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Jake nodded, and he quickly looked around the room for something to contain the spider. He found a glass jar that was empty, and he grabbed it off a nearby shelf. He carefully made his way back to Fiona, who was opening up the closet.
Jake stepped forward, and sure enough, there was a large black spider. That thing was absolutely huge, and just the sight of it made Jake’s stomach bottom out. Fiona quickly trapped it in the jar, then flipped it over to seal it. She let out a breath as she stood up straight and held up the jar. The spider curiously poked around inside.
“What the hell is it doing here?” Jake asked, his voice low.
“I don’t know,” Fiona said, her voice equally as quiet.
***
The officers had mostly cleared the scene, but Jake wanted to talk to the witness before they left. A young woman stood in the apartment kitchen with another officer, who nodded and stepped away when Jake came over.
Jake had learned some information about the victim from the officers on the scene—her name was Trish Walker; she was twenty-five and a waitress at a seedy diner. She was completely different from Senator Barlow in every way, and Jake couldn’t think of how on earth she could be connected to him. Why would the killer choose these two completely different people? And why did he kill them in such different ways?
He focused on the witness—another young woman, like the victim. Her name was Candace Thomas.
“Good afternoon, ma’am,” Jake said. “I’m Special Agent Jake Tucker, FBI. I heard you found the body?”
The girl nodded, teeth chattering. “I came in to check on her when she didn’t come to work…”
Jake nodded. “And when you found her, can you tell me exactly what you saw? I need to know every detail.”
“I saw Trish lying there on the floor. I could tell she was dead the moment I saw her. I just screamed and ran out of there and called the police.”
“You didn’t see anyone else?” Jake asked. “Any strange people around the building?”
“No!” the girl exclaimed. “Trish is my best friend, I’ve got a key to her apartment. When she didn’t come to work, I got worried. She’s a workaholic and never misses a shift.”
Jake nodded. “Thank you, miss. I’m sorry for your loss.”
He left the witness and walked across the apartment to meet Fiona, who was talking with two officers, the spider still in a jar with her. That seemed to be the biggest clue of all—the actual insect that had killed Trish Walker. When Fiona saw Jake, she broke away from the officers, and they went into the hallway. They now had two crime scenes, each with some type of bug—giant hornets, and now a Sydney funnel web. Plus, the greeting card left at each scene confirmed they were the same guy.
But why switch MOs? Why’d he go from hornets to spiders?
“I guess we’re dealing with a guy who murders people with bugs?” Jake offered.
“This is not a bug,” Fiona said, holding up the jar. “It’s an arachnid.”
“Does it matter?” Jake asked. Seemed like semantics; spiders, hornets, whatever—they were all insects to him.
“Of course it matters!” Fiona exclaimed. “To any experienced bug keeper, we know the difference between an insect and an arachnid. Why would the killer go from hornets to a Sydney funnel web? They are both deadly, but in much different ways…”
“So what are you thinking?” Jake asked.
Fiona stared in at the spider, her expression tense. “I don’t know, Jake. But I think this is about more than insects. The greeting card only confirms it—we need to get it examined and find out where it came from.”
Jake nodded. “Agreed. Let’s take this spider and the greeting card back to the lab and see what we can find.”
Fiona carefully placed the jar containing the spider into a secure container, and they made their way out of the apartment. As they walked down the hallway, Jake couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to this case. The killer’s choice of victims and methods seemed random, but there had to be some underlying motive.
It was clear that they were dealing with a meticulous serial killer who was switching MOs to throw them off his trail. But why? What was his end game?
Jake didn’t know, but they needed to find out soon—before another person died.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
At the local precinct, Fiona sat alone in a briefing room, her laptop open in front of her. Jake was gone, gathering more information about Trish Walker and the people she knew in her life, while he’d left Fiona here to do some of the other research.
Namely, finding a connection between the Asian giant hornets and the Sydney funnel web spider.
