She nodded, her green eyes huge."Um...yeah." She glanced back at the models. "I need to finishthis."
"Is it okay if I wait?"
"Sure. We're almost done."She licked her lips, which made him want to lick them, too, and turned back tothe group posed before her. "Sorry, ladies," she said cheerfully."Let's finish this up."
She moved back behind her camera andstarted shooting, firing off shots rapidly, while encouraging the models intheir poses. The music changed to the Black Eyed Peas singing "PumpIt", and Marli's body continued to move to the music as she worked. Whenshe finally called a halt, the models stood up, stretched, and wandered off theset. He couldn't help but watch them with appreciation as they all went into acorner blocked off by screens.
He turned his attention back toMarli, who was grinning at him.
"Put your eyes back in yourhead," she told him, green eyes sparkling with humor.
"Hey," he said, "it'sjust nice scenery."
She nodded knowingly. "Verynice. Coquette Lingerie. I do all their photography."
The woman in black had been packingup some bags, chatting with the other couple, and now slung them over hershoulder. "I'm outta here, Marli," she announced, eyeing Trey. Shesmiled. "Nice working with you, as always. I guess I'll see you next weekon that shoot for West Coast Mall."
"Yeah, you betcha. Thanks,Whitney."
"Thanks, Marli," calledthe other woman, picking up a purse and briefcase off the counter. "Whenwill you e-mail me the link to the shots?"
"Tomorrow," Marli replied."Then we'll talk."
The man and woman also left.
Trey looked around her studio."This is impressive."
"Thanks." She went over tothe big window on the outside wall and raised the thick black blind coveringit. The room became lighter, but it had been raining all day, so the lightremained weak and grey. She walked over to the camera and removed the memorycard, took it over to a Mac computer on a desk.
"Just let me get these starteddownloading," she murmured, eyes on the monitor, one hand clicking themouse. Then she straightened and went back to the camera. He watched as shedeftly removed the camera from the tripod, twisted the battery compartment andremoved the battery, then connected it to a recharger on the counter. Shetucked the camera away in a camera bag.
Trey wandered over to look at framedphotographs of her work on one wall. One by one, the models came out frombehind the screen, now dressed in Tshirts and jeans or baggy cargo pants,looking decidedly less glamorous.
"'Bye, Marli," they allcalled, waving perfectly manicured hands as they left the studio.
And then they were alone. Treyswallowed nervously.
Marli unplugged lights, took downumbrellas and lowered the lights on their stands.
"So, how are you?" sheasked. She removed a reflector from the light and put on some kind of cap.
"I'm good. Ah...you have a lotof equipment here."
She smiled. "Yes."
She continued her work, removinglights from the stands and putting them away in cases while he debated what tosay.
"Not to sound rude, but whatare you doing here?" she finally asked, folding up a light stand.
"I wanted to tell you what washappening with Sheldon Barnes."
"Oh. Okay."
"He's back in San Diego now, onsuicide watch. He confessed everything, in fact, he confessed to even moremurders than we knew about. He apparently went on for hours, confessing tokilling about fifty women. The detective who interrogated him said he was apretty smooth talker."
"He is," Marli confirmed,her voice sad.
"They said they could see how heused his charm to lure women to trust him. When they told him we wereinterested in him for five murders, he laughed and told them it was more likefifty."
Marli made a shocked noise, standingthere with an umbrella in her hand.
Trey shook his head. "Don'tnecessarily believe that," he said dryly. "I'd never believe anythinga sexual criminal tells me without hard evidence or witnesses. He'll deny,exaggerate, manipulate...basically lie through his teeth." Trey shook hishead. "But he'd moved around so much, working on ranches, other odd jobs,he could easily have killed women in a lot of places and then just left town.They're reopening cases in Texas and New Mexico."
"Sounds like he loves theattention," Marli observed.
"Yeah, no kidding. Narcissisticpersonality. Exaggerating his exploits to impress people, grandiose fantasies.But eventually he stopped talking and asked for an attorney. Claimed to betotally innocent. Said he'd just been joking. All those women, he said he wasjust in the wrong place at the wrong time, just an unhappy coincidence."
"Bullshit."
He smiled.
"Trey, what makes someone dothings like that?"
"Oh, lots of things." Heran a hand through his hair.
"Is he insane? Would they lethim off because of that?"
Trey shook his head. "No. Hisbehavior was too violent, although he definitely seems as though he has thatsociopathic personality." He paused. "He had problems dealing withanger and, frustration. His upbringing had a lot to do with it. His relationshipwith his mother. All along, I believed he was getting his gratification fromthe thrill of controlling a woman...the power he had over her as he raped her.The power his mother had over him."
"Did she... Was heabused?"
"Emotionally abused, for sure.Some physical abuse. Not sure about sexual." He shrugged. "He was soangry at his mother, that's why his victims were always blonde women. That'swhy the murders were so brutally aggressive."
"Why did he stalk me,though?" she asked. "I was thinking about it, and it wasn't like theother murders. You said he'd always just leave after, go somewhere else."
"You laughed at him," hereminded her. "I recall that his mother laughed at him for wanting to be acowboy, too. And you rejected him. It set him off and made him actoutside his usual pattern."
She nodded slowly.
"You know, we all have theability to distort reality in our minds, to protect ourselves, make us feelokay about ourselves. A psychopath already lies without remorse, but this justadds to that. He may well have convinced himself that he really wasn't doinganything wrong. He believed you'd really done something to him."
"Oh, God."
"Most of
