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She glanced at the time in the upper corner of her laptop. Nearly six-thirty. They could check again whether the woman had returned in the last couple of hours. But a bitter sense of foreboding told her what they woulddiscover.
The tap at the door was light. Ethan immediately got up and pulled it open. Nyle walked in. “He messaged you? That’s not good, Alexa. It means he’s focused on younow.”
“Communications from him offer a rare opportunity to figure out what he’s thinking. How he thinks. That can only help us catchhim.”
Her words only made Nyle’s expression turn mutinous, but she knew she was right. Something was niggling at her about the email, tugging at a long-forgottenmemory.
Ethan held out his phone to show Nyle the picture he’d taken of the message and Alexa swiftly reread it. The wording was slightly formal, but that wasn’t what had captured her attention. “A prophet to the nations. That’s from the Bible, Ithink.”
“Just another way of excusing his behavior,” Nylenoted.
“Possibly.” She chased after the dim memory in her mind. Thomas Reisman had drilled Bible verses into her from the moment he’d entered her life. As if the ability to regurgitate obscure quotes made up for the fact that he didn’t live the words. Not any ofthem.
“Before…something…the womb,” she murmured, staring into space, trying to recall the verse. “Before I formed you…in the womb I knew you…and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations,” she finished in a rush. “Jeremiah, chapter one, versefive.”
“Someone’s got delusions of grandeur,” mumbledNyle.
Ethan looked at her long enough to have her glancing away. When it came to the time she’d spent under Thomas Reisman’s roof, he knew some of what happened. He’d never known all. “This is a critical breakthrough for his profile,” she insisted. “We’ve known he’s an organized offender, but haven’t understood his motivation. Perhaps the homicides are enacted because of his own twisted sense ofjustice.”
“So…God told him to doit?”
She ignored the hint of derision in Ethan’s tone. “He wouldn’t be the first to claim God told him to kill,” she reminded him. “More than that, he thinks he’s been chosen for thistask.”
“You’ll need a new laptop, which will have to be backed up with all your important files.” Ethan was texting again. “I’m going to want to FedEx your computer to the Ottawalab.”
The thought of losing her computer didn’t come without a pang, but it was no more than she’d expected. “I have flash drives in my computer bag. I can always—” Her voice broke off then as another email landed in the inbox on the screen before her. A dart of trepidation arrowed throughher.
“Guys…” But both men were already at her side. As Alexa reached out to open the message, she noticed rather distantly that her fingers were trembling. This message was only one line. But it was enough to turn her bones toice.
Jeanette rests in a place familiar toyou.
Ethan’s curse was long, imaginative and brutal. “Nyle, wake up Lawler’s crew. Check her room.” But they all knew what he’d find. While they’d been out searching for the woman last night, she’d likely already been in the clutches of a madman. The officer all but raced out thedoor.
“He’s engaging you. Making you part of this.” Ethan’s tone was even, but urgency layered beneath his words. He sank down next to her again, and when his hand reached for hers, squeezed, she welcomed itsstrength.
“Yes. Not ideal, ofcourse.”
“God.” He gave a half laugh and released her hand to jam his fingers through his hair. “That’s got to be the understatement of theyear.”
“Think of it as another tool in the investigation. The message said familiar to me. I haven’t been in Canada for twenty years. Nothing isfamiliar.”
“He’s researched you. Probably started when he saw you at the press conference. He’s talking about Truro, isn’t he? That’s the last place you lived.” He paused a beat. “At least while in NovaScotia.”
But most of the landmarks were unfamiliar to her. Reisman had kept her sheltered. Imprisoned, was how it’d felt at the time. The library had been her refuge, where unbeknownst to her mother or Thomas, Alexa had not only studied but tutored several local students. She’d passed online Advanced Placement classes in every subject, and by the time she was seventeen she’d acquired two years of college credits. The elderly lady next door had given her an old ten-speed bike, which had offered Alexa her first taste of freedom. And still she’d rarely been outside the city limits until she’d metEthan.
Ethan had changedeverything.
“Victoria Park,” she said doubtfully, tugging her focus back to the present. She’d ridden through it once or twice on her bike but had never dared to take the time to explore it. “The falls would be too public and difficult to access, but there are streams in thearea.”
“There are. It’s also four hundred or so acres.” Without asking, he turned her computer toward him and keyed in a search. Looked stunned at the results. “Look at the number of waterways in ColchesterCounty.”
She peered over. Felt her heart drop. “Well, I suppose that’s to be expected. In Nova Scotia, one is never more than fifteen minutes away from a body of water. There has to be a way to narrow down thesearch.”
His mouth was flat. “We can choose a couple of places and expand from there. It’ll still take hours.” Unspoken was the fact that it could take longer than that. Even days. “I have to speak to the Colchester County detachment of RCMP. And the local Police Service. We need manpower. Possibly even an organized searchparty.”
Alexa was silent. The urgency in her veins had nothing to do with the possibility of finding Jeanette Lawler alive. The UNSUB’s last message had removed the final vestige ofhope.
* * *