Eyes still closed, she talked her way through the timeline, recalling the facts of Pinky’s dark history.
“Pinky’s fourth victim disappeared from her daily jog the evening of June thirteenth.”
“Aye. Sae?”
“They found her dead on Sunday the eighteenth.”
That’s it.
She opened her eyes and held up the photo. “That’s the exact time period Pinky was hundreds of miles away at the U.S. Open. How did he kidnap and kill a girl here?”
Broch shrugged. “He teuk her, murdered her, gaed tae watch some golf and then cam back and dumped her body.”
Catriona shook her head. “That would work, but when they found her, her body was fresh like the others. That was part of his M.O. He liked to let the authorities know where to find his victims moments after he’d dumped them. I suspect so he could watch them react to his work.”
Broch scratched his chin and then swept his hand through the air, motioning to the dark room around them. “A’ richt, howfur aboot he kept her chained in this hell hole and then murdered her when he returned?”
Catriona shook her head. “Too risky. I have another idea. How about it wasn’t him.”
“Whit wasnae him?”
“Everything.” She thrust out the photo. “See? This rebuilt warehouse is supposed to be accurate, but why would Pinky put a photo of himself at a golf tournament in the middle of his own torture maze?”
“Sae the eejits like them oot thare can worship him?” Broch jerked a thumb in the direction of the ninjas.
“Maybe. But that seems unnecessary. Those idiots were already ready to kill for him.”
Broch tapped his lip. “Tae pat the wummin at ease? Mak’ thaim think he’s a good man and then snip.” Broch pantomimed clipping off his own pinky with shears.
“I don’t think so. I think this photo is special to Mason.”
“Mason?”
Catriona nodded. “I thought it was weird how eager Mason was to show me this. Then here it is again where the cameras won’t miss it. He’s bragging. He’s telling the world he’s the one who killed the girls. Just like a kid, he ran out and grabbed a victim while his dad was away.”
“Girls? All o’ thaim?”
“All of them. I bet the girls’ disappearances all coincided with golf tournaments. Easy enough to check.”
Broch scowled. “But the wee cop shot the da.”
“Soto shot the man he saw stuck in the wall and assumed that’s who cut him. But think about it, why would some sick mastermind get caught in his own maze? He couldn’t pull back in because Mason prevented him. He wanted the world to think his father was responsible.”
“Och. Tae clean his slate.”
“Exactly. But he wants someone watching this film to see this photo and figure it out. He’s teasing us. Daring us to figure it out.”
“Bit then he’d git caught.”
“I bet he plans to be long gone by the time the movie’s released.”
Broch put his hands on his hips. “Shuid we gang back tae the front room and grab him?”
Catriona took a moment to consider the idea. “No. I don’t think he’s there.”
“Ye ken he’s in here.”
Catriona nodded. “He knows now is the time to pick us off, in the maze he knows best. Before we open the doors and ruin his plans.”
Chapter Eighteen
Catriona left the small room to reenter the larger rectangular area and Broch followed. He glanced at the surviving acolytes and Knee’s eyes popped wide as they entered.
Broch dismissed his panic with a wave. “Dinna worry yerself laddie, we’re done wit’ ye.”
Doors one and two remained open following the ninjas’ dramatic entrance, both leading to darkened halls. Broch was about to ask Catriona which hall she’d like to try first when he heard what sounded like whimpering.
He cocked his ear toward door one. “She’s ’ere.”
With Catriona on his heels holding her phone flashlight aloft, Broch hustled down hall one as quickly as he dared until a door stopped his progress. He quietly tried the knob.
“Locked,” he whispered, holding his finger to his lips.
Placing his ear against the door, he heard the whimpering noise again. Broch took a step back and threw his shoulder against the door. It gave way easily, the frame splintering around them.
A dark-haired young woman perched on the end of a cot, her mouth gagged. She jumped as they entered, screeching, but her arm, chained to the wall behind her, jerked her back to the cot.
“Jessica?”
At the sound of a woman’s voice, Jessica stopped thrashing, her wide, red-rimmed eyes shiny with fresh tears. Catriona pulled away the gag and Jessica’s body shook, her teeth chattering with nerves the moment the cloth left her lips.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe you found me. He heard you coming. You saved me. He was just about to—”
She motioned to a pair of shears on the ground.
Sobs rose in Jessica’s throat and Catriona put an arm around her. “Who did this?”
“It was Mason. I thought he was kidding at first but—”
“Mason. I knew it,” said Catriona.
Broch couldn’t help but smile at how excited Catriona sounded to find her theory correct.
“Whaur did he gang?”
Jessica’s brow knit. “What?”
“Where did he go?” translated Catriona. She shot Broch a look, which he translated as See? I told you you need to work on that accent.
With her left hand, Jessica pointed to what looked like an open vent at the bottom of the wall across from her cot. Broch was relieved to confirm she still had all her fingers.
Catriona’s eyes widened. “He went through the vent?”
Broch squatted and peered into the hole.
“You can’t fit through there,” said Catriona. “These low tunnels must be how he sneaked around, that little creep. Slithering like a snake.” She turned her
