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But was he a killer already? Or just a rapist, continuing to evolve? If Jenna had fallen into the ravine trying to flee from the unsub in a haze of Rohypnol, he might’ve not matured yet to the statistically probable age of twenty-seven.
How old, then?
Definitely old enough to have access to a place where he could hold Kendra and sexually assault her undisturbed. Where no one would see anything or hear her screams.
Old enough to know how to lure these young girls out of their homes. Both girls lived a clean, low-risk life, although Jenna, at least for someone who didn’t know her personally, might’ve appeared an easy target living a life of promiscuity. Maybe that was the appeal.
And he’d been wrong about that, it seemed.
Not only he’d been wrong, but she might’ve fled to her death, leaving him unsatisfied. He’d spent enough time with her on Wildfire Ridge to leave two condom wrappers behind, but it wasn’t enough, not for him.
It was all about containment.
After Jenna, he might’ve realized how many mistakes he’d made in the heat of the moment. The condom wrappers left at the scene with his fingerprints on them. The semen he might’ve realized he’d smeared on the victim. The fact that she got away—potentially—before he was done with her.
What had appeared as a disorganized, impulsive rapist/killer, might’ve been just someone who was quickly learning how to be organized, methodical, and effective.
Kay smiled, pulling her phone and checking her messages. She knew exactly how to catch an unsub like that. First step was to make him feel safe and buy Kendra some more time.
There was no message nor callback from the TV reporter she’d been trying to reach. Maybe Barb Foster didn’t want to speak with her. She dialed the number on handsfree and sighed, prepared to leave a more detailed message. A deeply unsettling one.
Ride the wave, don’t try to stop the wave, Kay told herself as encouragement, thinking of what she was about to say.
Surprisingly, the reporter picked up. “This is Barb Foster.”
“Hey, Barb, it’s Detective Kay Sharp, FCSO.”
A beat. “Oh, I’m so sorry I didn’t get back to you.” Kay could discern the deception in her voice. She wondered what Barb was hiding. “The day got away from me. So, tell me, what’s that exclusive you were threatening me with?”
Kay chuckled. Elliot gave her a long glance, then pulled to a stop in front of the Keaney residence. “We have a suspect in Jenna’s murder,” she said, lowering her voice just a little, to pretend she was doing this discreetly. Elliot stared at her, bewildered. “I wanted you to hear it from me first, and to be the first to run with it, because, um, of the unsub’s name.” Her throat dried up, constricted. She was about to open the mother of all cans of worms, but Kendra needed it to stay alive.
“I’m all ears. Shoot.”
“The unsub is one Gavin Sharp from San Francisco.”
Elliot grinned. He’d probably figured out what she was doing. Killing two birds with one stone.
“Come again?”
Kay held her breath. “Gavin Sharp, fifty-six years old, from San Fran.”
“He’s not your—I mean, he’s—”
“No, it’s a different Gavin Sharp, just a coincidence, but still. This man lured Jenna on several dates.”
“And I can quote you on this?”
She hesitated. “You can understand my reluctance, Barb, because of the coincidence and all.” She held her breath for a moment, then exhaled slowly. “But yeah, okay. Keep it to an absolute minimum, please.”
The reporter whistled her appreciation. “This is good stuff! How did they meet? Where did this Sharp character find Jenna?”
“Online. He stalked her for months. Oh, and Barb? I need a favor from you, a big one.”
Barb laughed quietly. Kay could feel the sarcasm in the air. “Of course, you do. Tell me.”
“The perp might’ve set up a fake website for Jenna; you might’ve found it already. We believe it was part of his strategy to throw the scent off himself. I don’t think anyone has anything to gain if the part about the website comes out.” Jenna’s memory deserved a little decency, and so did her mother.
“Oh, come on, Detective,” she reacted, putting the phone on speaker on her end. She was probably having her editor listening in. “Freedom of the press and all. We knew about Jenna’s website. It’s coming out in the ten o’clock news. It’s already loaded on the teleprompter.”
