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I stared at the only other person I considered a friend besides my brothers. Xander and I had worked closely together with this case, and we’d both hoped for a better outcome.
“Was it him?” I asked, my voice a low snarl.
The answer was clear in his expression before he opened his mouth. “She has the mark.”
I let out another slew of curses. “That monster,” I spat. “Please, tell me you have something on him. Tell me that he messed up and left something on her so we can finally nail this guy to the damn wall in hell.”
“The autopsy hasn’t been done yet but I don’t have high expectations, considering he hasn’t left anything behind before. I swear, this guy has always been incredibly thorough. With the body count he has, I can’t imagine the time he spends cleaning up after himself. Damn bastard.”
I glanced at the wall behind him, a thought striking me. Either he spent an exorbitant amount of time on cleaning up after himself…or he had help. “Xander,” I said, my words measured. “Has the department ever investigated the possibility of there being more than one killer?”
Xander’s brows screwed together. “What?”
“Has that ever been investigated? Because you’re right. He is thorough. Almost too thorough. If he had someone else to help him, it would be easier for them to pull it off. The cleanup and the confinement. It’s not easy holding a grown person for days on end.”
“Maybe the confinement would be easier, but two people being involved means double the chance one of them leaves something behind.” Xander looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Where did you get this idea?”
“Does it matter? It’s a possibility.” Emersyn’s theory last night during the podcast interview had hit me hard, because it did fit. I wasn’t convinced it was true, but it could be.
“I’ve never heard of that.” Xander shook his head. “I can speak to my father and see if it was something they were able to rule out, but there wasn’t any evidence to suggest more than one killer.”
“But it’s worth looking into.”
Xander paused before nodding. “At this point, anything is worth investigating. This has gone on long enough. Whoever is responsible for all this tragedy has got to be caught. This has got to stop.”
It did. “When is the autopsy?” I asked, still holding on to any scrap of hope that we’d find one piece of evidence to lead us in the right direction.
“This afternoon.”
I nodded. That was good. The sooner the better. I let out a breath, the nerves and adrenaline ebbing, along with the rage. “Can I see her now?”
Xander cocked his head to the side. “Not that I’m judging, but why do you want to see her so badly? I’m gonna warn you, it’s not pretty.”
I winced. I didn’t know why I needed to see her. I’d been so focused on finding her that it didn’t seem real that there was no one left to search for.
“I just do.”
He pressed his lips into a tight line. “Okay. I’ll remind you, though, that this is an ongoing investigation. Nothing you’re about to see can leave this room, Reid.”
“I understand.” I’d already signed my contract when I’d come on as a consultant in the case. I knew the rules.
“I’ll be doing a press conference later tomorrow, after we’ve had time to process the autopsy. Any information that I don’t release then stays confidential.”
With that, he turned and led me around the corner into the autopsy area.
The room was empty except for the cold, steel table. My gut wrenched, and I stopped breathing out of my nose. I hated the smell of the autopsy room. As a cop, we sometimes had to oversee the autopsies and it was some of the worst parts of the job. Watching an autopsy was one thing, but being in the room while it happened, hearing the sounds and experiencing the smells…a chill ran through me at the memories.
Her toes came into view first, so very pale. There were bruises around her ankles and wrists. The victims of the Shadow Stalker were always bound. My heart shot into my throat as I took her in. Her right side was a dark purple, lividity that set in after death. She had died lying on her right side.
Her stab wounds were gruesome, but not the worst I’d seen. My sister’s were worse.
My mouth went dry as my breathing escalated. Her face was mostly untouched, and there was no doubt. It was Lily. She had a small beauty mark below her left eye.
My hands went numb. Even in death, she was really pretty. A pretty girl who lost her life way too early. A girl who had her whole life before her. A girl who was loved and had a family and friends.
A girl who I failed.
My eyes stung with tears, but I refused to let them fall. Not here. I didn’t deserve to cry in front of her. I was about to look away, when I caught sight of something on her arm. It was surrounded by a few clean puncture wounds, so I hadn’t noticed it right away, but this was different. Something was deliberately carved into her skin.
