Shelley hesitated. “Fine,” she agreed,after a moment. “I’ll hear you out.”
If Zoe had learned anything fromwatching Shelley work with others, anything at all, now was the time to put itinto practice. She needed her partner on side. If she had Shelley workingagainst her, it was all going to be far too difficult. “The tattoos all camefrom Dead Eye Dave’s, and all from Jasper Franks’s appointment book. We knowthis because we have him in custody and the book in front of us. But rememberwhat I told you about the incorrect number in the book.”
“The one that adds up to thirteen, whenthe real number doesn’t,” Shelley recalled.
“Correct. If the man we have in custodyis the killer, then his actions make no sense. This was my starting point. Whykill these particular victims and no others? He has so many Holocaust memorialtattoos on his record. Why snap now and why choose people from such disparatepoints of his timeline? One that was amongst the first he ever did, one sixmonths old, one not even completed?”
“Sometimes we don’t have an answer forwhat a psychopath does.” Shelley shrugged.
It was Zoe’s turn to look disappointed. “Thereis always an answer,” she said. “You know that. Even if it does not appear tomake sense, there will be an answer.”
“But what are you saying? That justbecause there’s no reason for Franks to kill these victims—apart from hisapparent extreme anti-Semitism—there has to be a different killer?”
“Think about that, too,” Zoe pressed. “Aman like Jasper Franks has to keep in mind high standards of safety. In hisline of work, he knows about how disease can be transferred through needles,and so on. Would he risk having a Jew, or the descendant of a Jew, on his tableif he was going to be breaking their skin? If he was truly anti-Semitic, hewould be worried about contamination. He might not even want to touch them.Like our own segregation—black people forced to use even separate drinkingfountains because of the fear of coming into contact with something seen asdirty. There is historical precedent. This is human nature.”
Shelley opened her mouth to argue, thenclosed it again. “All right,” she said, slowly. “Go on.”
“But if someone else had access to theappointment book and looked through it, they would see the numbers. Perhapsthey first saw John Dowling’s tattoo when he came in to have it replaced by thetiger, and they saw the connection of the numbers. It triggered something inthem, and they began to keep a watch on the book itself. They began to stalkhim, learning his routine, thinking of a way to be able to attack him soquickly he would not see it coming. Maybe at first it was just keeping tabs onhim, before they decided that he had to die.”
“That… makes sense, so far,” Shelleyadmitted.
“Now they see Callie Everard, and theyadd her to their list, but they don’t check back later and see the alteration.They look ahead and see Naomi Karling, too, and all of the other numbers thatget booked in. But there are only seven, overall, that fit the pattern. Four ofthem are left standing.”
“Why target Callie next? Was she thenext booking that fit the pattern, chronologically?”
Zoe shook her head. “No. The next wasanother man, a Jake Holt. But look. I found him on social media.” She picked upher cell and handed it over to Shelley, the account already open for her tosee. Jake Holt was a fitness influencer, a man who spent a lot of time in thegym working on his over-large muscles. He had strength and height on his side,and the bulk of someone who ate a lot to gain musculature. His neck was thick.So thick that it might make an attacker think twice about the possibility ofdrawing a knife across it.
Shelley tapped the screen thoughtfully. “Youthink the killer skipped him and moved on to Callie because she was a moreviable target?”
“And, if he has been looking into theirlives and following them, he might have found out about her gang connections.Coupled with the connection to John Dowling, it was the perfect red herring.Think how much time we wasted on that. It would be the move I would make, if Iwanted to keep law enforcement off my back for as long as possible. He can keepJake Holt for last, come back to him later, when he has already managed theothers.”
Shelley rubbed the skin on the side ofher nose, beside her left eye. “You are starting to convince me, I have toadmit.”
“There are four remaining victims,Shelley. Jake Holt, Jeff Austen, Amy Vincent, and Kate Campbell. Jasper Frankstells us over and again that he is innocent. If you have ever trusted mebefore, you need to trust me now. I know this is right in my gut. And even if Iam wrong, we have the possibility to save a life. Why risk missing that chance?”
Shelley swallowed, then nodded. “All right.I’m still not fully sure, but I’ll help you do this. Getting my agreement isone thing, though—the LAPD isn’t going to be as easy. We should just go andcollect the potential victims, bring them into protective custody. In themeantime, while they are safe, we can investigate the other employees at DeadEye Dave’s. And if any of them have seen anything suspicious, they might giveus a stronger lead to work on, so it’s a win-win.”
It made sense. It wasn’t quite what Zoehad wanted—to catch the killer in the act and stop him for good—but it wasenough.
As far as she was concerned, no one wasgoing to die tonight. Not on her watch.
So long as they managed
