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‘We’ve still got to warn her. Our killer’s four-for-four.’
Ella said, ‘Could be five by tonight. If the new team aren’t getting here until tomorrow, that’s too late.’
Ripley stopped pacing and looked at Ella, new determination taking over. ‘Carter be damned. We can't just sit back and let someone else get killed because of his ego.’
Ella felt a surge of resolve. ‘Right. We're not officially on the case anymore, but that doesn't mean we stop caring or doing what's right. We need to warn Matilda and see if she remembers anything about this puzzle kid.’
Ripley threw on her coat and grabbed her keys. ‘We need to be careful. If we’re not officially part of a case, we can’t fire any shots. We can’t manhandle anyone. If Carter gets wind, it could be a prison sentence.’
‘Understood. We’re civilians.’
‘Yeah. Like hell are we doing what Carter says. He can sit on a cactus. Ready to operate outside of the law?’
Ella felt a familiar adrenaline kick in, the kind that always surged when she knew she was bending the rules for the greater good. She thought back to her restless pursuit of Logan Nash, none of which took place within the FBI parameters.
‘Wouldn’t be the first time,’ she said.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
The symbols blurred before her eyes, but she forced herself to concentrate. Maybe there was a pattern, a clue hidden in the chaos. Maybe she could outsmart the killer, find a way to survive.
But as the minutes ticked by, the puzzle remained unsolved, a riddle that whispered of death and despair. Her hope dwindled, replaced by a growing sense of doom. She was lost in a maze with no exit, a game with no winners.
Your dead friends, I tried to forgive
Solve this puzzle if you want to live.
QIIX QI EX XLI TPECKVSYRH XIR TQ SV CSY AMPP HMI.
She considered the internet a resource vast enough to perhaps aid her in decoding the puzzle. Yet, fear clutched at her heart. What if the killer was watching, waiting for her to make a move that would justify his next strike? Calling the police was out of the question; she couldn't risk aggravating the killer, especially when he seemed to be playing a game of his own twisted design.
Every few seconds, she'd turn to the door, half-expecting to see the pale white figure had somehow manifested inside her home. For the past fifteen minutes, she hadn't heard a sound other than her own pulse racing. Was he still here? And if not, why not?
In a brief moment of desperation, the idea of running to the police station crossed her mind. It seemed like the only logical escape from this nightmarish scenario. She could dash to her car, lock the doors, and drive as fast as she could to safety. But then, the grim memory of Demi's fate surfaced in her mind. Demi had been killed inside her own car, a supposed haven that had turned into a death trap. If the killer had managed to ambush Demi in her car, what's to stop him from doing the same to her? The thought sent a shiver down her spine, dissolving any fleeting sense of safety the idea had provided.
The realization that she couldn't risk going to the police, or even to her car, settled in with an icy finality. Her options were painfully limited. The killer had orchestrated this night with meticulous precision, leaving her with nowhere to turn but straight into his trap. It was a cruel game of cat and mouse, and she was the unwilling prey.
Almost randomly, she began substituting the letters in the cipher to conjure up words that actually existed. She remembered what little she’d learned in English class – not that she paid much attention in high school, too busy chasing James Gorton – but she recalled her teacher telling her that L was the most commonly used double-letter in the alphabet.
AMPP.
She crossed out the Ps, replaced them with Ls. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
Then she focused on the first word. QIIX.
Two letters in the middle that were the same.
Had to be a vowel. Couldn’t be an A, U or I.
The logical deduction was E.
QEEX.
Then there was the Q, also appearing in QI in the second word.
She began scouring through the alphabet, substituting the Q for every letter in succession.
A minute in, she found something that almost fit.
