Page 27

“Yes Sir,” I say. Tyler and Gabe are already heading over to check out the crime scene, and I spot their vehicle parked just behind the one I road in with Jensen. I can see lights on the house, and this is about to turn into a huge mess. “We’re following up on a third body now. I’ll have the details for you soon.”
“Is this about the keys I heard Finley Soto was researching?” Pabst asks wearily.
“The search through VICAP revealed they were both duplicate keys, likely done at a kiosk or a private lock shop. The original case claims that Odell’s lock was jimmied, and the responding officers assumed someone picked the lock. But an incorrectly-cut key might fit without fully unlocking a door, meaning the killer would need to apply pressure to get the door open.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and I watch my team disappear through the throng of people ahead. I can see spectators gathering, and I’m sure that this will draw more attention than when we were investigating Swan’s apartment. “The original killer is Alastair Constantine. If the keys are still shoddy duplicates maybe you can find who cuts them-”
“And find a connection to the copycat,” I finish. “That’s the idea, sir.”
Pabst grunts. “That’s good work. Let’s hope it’s more than a theory. And Gideon?”
“Sir?”
He sighs. “Don’t talk about Constantine like he isn’t at fault for the first fifteen deaths. Let’s not confuse the two killers.”
I bite back a response. I know that, but something about the keys bothers me. I just haven’t put my finger on it yet. “We’ll keep you updated as the case progresses, sir.”
“You do that. If this thing makes national headlines again let’s hope it’s for the arrest of the Citrus Grove Copycat Killer.”
The call disconnects, and I close my eyes and drop my head back to the headrest. This is shaping up to be a grand morning. When I open my eyes again there’s two people walking out of the house.
Well shit.
I get out of the car and jog over to Jo and Vinny, and it’s only then that I realize that Tyler is walking with them. I assume she went up to the door, but with the flashing lights it’s possible they came out to her. We meet at the sidewalk, and I catch the tail end of what she’s saying. “...take a statement.”
“We don’t have a statement,” Vinny says, and I wouldn’t claim that his tone is friendly. “We were asleep. The security cameras will tell you more than we can.”
I pause beside the three of them and immediately look up. Sure enough there are cameras around the outside of the house that I can spot in the morning light, but if the copycat is as intelligent as we’ve been led to believe, I have a hard time imagining that he’d let himself get caught on camera. “We’ll want a copy of whatever is on those.”
“I’m sure Russell could send it to you,” he replies dryly.
“Who?”
Vinny waves a hand as Jo shrugs him off. “No one, Sterling. He’s the tech guy at our club. He updated the security system remotely. It should kick back on automatically unless someone physically destroys the cameras.”
I look up again. Those cameras look to be in good working order; maybe we’ll finally get lucky.
“Just ask us your questions,” Jo says, her voice full of exhaustion. It was still early – my guess is they were both asleep when someone on their way to work spotted the body. “That’s the next step, right?”
Nodding, Tyler gestures to the two of them. “Are you sure you’d rather not talk inside? We need the area clear so that we can deal with the body-”
“It’s fine,” Jo cuts in, looking between the two of us. “I haven’t seen a cut up victim that looks like me yet. We’ll call it morbid curiosity.”
My gaze immediately drops. I’ve been surveying the scene and watching what my team is doing, looking for a bystander who is a bit too interested in what’s going on. Now I realize Jo is wearing shorts. And a tank top. As the sun rises it highlights the thin slivers of scars all down her body, and my jaw snaps shut.
Now that the wounds are healed, the silvery lines are harder to distinguish. They’re there and numerous, but if you don’t immediately know what you’re looking at it's hard to realize that it’s a map of scars. Just as the reports stated, they’re everywhere.
When Jo catches me staring, I expect her to step back and hide like she’s done before with her clothing. Instead her eyes narrow, and she steps closer to me, holding out her arm. “Take a good look, Gideon. You’ll never see this much of my skin again.”
My body heats at the comment. It’s angry, and should make me take a step back, but I can’t stop staring at her. There’s something… suggestive about her words? Maybe I’m just sleep deprived and making shit up, but she doesn’t step back after the comment either.
I find my gaze glancing over her head towards Vinny, but he doesn’t look particularly concerned about what Jo just said. It’s definitely in my head.
“I’ll take you two back in to start the questioning,” Tyler says, shooting me a look. This time Jo shrugs and pivots on her heel, turning back to the house. But she doesn’t go in. There’s reporters arriving now, and the cops are with my agents, covering the body. I can see Jensen breaking off to go around back, following another cop who’s pointing towards something.
For a moment with the lights from the police cruisers, we can see the body. She’s hard to make out from over here, just the vague design of a body lying in the dewy morning grass. Dark red puddles surround her, and the neck is twisted away so her face is hidden.
Jo shudders, and hurries back to the house. I don’t know what she wanted to see, or why Tyler let her come outside during an active crime scene, but Vinny shoots me a look before turning to follow her.