Page 32 of Line of Sight

“Let them be. They can’t connect you to the murder, not when you were on camera in NYC the night before. If they come back, say nothing. I mean it.” I ended the call, annoyed to have my time wasted.

As if Mitchell and Porter could even get close. I went back to my emails, pushing them from my mind, but then I thought again.

Greg was an idiot and a liability. I wasn’t concerned that the police might come closer to discovering the truth, however. I was more concerned they’d get there too quickly, before I had time to enjoy the game. A game which had only gotten started and was already beginning to lose its appeal.

I knew the signs. I needed some new thrill, something else to excite me.

And then I realized such a thrill lay within reach. The idea had come to me the previous month. It’s amazing how little insignificant details take on greater importance when studied later.

I had a plan.

All I had to do was make it happen.

I reopened the email from Sean Nichols in which he’d thanked everyone for making the evening of the charity ball such a success. I couldn’t care less how many thousands of dollars the ball had raised for charity.

Whatdidpique my interest was the invitation at the end of the email, where he said we were welcome to “pop in at the hotel and have a coffee, talk about old times, new times….”

A chat with Sean might prove useful, especially if he could shed light on the investigations. He’d invited Mitchell and Porter to the ball, hadn’t he? He’d been dating Brad. It stood to reason they might take him into their confidence.

It was time for coffee with a former classmate.

Chapter Twenty-One

Monday, December 10, 2018

The Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA

2:30 p.m.

SEAN WELCOMEDDan and Gary into his office and closed the door. He went over to his desk and picked up the phone. “Sally? No calls for the next ten minutes or so, okay? Thanks.” He replaced the handset, then pointed to a cardboard box in the corner of his office. “That’s all the books I could find.”

Dan picked it up. “Wow, this weighs a ton.” He placed it on the desk and opened it. The topmost book stopped him in his tracks.

He glanced at Gary. “Well, what do you know about that?”

Gary joined him and peered into the box.

The book wasThe Silence of the Lambs.

“I wonder if the others are in there too,” he murmured.

Sean frowned. “What others?”

Dan removed the books and laid them on the desk. Sure enough, a couple of the titles Riley had mentioned were among them.

Not all of them, however.

“The Bone Collectorisn’t in here,” Dan mused. “When was the book released?”

Gary was on his phone in a heartbeat. “The book came out in ’97, the movie in ’99. That explains that. Brad was already dead by that time.”

Dan studied the paperbacks. “I’ll tell you what else isn’t in here.American Psycho.”

“Will one of you tell me what you’re talking about?” Sean asked with a note of frustration.

“We have a theory that apart from Brad, all the crime-scene photos from the cold cases we’re looking at resemble scenes from thrillers,” Dan told him.

Sean stared at him. “Are you saying the killer copies murders from books?”