about their past. I even went to some filthy sex parties just to get closer to one of them. I must admit though, watching the jurors suffer with every new murder was reinvigorating.’
Hunter threw her a worried look.
‘Oh yes, I took the time to observe them after every kill,’ she explained. ‘I wanted to see them suffer. Their pain gave me strength.’ She paused for a moment. ‘Three of the jurors committed suicide, did you know that? They couldn’t take the loss. They couldn’t take the pain, just like my parents couldn’t.’ She laughed an evil laugh that darkened the room. ‘Just to prove how incompetent the police are, I left a clue with every victim, and you still couldn’t catch me,’ she continued.
‘The double-crucifix on the victims’ necks,’ Hunter confirmed.
She gave him a malicious nod.
‘Like the tattoo your brother had on the back of his neck?’
Another surprised look from Brenda.
‘I checked your brother’s records after I found out about the jurors. I remembered that on the arresting report, under identifying marks, the officer in charge had noted down several tattoos, but he never fully described them. I had to check the autopsy report to find out what they were. A double-arm crucifix to the back of the neck was one of them. You were giving every victim your brother’s mark.’
‘Aren’t you clever? I tattooed the double-crucifix on my brother’s neck myself,’ she said proudly. ‘John loved the pain.’
Hunter felt the air inside his living room go cold. As Brenda recalled putting her own brother through pain, the pleasure in her voice was chilling.
‘But why frame Mike Farloe? He had nothing to do with your brother’s case,’ Hunter asked, trying to fill in one of the gaps he still didn’t have an answer to.
‘He’d always been part of the plan,’ she shot back matter-of-factly. ‘Frame someone believable after the last kill and no one would’ve carried on snooping around. The case gets closed and everybody’s happy,’ she said grinning. ‘But unfortunately I ran into a small problem. The framing had to be put forward.’
‘The seventh victim!’ Hunter said.
‘Wow. You
Mike Farloe had been arrested just after the seventh victim was found. An aspiring young lawyer, daughter to one of the jurors. The closest relation to a juror out of all the victims. With just a little more time Hunter and Wilson would surely have hit upon it, but why try to establish a link between victims when they already had a self- confessed killer in custody? With Mike’s arrest everything about the Crucifix Killer’s investigation came to a halt.
‘She was supposed to be my last victim,’ Brenda snorted. ‘But how was I to know she had a photographic memory? She recognized me from the courtroom when I first approached her. She even remembered the clothes I wore. She became an immediate threat, so I had no choice but to move her up on my list. After that I needed time to reorganize my plan. Framing somebody at the end of it all was always my intention. I found Mike Farloe preaching the gospel on the streets just after I killed that piece of shit accountant.’
The fifth victim, Hunter thought.
‘Mike was easy. A sick pedophile who idolized the Crucifix Killer. I prepped Mike for months, feeding him all the necessary information. Just enough for him to sound convincing when caught. I knew he was ready.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I wasn’t counting on him confessing though, that was just a bonus. It completely stopped the investigation dead. Just what I needed,’ she said with a chuckle. ‘But with his arrest came the opportunity for me to get to someone else on my list. One of the main protagonists of my suffering . . . your stupid fucking partner.’
Hunter’s eyes filled with sudden horror.
‘Oh, I forgot,’ she said with a frozen smile. ‘You didn’t know that was my doing, did you?’
‘What was your doing?’ Hunter asked with a trembling voice.
‘That little boat explosion.’
Hunter felt his stomach churn.
‘With the end of the Crucifix Killer’s case I wasn’t surprised when you and your partner decided to take a break. It was only fair after such a lengthy investigation. All I had to do was follow him.’ She paused and watched as Hunter battled with his own repugnance. ‘You know, they invited me up onto their boat. You can always count on a cop to help someone in need, especially a woman. Once on board, the killing was child’s play. I had him tied up, just like you are now, and then I made him watch. I made him watch while I made the little bitch suffer. There was so much blood, Robert.’ She stared at Hunter for a moment, savoring his pain. ‘And yes, I knew she was your only cousin. That gave me even more pleasure.’
Hunter felt nauseous, a sick taste regurgitated into his mouth.
‘He begged for her life. He offered me his in exchange for hers. The ultimate love sacrifice, but that was no good to me. I had his life in my hands anyway.’ A short silence followed before she continued. ‘She died slowly while he cried like a baby. I didn’t kill him straight away you know. I left him for a few hours so he could soak in the pain of her death. After that, the only thing left for me to do was bring some fuel barrels from my boat onto his, create a little leak, set some timers and . . . boom. The fire would destroy any evidence I missed.’
The pleasure in her voice was arctic.
‘The greatest thing after that was watching you take the ride straight to rock bottom, it was beautiful. After their deaths I thought you would do it. I thought you would give in and blow your brains out. You were close to doing it.’
Hunter could voice no reply.
‘But then you were given a new partner and it looked like you were starting to bounce back. I still had two more on my list, not counting you, so I figured it was time for us to start playing our game again.’ She ran her hand through her hair in an overly casual way. ‘You were a tough one to get to. A real loner. No wife, no girlfriend, no children, no lover and no family. So I created Isabella, the slut. The one who’d pick you up from a sleazy bar. The one who’d make you fall in love with her.’ Her arrogance was majestic.
‘Do you have any idea what it’s like to go to bed with someone you despise? To allow that someone to touch you, to kiss you?’ She contorted her face into a disgusted look. ‘Every second we were together made my skin crawl. Every time you touched me I felt violated. Every time you left I’d wash myself clean for hours, scrubbing my skin until it was red raw.’ She took a deep breath to calm herself. ‘You were supposed to fall in love with her. She was the one you were supposed to risk your life for. She was the one who’d rip your heart from you before killing you. Can you see the irony, Robert?’
Hunter didn’t shy away from her stare.
‘But you ran away from romance like the devil from a cross,’ she continued in a calm voice. ‘You couldn’t see how special she was, could you? Were you too good for her? Is that what you think? The great Robert Hunter was too good for little, fragile Isabella, is that it?’ she said, mockingly putting on a sad child’s face.
‘That was my mistake. I should’ve spent more time with Isabella.’
Brenda looked deeply into Hunter’s eyes and held them for a while. ‘I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that if you had spent more time with her you would’ve figured her out.’ She laughed. ‘I’ve got news for you, Robert. You could’ve spent months with her and you still wouldn’t have a clue. Isabella was perfect. I made her perfect. I spent over a year creating her and living her life before finally approaching you. I acquired new mannerisms and habits. I started from scratch. New life, new apartment, new job, new everything. Psychological immersion. You know what that is, don’t you, Robert? I actually became two different people. Nothing linked Isabella to me.’
Hunter could see she was right. The way she walked, her gestures, her posture. Everything was different.
‘No matter how good you are Robert. You’re no clairvoyant. You can’t see what’s not there. No one can. Isabella gave nothing away. No mistakes, no slip-ups. As I’ve said, I made her perfect.’ She allowed Hunter to dwell on it for a few seconds before continuing. ‘Anyway, I was running out of time. I had to adapt my plan. Since you didn’t fall for Isabella, I had to find someone to take her place. Someone you’d risk your life for. Someone who you cared about, but there’s no one, is there, Robert? The closest person to you was your new partner, so he became the obvious choice. I had to act quickly.’
Hunter thought of Garcia lying in a coma. His only fault had been being assigned Hunter as a partner.
