He smiled then slipped on his mask. He and his accomplice didn’t wear them to hide their identities in here. None of his victims had or would ever escape. No, they wore them merely to help create fear. A captor who was faceless was far scarier than one who looked human. The latter gave you hope that you could bargain. The former left you with nothing to use as a basis for a plea.
He descended into the small warren of cells he had built many years ago. Serial killers often got caught because they gave into their rituals and habits too much. It was all about balance. Carthage had been his base for years, but it wasn’t his first or his only one. Once it had served its purpose, the women that had fed his need here would get their justice in the fall guy he had set up.
He, as always, would move on. This time with a new kind of triumph under his belt. A need he hadn’t known existed within him until his father ended up on the receiving end of Jayden Roe’s investigation. That had been fifteen years ago. He had only been sixteen, but already he had more kills to his name than years.
He flipped a switch as he entered the largest cell. He took the moments his prey were blinded to look over them. He had no sexual reactions to the two naked women. His needs had never been along those lines.
“Ms. Carmichael, so glad you could join us,” he said with a smile in his voice.
She blinked furiously as she tried to make him out. “Do I know you?”
He smiled behind his mask. “We have met more than once.”
“I know you.”
He turned to Stella Haraby and tilted his head to the side. Her honey eyes seemed to have lost most of their fight. It seemed that her witnessing Miranda’s death had broken some defense, yet her words made it clear that that hadn’t been the fatal blow. Instead, it had been the brief moment where he’d unmasked himself before she fainted.
“Clever of you, Ms. Haraby. Maybe you’re more deserving of Roe than I initially thought. But then again, I have been told that my smile is memorable. Let’s get started,” he ordered.
His accomplice stepped forward and jabbed a needle into Stella’s vein.
“It won’t knock her out entirely, will it?”
“No, just make her easily compliant.”
He could hear the smile in her voice and felt a flash of proprietary pleasure. What a wonderful weapon he had honed.
“What do you want?” Stella mumbled as she was unchained. Her words slurred as the drug took effect, but the fear in her eyes didn’t dim.
“Your favorite investigator is threatening to play outside the rules. I think he needs a reminder that you are still alive.”
The fear peaked as she was carried between them to a metal table and strapped down.
“I think her ring finger will do nicely,” he inspected her left hand.
He patted Stella’s flaxen blond hair as she tried to get a scream past her numb lips. “Shh. Don’t worry. My friend here is a trained doctor. You’ll only die when you are meant to.”
He turned to look at her as she drew her tools closer. She carefully folded and pinned Stella’s other fingers out of the way. Then, with the same expression of calm need, she started her work. He smiled as Stella’s muffled screams ricocheted around them.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Jay had awoken feeling unrested again. His head ached and his limbs felt stiff. The latter told him that he seemed to have slept motionless all night. He had already deduced a likely reason given Hector’s finds. Today, he would make the final preparations to prove his enemy to himself.
First, he needed to finish his wall. Dave had not come back to the room since first helping him put up the pictures. Jay had planned an entire new section on the back of Hector’s work, and Gary’s inside man had given them a huge heap of forensic finds. It didn’t paint a good picture nor did it cast any doubt on the suspicions Hector had raised about Dave.
Jay took some coffee and toast up to the room. It was unusual for the man to sleep so late. He was usually up with the crow. Again, Jay felt the building trepidation. He could no longer stretch his credulity to the point where Dave was not involved at all. What could possibly make this charismatic man get involved with a serial killer and kidnapping?
Joe had already made contact. He had bloodangel_53’s identity. From the message, he also had more because he hadn’t given up the name, instead giving Jay a series of pass codes.
Jay looked at the wall, where twelve women, now all dead, stared blankly back. He forced his mind to remain cold, reaffirming the finds his new forensics had helped him gain.
After a moment, he turned to his laptop and started on what Joe had warned would likely take an hour or two to set up.
About half an hour in, Dave poked his head around the door.
Jay gave him a smile, pretending to himself that he knew nothing, had learned nothing. “You slept late.”
Dave shrugged, stepping into the room. “Pulled an all-nighter.”
“Oh? Find anything good?”
Dave shook his head. “Trying to track down that source you stumbled across. Just keeps coming up with Lloyd’s men.”
Jay looked down, hitting a few keys absently. “It does seem ridiculous that it would be them.”
Dave nodded emphatically and came to perch on the edge of the desk. Jay didn’t miss his covert glance at the computer screen, or the flash of irritation, before he turned to look properly, surprise on his face.
“You seem to have had more
