Blood Dreams

photo pinned to the bulletin board on one side of the conference room. 'He thought outside the box.'

'But how far outside the box?' Dani realized everyone was looking at her inquiringly, and added, 'Could the killer know somebody would have the bright idea of getting an overhead shot? I mean, could he count on that?'

'And did he need to.' Hollis nodded. 'Could be it was a little secret just for himself he thought nobody would discover. Something he could gloat over in private. I'm betting when we catch this guy, he'll have lots of pictures. Maybe other trophies, but definitely photographs of his… work.'

Marc asked, 'Because this scene was so obviously staged?'

'Because it's staged so well. So precisely. In my former life I was an artist, and I can tell you this scene was composed, for want of a better word. The natural elements already present, the hardscape and landscape, have been used to balance and enhance his… embellishments.'

Jordan, sitting at one end of the conference table and trying hard to avoid looking at the crime-scene photos spread out too close to him, said, 'Is how or why he left the message as important as the message itself? I mean, look at it. And somebody please tell me it doesn't mean what I think it means.'

He had been introduced to the federal agent but was still trying to figure out why the FBI would have someone here unofficially rather than officially. If, that is, the 'sign' left by the killer meant what he thought it meant.

What he really, really hoped it didn't mean.

Dani said to Hollis, 'It still isn't enough, is it? To take to the Director? To bring the task force down here?'

Hollis picked up a marker from the table and went to the bulletin board. With quick, sure strokes, she highlighted what they could all see, a message left for them in blood and viscera.

The shape was a bit rough but unmistakable: a five-pointed star. And in the center was a ragged but all-too- clear number: 14.

Paris murmured, 'Guess he wants to be a star.'

'He already is,' Hollis said. 'In his own sick, unspeakably twisted way.'

'He must have picked that place, that particular backyard, very carefully,' Marc said. 'And not just because it belonged to a vacant house. The hardscape and landscape there almost formed a star without his… additions, just like you said. He didn't have to do much to connect the dots.'

'So it's a message?' Dani ventured. 'I mean, besides the obvious one?'

Jordan drew a deep breath and let it out very slowly and quite loudly, not speaking until he was absolutely sure everybody in the room was looking at him. Then, displaying what he felt was the patience of a saint, he said, 'Speaking of messages. The number. Fourteen. Somebody please tell me it doesn't mean what I'm afraid it means, that he doesn't have another twelve victims lined up.'

The first thing Marc had told the others in the room was the information that forensics placed blood and tissue from two separate victims at the scene, so everyone was aware of that.

Hollis cleared her throat and looked steadily at the deputy. 'I'm afraid it's worse than that. He's giving us his box score-so far. The two victims here make fourteen.'

'He's killed twelve other women? In Venture?'

'No, he killed the first twelve somewhere else. In Boston, we believe.'

'Jesus. This is the same killer? The one all over the news who went on a rampage this summer and ended by butchering a senator's daughter?'

'We believe so, yes.'

Jordan blinked, but before he could ask the obvious question, Marc said, 'Unfortunately, we can't call on the task force set up to hunt this animal down.'

'Why the hell not?'

Hollis said, 'Because it isn't the same M.O. Because we have no proof it's the same killer.'

Jordan gestured wordlessly at the photo pinned to the bulletin board.

She shook her head. 'He never numbered them before, as far as we know. Not the crime scenes, not the victims. In fact, we never had a crime scene before, just… dumping grounds where he left his victims. Nobody ever saw him, and the task force was never able to find any forensic evidence pointing to even a potential suspect.

'So, to an… unbiased… investigator, that number could mean anything. It could mean, as you guessed, that he plans on killing at least another dozen victims. It could also be a number important to him and him alone, for reasons we can't possibly know yet. Hell, it could be his birthday, or an anniversary, or no more than a number he picked out of the air just to have fun with the cops.'

'You don't believe any of that,' Jordan said.

'I told you what I believe.'

Jordan cocked his head slightly to one side, never taking his gaze off the federal agent. She was very attractive, which he had of course noticed immediately, but there was something else, a quality about her he couldn't quite put his finger on. A kind of serenity, perhaps, as if nothing in life ever would or ever could surprise her. Or maybe it was the sense he had that her sharp blue eyes saw the things around her with a clarity he could only imagine.

Whatever it was, he found it intriguing.

Very intriguing.

'Okay,' he said slowly, 'so why do you believe it? If the M.O. here is different, if there isn't enough evidence to convince the task force or, I gather, the Director of the FBI that this is the same killer, then how come you're so sure?'

Hollis turned her head and looked at the sheriff, lifting a brow.

'He'll believe you.'

'Well, that'll make for a nice change.' Hollis looked back at Jordan and said matter-of-factly, 'We've been using psychics to track him since Boston. We had placed him in the general area of Atlanta when one of our mediums was contacted two days ago by your first victim, Becky Huntley. When her picture came up on the missing persons database, well…'

Dani said, 'John and Miranda didn't mention that yesterday.'

'They didn't see the need to go into specifics then and there.' Hollis shrugged, then offered Dani a faint smile. 'I would have gotten around to it eventually, though.'

'Because you were the medium,' Marc said, his tone not the least bit questioning.

She nodded. 'I was the medium. It's another reason I was picked for this job.' She looked again at Dani. 'Another reason I had to be here. Because Becky contacted me. And when a victim gets in touch, that's pretty much a gilt-edged invitation from the universe to come to the party.'

Chapter Nine

THE INFORMATION didn't make Dani any happier, but she knew better than to protest. Instead, she said, 'I'm guessing Becky Huntley didn't have anything helpful to offer you?'

'They seldom do, I've discovered. And when they do, it tends to be vague or cryptic. Becky said to pay attention to the signs, that someone was leaving us a trail to follow.'

Marc frowned at her. 'Someone?'

'Yeah. Unfortunately, she didn't stick around to explain that. Which is a real shame on several counts. As a rule, serials don't leave trails, and the Boston killer certainly didn't.'

'Or signs?' Jordan murmured, glancing toward the crime-scene photo on the bulletin board.

'Or signs. With serials, if they get caught it's most often not because of stellar police work but because the bastard slips up. Makes a mistake. Leaves a victim alive, or doesn't clean up after himself, or is otherwise careless.'

'But not because he leaves a trail,' Dani said.