Page 100 of Girl Betrayed

They’d been sitting outside the small red brick colonial on Klingle Street for less than five minutes, but it was more than enough time for doubt to begin to creep in. Dvita was smart, maybe too smart. “What if this is a trap?” Dana asked.

Richter cocked an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. I mean I was there; I saw everything you saw. He’s definitely hiding something. But trying to keep everyone quiet, rushing out in the middle of his session … it almost feels scripted.”

“Like he wanted us to follow him here?”

“Maybe. What if he’s drawing us away from the real killer?”

“Look, Gray. All you can do is trust your gut. It got you this far. And mine is saying the same thing. Dvita’s our guy. He’s the Reaper. He fits the profile. He knew each victim, is the right height and build to inflict the injuries. It’s everything but the smoking gun.”

“Which we’ll find inside?”

“If we’re lucky.”

“What if we don’t find anything?” Dana asked. “We said it’s possible there’s more than one killer. What if we can’t prove it’s him?”

“Then we keep looking.”

Dana didn’t know what answer she was looking for. If Dvita was the Reaper, then this would be over. But if he was the killer, then it also meant that Dana had blindly turned Claire over to a monster. And she didn’t know how to rectify that.

Hartwell’s voice crackled to life over the radio. “We’re two clicks out.”

“Roger that,” Richter replied. “Eyes on Tango. Locked and loaded.”

“10-4.”

Richter looked at her as the screech of tires turned onto the street. “You don’t have to go in.”

“No. I want to.”

“Alright. Let’s see it through.”

85

I like watchingthem close in with their sirens and guns. They look like little toy soldiers waiting to be toppled.

I grin, knowing they can’t stop me.

Let them come.

Let them find me.

Let them try to lock me away.

They can use all their powers, but they’ll never compare to mine.

To whom I command.

I’m a force that can’t be contained. Not by handcuffs or jail cells.

I’m the one in charge here.

It’s amusing they don’t know it yet.

But they will.

Let her come, too. She thinks she’s so smart. Thinks she knows me.