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“I know,” Faith said, “but he left a note with Gordon’s body that was clearly directed to me.”
Dr. West leaned forward again, his eyes bright with something that looked almost like excitement. “A note?”
“Yes.”
She told him about the note, focusing on the use of her name and the allusions to Michael and David. When she finished, she said, “I really think he sees killing me as a sign that he’s surpassed his idol. If he can kill the one that got away, so to speak, then he will be proven to be a better serial killer than the original Donkey Killer. I think that’s his ultimate goal.”
“Hmm,” Doctor West said,
He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“You don’t believe me,” Faith said.
Dr. West took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Well,” he said, “I don’t disbelieve you. It’s certainly common for serial killers to fixate on a particular individual. It’s even common for serial killers to kill people around the focus of their fixation and save the target of their obsession for last. Sometimes they don’t even kill their obsession at all.”
Faith nodded, a little impatient. She knew all about profiling, and she didn’t particularly want to have a philosophical discussion on serial killers in general right now. “But it’s all a moot point anyway,” she said. “I’m off the case.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you?”
What he was really asking was if she would abide by the Boss’s decision to remove her from the case or if she would take matters into her own hands again.
She had no intention of staying off of the copycat case, but she didn’t think it was a good idea for her to tell the psychologist assigned to her by the Boss himself what she intended. Doctor-patient confidentiality was respected in the FBI, but that wouldn’t prevent Dr. West from signing an order to have her removed from the field.
“Yes,” she said. “I tried going cowboy once, and it didn’t help anybody. I’ll share my thoughts on the case with the New York office—” a lie but one she was confident Dr. West wouldn’t follow up on “—and I’ll focus on taking care of myself and my loved ones.”
“That’s a very wise and mature attitude to have, Faith,” Dr. West replied with an encouraging smile. “So now that I know you’re not going to do anything… inadvisable… we can turn to the subject of how to heal. What do—”
Before he could finish his question, Faith’s phone buzzed. It was the Boss.
She had a sinking feeling she knew exactly what this call was. She answered reluctantly. “Yes?”
“Bold, get your ass over here. You have a case.”
And just like that, all of Faith’s plans crumbled to dust.
CHAPTER THREE
Turk barked for attention, and Michael reached down and ruffled his fur. "Hey, buddy," he said. "How's Mama? She stays out of trouble, or is she lying to me again?"
“Hey,” Faith retorted, “When have I ever lied to you?”
“Not enough time in the day to answer that question,” Michael quipped, straightening.
“How are you feeling?” he asked her.
“I’m all right,” she said, “I’m guessing the Boss is just trying to keep me occupied so I don’t do anything stupid.”
Michael shrugged. “Can you blame him?”
Faith sighed. “No, I guess not.”
She thought the Boss might be willing to give her a little extra time off, maybe the two weeks she needed to find and stop the Copycat Killer, but it looked like that wasn’t going to be the case. She could pretend that she was grieving and ask to be taken off of this case, but the Boss was almost certainly too suspicious to fall for that, especially after Faith’s past history where this case was concerned.
“Come on,” Michael said to Faith’s sour frown. “This’ll be good for you. Better than stewing at home all day.”
“I agree,” Faith said, not because she actually did agree, but because she was glad to have Michael out of harm’s way. Michael was a great detective, but he was a straightforward detective. He liked to follow breadcrumbs to logical conclusions. That worked a lot of the time, most of the time, even, but that didn’t work for a killer like the Copycat Killer. The Copycat Killer would—and Faith believed had—left false breadcrumbs to throw detectives like Clark and Desrouleaux off of the case. Clark and Desrouleaux were both like Michael, straightforward, logical thinkers. It would be easy for the Copycat Killer to lure Michael into a situation where he could get killed.
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