong in assuming the killer was dead—meaning he not only escaped justice and you weren’t able to avenge Moira, but that he could have killed many other women since. But this isn’t what anyone would call a typical MO. All victims were single mothers—or, in your aunt’s case, a single guardian. All had their necks snapped. All had an X carved into their forehead. And all the children were left at a safe location.
“More, those children weren’t immediately dumped somewhere. The mothers, much like your aunt, were deceased for days before the children appeared outside children’s homes … as if the sick bastard essentially parented them alone for a short while.”
“It’s either the same person, or a copycat,” said Tanner. “Whatever the case, this has to be linked to you, Levi. The killer is either someone who thought it’d be fun to fuck with your head by replicating your aunt’s death—though they’d have had to search real deeply into your past to unearth any of this information—or they’re the person who killed her, they know who you are, and they want you to know they’re around. It’d be a hell of a coincidence for them to otherwise do this to someone in your lair.”
Levi frowned. “So, what, you think this person has kept track of the kids they dumped at orphanages and foster homes?”
Tanner shrugged his broad shoulders. “Maybe. Or maybe they found you accidentally. It could be that they somehow recognized you—or your aura or energy signature or something. Look, we know this person is fucked up. Might they be pleased to run into a kid they once ‘parented’ for a few days? Possibly. Might they want to announce their presence in a really messed up way of saying hi? Again, maybe.”
His heart beating a little too fast, Levi scrubbed a hand down his face. “If he’s not dead, if he’s been free as a goddamn bird all these years, then I fucked up majorly.”
“We all concluded that he was dead,” Knox reminded him. “Serial killers don’t just stop. It seemed reasonable to assume that he died. I don’t know why else he would have stopped, but we have to consider that he isn’t buried six feet under after all.”
