She drew closer.
She still couldn’t make it out. A few steps closer.
It was taking on a vague shape. She was almost on top of it. A body?
Oh, God.
Jane?
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She screamed.
The man’s body was tied spread-eagled to four pegs, and his eyes were wide open. His features were contorted in a silent howl of agony.
Mark Grunard.
'That’s how I staked out my father.' She whirled to see Spiro behind her.
He smiled. 'A little welcome present. It was going to be the little girl, but I knew you wouldn’t come unless you thought you had a chance of saving her.'
'You,' she whispered. 'Dom?'
'Of course it was me.'
A man who stared into the faces of monsters.
But he was the monster himself. 'God, what a fool I am. No trap. No FBI agents swarming in at the last minute to save me.'
'Unfortunately not.' He stepped closer and was almost lost in the shadows. 'Don’t put your hands in your pockets. I have a knife in my hand and I can reach you in a heartbeat, but I don’t want it to end that soon. It’s been a superb game, and I want to savor the win.'
'You haven’t won yet.'
'That’s what I admire about you. You never give up. But you should be more generous. I was very clever with every move. I deserve to win.'
'You were clever. You set Grunard up perfectly. You even gave me the characteristics of the serial killer so I’d be able to associate them with Grunard later. It never occurred to me that they might also apply to you. You associate with the police as Grunard did, but even more, you’re an FBI profiler. You could move from place to place. You liked to be in the field, you said.
That means you were contacted by your digital phone and no one actually knew where you were at a given time. You could say you were in Talladega when you were in Atlanta.'
'I do regard the digital phone as one of the most helpful inventions. And it was a real challenge to become an FBI agent. Background checks that had to be foolproof, psychological tests that had to show me as completely normal. I prepared for almost two years before I applied. Setting up the personal interviews with people from my supposed past was the most difficult. It took finesse, bribery, and a psychological sleight of hand that would fill you with admiration.'
'No, it wouldn’t.'
'But it was all worth it. Who else would be in a better position to hide and change evidence? I The Killing Game – Eve Duncan 02
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had to keep an eye on where and when any of my kills surfaced so I could erase the records.'
'But the VICAP analysis uncovered the Harding kills.”
“Most annoying.'
'But you led me here to find Debby Jordan.'
“I’m a fatalist. I saw that everything was leading back to my roots. I wanted you here to help me start again, to revive that splendid surge of power.' He smiled. 'It did do that. When I killed Grunard, it was almost like the old days. But he wasn’t you. It will be much better with you.'
'Did you always plan to kill Grunard?'
'After I examined the situation and all the possibilities. I realized that his death would accomplish two ends, create a red herring and make our game more complicated. How could I resist? He would become Dom and disappear.' He shook his head. 'But that complication may cause me to have to move on and reinvent myself. Grunard’s background is pretty solid. There may be questions.' He shrugged. 'Oh, well, I’ll have plenty of warning and I’ve already set up an identity in Montana. It may be good for me. Being Robert Spiro made everything too easy for me. The kill, the cover-up… It may have been part of my problem.'
'You’ll move on and you’ll kill again.' Her voice was shaking. 'Over and over.”
“Of course, that’s what I do.'
'How many?'
'I really don’t remember. I was drunk with the pleasure during those first years. I went out every night. Later everything blurred. More than thirty years… A thousand? I don’t know.
Maybe more.'
'My God.'
