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Chapter Fourteen
“The interviewwith Reisman was sort of a bust.” Ethan slanted a glance at Alexa, who seemed too still, too damn pale to his eye. The man was a snake, and it’d been all Ethan could do to allow him to spit his venom at Alexa. In the end, little new information had been revealed, so the scene had been unnecessary. She’d suffered too many hits, coming too fast together. He didn’t doubt her strength; he knew better than most what she’d been through. But even the strongest person had a breakingpoint.
She shook her head. “Nothing that gives us a new perspective on the offender is wasted. Reisman revealed far more to the UNSUB than he gleaned in their meeting, that’s true enough. But I’m stuck on the comment Anis Tera made about having afamily.”
Ethan glanced at the clock on the dash. They wouldn’t make Lawler’s autopsy. He’d known that. But Nyle had gone and hopefully they’d hit the tail end of it. “Isn’t that just something he’d say to get Reisman comfortable? Like the way he spouted Bibleverses.”
She turned a bit in her seat to face him, her expression becoming more animated. “Yes, very possibly. But most people couldn’t have gone to see the man on a pretense and done the same. Few are familiar enough with random Bible quotes to use them as freely as he did when he spoke to Reisman. So today wasn’t a waste. It verified my belief that the UNSUB uses religion to condone his behavior. That he steeps himself him a faith-based system. I think he may have been raised in a family that adhered to a strict religious upbringing. He got the foundation from somewhere, before he perverted it into a rationalization he usesnow.”
“So, was he blowing smoke about having afamily?”
“I can’t be sure,” she admitted, pushing her hair back over her shoulder. She’d worn it down today. With her hair loosened, she seemed younger. More vulnerable. He had a feeling that she’d been running late this morning. Maybe she hadn’t slept well last night. God knew, hehadn’t.
A slow heat bloomed low in his gut and he shifted uncomfortably. Ethan had gotten used to living his life by the book the last few years. Life had thrown him enough curves that he’d come to welcome some predictability. But there’d been nothing predictable about his response to her last night. Nothing expected about him throwing caution to the winds and diving headlong into thefire.
Maybe he could have forgiven himself the lapse had he discovered that the chemistry had been inflated by memory. That the intervening years had burned itout.
Maybe—his hands clenched on the wheel—she could have pulled away. But she hadn’t. Instead, she’d kissed him back. And that had sealed his complete loss ofreason.
“A-and…you didn’t hear a thing Isaid.”
He looked at her blankly. “What?”
Her lips curved. “Do you still zone out thinking about hockey statistics, or is your mind on thecase?”
He seized on the excuse she’d offered. “Just thinking it was wise for us to talk to Reisman’s neighbors after we left his house. The lady two doors down gave a description of the UNSUB as he walked away that was a lot closer to the one we got from the kid yesterday. What were yousaying?”
“You asked if I thought the offender really had a family. I wouldn’t give the remark a lot of credence, given the context in which it was made. But it does raise an interestingquestion.”
“Not all serial offenders are lonesome losers without a support system inplace.”
Her brows shot up. “Someone’s been paying attention. Yes, you’re right. This offender is perfectly capable of juggling two lives and keeping them separate. I don’t have an opinion on whether or not he has a family. There’s just not enoughinformation.”
And that, Ethan thought, as he pulled into the parking lot for the Burnside morgue in Halifax, could be the summary of the case so far against this offender. Maybe Dr. Conrad could give them a few moredetails.
The skull on Jeanette Lawler’s body was being sewn up by one of Conrad’s techs when Ethan and Alexa entered the autopsy suite. Nyle and the ME were hunched over something at the back counter. The officer sent a look over his shoulder. “Didn’t think you were going to make it.” He searched their faces. “Learn anythingimportant?”
“Nothing we didn’t already know.” Like the UNSUB’s obsession with Alexa was causing him to take the sort of risks he’d avoided throughout his criminal career. Which told Ethan that the offender had much more in mind for her than a few communications. It was exactly that fear that had him wanting to keep her in the background of the investigation, despite Gagnon’swishes.
She brushed by Ethan with the laptop and briefcase she’d grabbed from the front seat to join the men in back. “What’d you find in the victim’smouth?”
“She was minus her tongue, which Officer Samuels informed me you already knew about.” Conrad looked at her over the top of the glasses perched on his nose. “That’s a very personal message the killer sent to you. What do you think he was trying to tellyou?”
“I assume he wants to gosteady.”
“You need to take his focus on you seriously,” Ethan said, more sharply than he intended. The two other men noddedsoberly.
Alexa blew out a breath and set her laptop on the counter. Booted it up. “He wanted to get my attention. Sending the tongue to me was him showing off. ‘Look at what I can do. See my power?’ So, when I go on TV today, I’ll acknowledge that power. Play to his ego. And do everything I can to continue to draw him out. Because the more risks he takes, the more likely it is that he’ll screwup.”
Conrad stared at Ethan. “I trust your men will see to hersafety.”
“That’s the plan.” One meeting with Alexa and even the recalcitrant ME’s protective instincts had risen to the surface. Giving a mental head shake, Ethan came to a stop behind her. There was something about her that drew men in, had them rising to her defense. And she was as oblivious to that trait now as she’d been as agirl.
“You received the organ? I sent it over yesterday fromTruro.”
Conrad nodded. “DNA tests will be run, of course, but the cutting marks match. It’d been removed by a small sharp blade. A scalpel perhaps. Or possibly a skinning and caping knife. It’s not especially easy to cut the tongue out. Hence the slicing, chopping and sawing marks I found. I found a contusion on her scalp beneath her hair, on the left rear portion of the skull. Not nearly as much force used for the head wound compared to the first victim you broughtme.”
“Because she was already impaired by alcohol, maybe,” Nyle put in. He moved aside to allow Alexa moreroom.