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“We got something, Dark,” she shouted. “Well, not us, but the guys back in D.C.”
Ella suddenly perked up. The combination of coffee aroma and good news was the ultimate drug. “We have? They found Tobias?”
“No, but one of the teams found a whole box of masks. The weird plague doctor masks The same masks those guys were wearing last night.”
Last night, Ella thought. That war had felt like an age ago. “Yes!” she said and slammed her fists in excitement. “Come on!”
“They’re not brand new either. They look worn apparently. That means we could harvest DNA, fingerprints, hair strands, whatever.”
“Christ, so we can pretty much say for certain Tobias is doing something down there?”
“Yeah, and that’s massive. Since Tobias has been in prison, we’ve never actually found any hard evidence that links him to the secret bases we suspected him of working in. Only rumors and circumstantial evidence. This is the closest we’ve ever come, and obviously, he could still be down there himself.”
Ella took a moment and reflected. She fantasized how it might feel to have this weight off her shoulders. She could sleep without seeing his face in her dreams, she could leave the house without looking over her shoulder, she could sleep without the light on. Tobias’s death would brighten the day and darken the night. She grabbed her phone and texted Ben the good news.
“How are you getting on here?” asked Ripley.
“Not great. This town isn’t exactly seventies-era California. Overdue library books are enough to warrant police investigation around here.”
“No one matching the description?” Ripley asked as she took her seat.
“Not in the police database. I’m going through the electoral roll now but some of these pictures are from old driver’s licenses.”
“Let’s go through what we know so far. Victim number one. This so-called Cheri Jo Bates murder.”
“You don’t believe it’s a copycat crime?” Ella asked.
“I believe in my eyes and what my eyes see are six stab wounds. That’s not enough evidence for me.”
“Alright. Cheryl King was 18 years old and lived in a rented house about a mile from where she was found. She went to Baltimore College according to her file.”
“Probably because it’s cheaper to live out here than in the city.”
“Absolutely. She doesn’t have any family around here because she’s a British immigrant. Friends? Maybe, but we don’t know who they are.”
“Our killer apparently cornered her, subdued her with an attack to the chest then carried out a frenzied postmortem assault,” Ripley said.
“You say frenzied, I think they were carefully planned,” Ella said.
“Right, so we can’t say for sure if this guy is physically capable or whether he’s just sneaky. But then we come to victim number two and everything changes.”
Ella said, “Eliza Matthews is 22 years old, lives about two miles from where Cheryl was found. She worked as a personal trainer and apparently had very little social life. She’d go to work in the day then sometimes go running at night.”
“Did you notice something weird about that?” asked Ripley as she unlidded her coffee. “About her routine?”
“No?” Ella asked. “It seemed pretty normal to me.”
“You ever go to the gym, Dark?”
“Once upon a time. It’s been a while, I admit.”
“Eliza looked in pretty good shape to me, despite her condition. I’m guessing as a personal trainer she worked out with her clients. Probably did those crazy spin classes. What kind of person goes running after they get back from the gym?”
Ella recalled her gym days and Ripley was right. No one would have the energy for that.
“So she wasn’t running. She just told her parents she was going running to do something else.”
“Yes, and judging by how her mom reacted to a guy having long hair, chances are she was doing something her mom wouldn’t approve of. We could really use access to her phone.”
