Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“Absolutely,” he said smoothly. “The important thing to note, Detective Walker, is that something connects these victims. Something makes these victims abhorrent to our killer.”
Abhorrent.
If they weren’t bad mothers or even bad parents, caregivers, or the like, then what was so detestable about these three—so far—people? “The thread is the difficult part,” Professor Vitucci said. “But there is a thread. Somehow these three victims cross over.”
Sienna thanked the professor for taking the time to speak with her and hung up before making her way to the meeting room, where she, Ingrid, and Kat had planned to gather to go over the latest murder. Because of this development, the city’s fear and concern were understandably mounting, and the pressure on the police department was increasing by the hour.
Sienna took a seat next to Kat at the table and looked at Ingrid, who stood at the front of the room. She filled them both in on her short call with Professor Vitucci and what he’d said about the victims being abhorrent to their killer in some fashion. Ingrid nodded thoughtfully, using a pin to stick the photo of the close-up face of the corpse of the older man to the board that now held three current victims and one mummified teacher who’d died decades before. All of them were connected somehow—someway—but how?
“Harry Lockheed worked as a floor manager at Circus Circus up until a year ago, when he retired. He’d been in the hospitality industry for thirty-five years. No arrest record, clean driving record, no money issues, no concerning material found on his computer or any of his devices, even though they’ve only been given a precursory look. Basically, so far, nothing points to him being anything other than what he appeared to be.
“He left for the grocery store early yesterday morning, and when he didn’t return after a couple of hours and his wife couldn’t get hold of him, she called us. An officer questioned the grocery store employees, but it didn’t appear he’d ever arrived there. His car was found ditched in a neighborhood bordering his own. His body was found a few hours after that by the man looking for bottles, another of Danny Boy’s notes tucked into his shirt pocket.”
“What’s your take on his latest writing installment?” Sienna asked, bouncing her knee.
Kat chewed on her pen for a moment. “It seems like our Danny Boy discovered his ability to overpower a victim,” she said after a moment. “And liked it.”
Sienna nodded in agreement, picturing Dolly lying on the floor as Danny threw checkers at her. He hadn’t taken that power in a murderous direction. Not then. Not yet. He’d first discovered the feeling with Dolly but had ultimately focused it elsewhere, and they still didn’t know why. What Sienna did sense was that he was pacing his story in some way she couldn’t understand. He had a full picture, though. She was sure of it.
“The other things he left at the scene are these items,” Ingrid said, bringing three clear evidence bags out and laying them on the table. Sienna leaned forward.
The first was a coupon for a free order of chicken wings from a place called Zero Effs Sports Bar and Grille. Sienna’s brow dipped. “Does this mean anything to either of you?” Both Ingrid and Kat shook their heads.
The second item was a pair of black-and-white dice. Sienna picked the bag up, turning them this way and that. “Did you check if they’re weighted?” she asked, wondering if they consistently rolled to a certain number.
“Yes,” Ingrid said. “They seem like regular dice.”
Hmm. She set the bag down and picked up the third. Contained within was a silver coin. “A Susan B. Anthony,” Sienna said, looking up at Ingrid, who gave a slight one-shoulder shrug. Sienna worried her lip. The only reason she was familiar with the coin was because Argus had pulled them from behind her ear during her childhood. He’d place them in her hand afterward as she grinned with delight, and later she’d hide them in her drawer behind her socks. They’d all gone missing one year. She didn’t know if it was her mom or dad who’d taken them, just that they’d likely been spent on a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of booze.
She’d saved the ones Argus gave her at Mirabelle’s trailer after that, and they’d never gone missing, though she’d left them behind the day she’d moved away.
Sienna considered the items contained in the evidence bags. She’d google Susan B. Anthony after this and see if there was something about the woman that might offer some clue. She had no idea what to make of the pair of dice or the coupon. Was there something about chicken wings that might lead somewhere?
“The place where he was left—was there anything around, specifically in the direction he was facing?”