Love me to death

glanced at the time stamp. Five-fifteen. Right after he picked up Lucy.

Lucy walked into the dining room with a tray of coffee, cream, and sugar. “You like yours cream only, right?” She narrowed her gaze. “What’s wrong?”

He paused the recording and glanced at Dillon standing behind Lucy. “Lucy-I’m listening to the bugs we planted.”

“What?” She put the tray down, the dishes rattling.

“You planted bugs? You mean listening devices?” Dillon asked, too surprised to sound irritated.

Lucy bit her lip. “I was going to tell you and Kate, but then this all happened tonight with Cody … remember the parolee project I told you about at WCF? One of the guys we were tracking was murdered. Someone used my account to set him up.”

Kate stood in the doorway next to Dillon. “What the hell are you talking about?” she exclaimed.

“Sit down,” Lucy said. “I have a lot to tell you.”

TWENTY-FIVE

When Lucy was done telling Dillon and Kate everything she knew about the parolee project, Kate swore and Dillon stared at his sister with his deep-thinking gaze. But Lucy didn’t know exactly what he was thinking, and she felt so tiny she wished she could go to bed and hide under the covers. She hated that she’d been caught in the middle of something like this-that it might have been Fran using her, she didn’t even want to think about it.

“Say something!” she finally said.

“This is fucked,” Kate snapped.

Lucy had to agree with Kate, but right now Dillon’s opinion meant more to her. It always had.

“Dammit, Dillon, tell me I was a stupid idiot, say something!”

Dillon’s expression softened. “You’re not stupid, Lucy.”

“Naive, then.”

He shook his head. “I’ve interviewed hundreds of convicted criminals. And there were some I knew, if they ever got out on the streets again, they’d rape or kill. I knew it here.” He punched his stomach. “But there was nothing I could do except testify to make sure they stayed in prison for their maximum sentence, and hope-pray-that they’d die before they were released.”

“I didn’t kill anyone. I didn’t know,” Lucy said, her chest tightening. “You can’t believe I did!”

“Of course I believe you, Lucy.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I can easily understand how someone could plan such an elaborate project. It would be someone with a strong moral center, and because of circumstances-probably a traumatic event-they’ve twisted that morality to justify murder.”

“The vigilante syndrome.”

Dillon nodded. “When the system fails, someone has to uphold justice.”

“So someone is killing for what they consider noble reasons,” Sean said.

“And they’re smart-they’re not targeting all parolees, but they’ve selected a choice few. That takes restraint, intelligence, premeditation … but who they’re picking is important.”

Sean asked, “What about opportunity?”

Dillon shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s premeditated. Vigilantes have a strong sense of right and wrong, but what they think is right and wrong is viewed through distorted lenses.”

Lucy added, “They think the world is in anarchy, law enforcement and the criminal justice system ineffective. They justify their actions-they are simply doing what the government can’t or won’t do.”

“They justify murder,” Kate said. She rubbed her eyes. “Damn, I can almost understand that. I would have killed Trask to stop him.”

“That’s not the same thing,” Dillon said, “and you know it. Trask was a killer evading authorities.”

Lucy said, “There are many law-abiding citizens who aren’t violent, though they have some traits in common with vigilantes. They fight nonstop for tougher laws, swift penalties, strengthening of the death penalty, more resources for law enforcement.”

Dillon concurred. “They strongly support restrictions on freedom in the name of public safety, and often report friends and neighbors who they think are breaking the law. They don’t have the psyche to kill.”

“But,” Lucy said, “those with a strong sense of vigilante justice coupled with the ability or psyche to take a human life, usually because of violence in their past, can cross the line.”

Did that make Lucy more likely to kill in cold blood? She’d killed Adam Scott because he’d hurt her, he would have killed her, and he would not have stopped with her. She tracked parolees because they should stay in prison for their crimes. Was she on the path of developing such a twisted sense of justice that she could justify cold- blooded murder?

A chill ran through her body, cold goose-bumps rose on her flesh. Sean looked at her, but didn’t say anything.

Dillon leaned forward, his expression intense, so wrapped up in his own analysis he didn’t notice Lucy’s discomfort and self-appraisal.

“They have taken their crusade beyond the law, and almost to the people themselves. Because really, would most people shed a tear for a child molester who’s killed in a hit-and-run? Or a rapist who’s shot to death in an alley?”

Sean said, “Then why not just declare war on the worst of the lot and kill them all?”

Dillon said, “Public relations. Motive. Opportunity. Vigilantes don’t want to be stopped. Also, the targets have some meaning for them personally. They may be targeting an area-for example, criminals who get off on a technicality in one jurisdiction-or they may be targeting individuals who committed a specific crime, like child molesters.”

Lucy cleared her throat. “I ran all eight victims, and I can’t see a commonality.”

“Do you mind if I look?”

Lucy handed over her files. “I used my program; maybe there’s a flaw in extrapolating the data. I thought-”

Dillon glanced at the files. “Your program is brilliant, Lucy. It’s the best thing I’ve seen that melds science with psychology.” He tapped the first page. “I already see the problem.”

“What?”

“Take out Prenter.” He handed her back the files.

She stared. At first she didn’t see anything because the report had been run with Prenter’s data and stats. She’d need to rerun everything without Prenter, and then …

“Oh!”

“You see it, too.”

“Yes. All seven were convicted of molesting a minor female they knew.”

“It’s more than that. The rapist had authority over their victim. A pastor. A stepfather. A father. Two uncles. A teacher. Prenter doesn’t fit the profile. When you take him out, it creates a pattern.”

“But we can’t take him out because he was killed in the same way-meaning he was on parole and targeted by the WCF.”

“I didn’t say I had all the answers, but I think whoever is selecting the parolees to target is focusing on convicts who committed a crime similar to one perpetrated on someone they loved.”

Kate said, “Prenter was in a position of authority as well-he was a teaching assistant who raped a student.”

“Not a minor student,” Dillon said. “Sara Tyson was nineteen, correct?”

Lucy nodded.

“She was still young,” Kate said.

“And,” Lucy said, “there is the victim they couldn’t tie to him, his ex-girlfriend who’s in a coma because of a near-lethal dose of homemade X. Anyone who was involved in Prenter’s case knows about her. But it was never