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Ella smirked, already in detective mode. ‘Well, if he isn’t, we’ll be in for one long horror marathon.’
‘And I’ll have to catch up on a lot of movies,’ Ripley muttered.
Ella gestured toward the exit. ‘After you.’
Ripley shot her one last world-weary sigh. ‘To California, then. Meet you at the airport. I need to grab my things from home first.’
‘Done.’
The two agents went their separate ways, and now Ella was alone, her thoughts quickly returned to this morning, Logan’s arraignment, the possibility that a career assassin was hot on her trail. The new case details had been a welcome distraction, but now the weight of her personal struggles pressed on her once again.
She reached her car, keeping a watchful eye over her shoulder every step of the way. She called Ben to give him the details and make sure he was safe, then headed towards Reagan International Airport.
She’d be safe on the other side of the country, and it would give her ample opportunity to figure out her next move in the Logan case.
Before that, she needed to dive into a world where fiction met reality.
Ella couldn’t lie to herself. She’d always wanted to face off against a living horror villain.
CHAPTER FIVE
The hum of the airplane engines provided a monotonous backdrop to Ella's whirring thoughts. She leaned back in her seat, her face illuminated by the small overhead reading light. Across the aisle, Ripley sat with her laptop, subjecting her keyboard to death by fingertips. The plane was barely half full, and most passengers were asleep or engrossed in their screens. The night sky outside was a blanket of impenetrable darkness.
‘You're doing that thing again,’ Ripley commented without looking up from her laptop.
‘What thing?’
‘Overthinking. Stop it. We’ll figure things out.’
Ella sighed, leaning her head back. ‘I just... I want to get ahead of this guy. It's not every day you have a case that merges your childhood passion with your job.’
Ripley shifted in her seat, focusing her attention entirely on Ella. ‘It's not the case I'm talking about, Dark. I mean Logan Nash. That guy’s trial is messing with your head, and I know what happens to you when you’re distracted.’
Ella closed her eyes for a moment, attempting to shut out the images that the mere mention of Logan's name brought forth. ‘Now's not the time, Mia.’
‘It's always 'not the time' with you. When is the right time? When another assassin is on your doorstep? I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but we need to.’
A twinge of annoyance. ‘Mia, this isn’t your fight. You’ve helped me enough. This one is a solo mission.’
Ripley leaned forward, placing a comforting hand on Ella's arm. ‘Dark, I get it. This is your story to tell. But if you’re in danger, I’m in danger, and I’m not going to retire while this black cloud is over your head.’
Ella's grip on her armrest tightened. ‘If you’ve got any ideas, I’m all ears.’
Ripley's expression softened, her fiery exterior melting into genuine concern. ‘While we’re out here, we can try and get Logan’s location.’
‘Then what? Keep tabs on him twenty-four-seven?’
‘Maybe,’ Ripley said, pausing for a moment. ‘Look, we have resources, Dark. If Logan is as connected as you say he is, we should be using every asset we have. Surveillance, informants, everything.’
Ella ran a hand through her hair, exasperated. ‘It's not that easy, Mia. He's always been a step ahead. And with the trial coming up, he'll be even more cautious. But anyway, we have a case to solve, and people are depending on us. Let's focus on that.’
Ripley set her laptop aside. ‘Alright. Lay it on me. What do you think?’
Scouring through the case file, Ella pulled up the details for victim one. The first girl was killed, but the second body was found. 'Victim is Kathleen Carter. Twenty-one years old, found dead in an abandoned shack thanks to an anonymous call. She’s been disemboweled, but how and with what implement, we don’t know.’
Ripley pulled out her files then drummed her finger on the crime scene photos. ‘This is vicious. The result of years of resentment. He didn’t do this on a whim. The staging, the killing method, it’s all part of a process.’
‘Someone this deranged doesn’t slip through the system,’ Ella said. ‘You don’t just wake up one day and decide to disembowel someone. There aren’t many historical cases of it, but the killers that did do it – Larry Eyler, Joseph Vacher, Gerald Stano – it took them four or five victims until they reached that point.’
