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“That’s my point,” Paige countered. “This is a killer with a distinct personality that is shown in his methods. Maybe if we understand that more, it will help to lead us to him.”
“What can you tell us about him?” Christopher asked, in a much more clipped tone than he might normally have used. He was obviously trying to keep things as professional as possible. “What does his style tell you about him?”
Paige did her best. She was there to do a job and catch a killer, not to work on her relationship with Christopher. Whatever that was right now.
“I don’t have a lot of information to work with right now,” Paige said. “But the fact that he’s displaying them like that suggests that he’s trying to grab as much attention as possible.”
“Could it also be about taking control of his victims?” Christopher asked.
“I’m not sure,” Paige said. “But I think if it were about that, he might do it while they were still alive. No, I think this is about showing off to the world.”
“Does that get us any closer to the killer?” Agent Sauer asked.
“Maybe it will later,” Paige said. “We don’t have enough information yet. What else can you tell us about the murders?”
“This is Hope Jackson,” Sauer said, pointing to the first picture. “Her body was found yesterday. She was some kind of street musician. The local PD say that she had no obvious enemies.”
He took out a second picture, this time of a young man who was hanging upside down attached to a bracket on a wall. Again, he was twisted out of shape, his body contorted in ways that were anything but natural, displayed to the world as if waiting for the camera to find him.
“This is Aiden Martlet. Until recently he worked in the Arnville city museum. He was found three days ago. He’d been stabbed and then left tied like this.”
“What did the police think at the time?” Christopher asked. That was a good question. Now that the second murder had taken place, it seemed obvious that this was a serial killer, but before that, had the Arnville PD found any useful lines of inquiry?
“They considered the possibility that it might be drugs or gang related,” Sauer said. “They thought it might be some kind of warning.”
“Is it possible that both killings are?” Christopher asked.
Sauer shrugged at that. “That’s something you’re going to have to determine when you get there. For now, I’ve booked you on flights out of DC, and the local PD will meet you when you get to Arnville. I’ve uploaded the files for you to look at on the way.”
It sounded like a dismissal. Paige and Christopher left the conference room together and for a moment or two, Paige found herself standing there opposite Christopher, just the two of them there for the first time since they’d gotten back from their last case.
“Christopher,” Paige began. “About what happened back in Eddis . . .”
Christopher was shaking his head, though. “This isn’t the time to talk about it, Paige.”
“If we don’t talk about it, how are we meant to sort out what happens next?” Paige asked.
“I’m not sure if anythingcanhappen next,” Christopher said. “I’m still a married man, Paige. I’m getting divorced, but it wouldn’t be right to let you think that there was anything there right now. And we’re both partners. That makes a difference too. The FBI doesn’t like agents in the same department having relationships with one another. I can’t be thinking about any feelings I have towards you when I should be focusing on catching killers.”
Paige wished that she could think of something that would change his mind, but she knew that he was right. Theywerepartners, and thatdidcomplicate things.
“We have to focus on this case,” Christopher said. “I’ll grab my bag and meet you at the airport.”
He moved off then, and to Paige, it looked far too much like he was trying to escape. She felt almost crushed in that moment. What was she doing there? What was she doing working in the same department as Christopher when she’d known from the start that it would be difficult given everything she felt towards him?
The answer to that was simple: she’d come into the department to try to get more information about the serial killer who had murdered her father. That had been what had mattered. That was what still mattered. She hadn’t gotten that from being in the department, though; she’d gotten it from the serial killer who had targeted her instead.
Paige clearly wasn’t going to be able to pursue that killer from here, so whywasshe here? Why didn’t she put in for a transfer? It would simplify things with Christopher for a start, or at least put him far enough away that it didn’t matter.
Yet she couldn’t, not right now. Right now, there was a killer out there in a town on the west coast, stringing people up like they were no more than pieces of meat. He’d killed two people so far and would undoubtedly kill more unless Paige played her part in stopping him.
That meant that Paige had to stop thinking about Christopher and do the job she was there for. She had to find a killer. If she didn’t do it quickly enough, more people were going to die.
She and Christopher needed to get to Arnville.
CHAPTER FIVE
Paige used the flight over to Arnville to try to get ahead on the case. She dove into the files that Agent Sauer had provided, looking for anything that might let them hit the ground running once they landed.
