Page 58 of Line of Sight (Second Sight #4)

DAN GOT up and went over to the pile of Brad’s books. He picked up Strangers on a Train . “It was all right here. Well, sort of. And we keep coming back to it.”

Riley frowned. “What do you mean?”

Dan tilted his head. “You’ve read this one?” Riley nodded.

“I haven’t,” Gary announced.

Riley folded his arms and leaned against his desk.

“Two guys meet on a train. One’s a little drunk.

The other is married but trying to divorce his cheating wife, especially because he’s in love with another woman.

Anyway, the drunk guy, Bruno, comes up with an idea for the perfect murder.

They swap murders. Airtight alibis. Nothing to connect either of them to the crimes.

Guy—he’s the other one—thinks it’s just talk.

Until his wife is murdered while Guy is away.

Then Bruno keeps hounding him to kill Bruno’s father, which he does eventually.

” He stared at Dan. “You think they agreed to commit murder for the killer?”

Dan shook his head. “It really was the perfect murder. Someone else committed it, with no motive, and the person who stood to gain from it was nowhere near and with a rock-solid alibi. We already know what their part of the bargain was—to keep the killer in the background, out of sight.”

Riley frowned. “So why did he murder Amy? Because you’re not buying the suicide angle, are you?”

“No, I’m not.” Gary shrugged. “Maybe she was going to tell tales too.”

Dan shook his head once more. “I don’t think that’s it.

” He walked over to the board and grabbed a pen.

“What do we have here?” He drew four circles.

“Four people who each had someone they wanted to get rid of. The killer obliges. What does that leave?” He drew a cross through one of the circles.

“Four people who know way too much. Maybe it was always his plan to get rid of them too. Maybe Amy is just the first.”

Riley widened his eyes. “And maybe Greg Collins is next.” He paused. “But why kill Sean?”

“He was talking to us,” Gary suggested. “Someone else telling tales.”

“But he didn’t know who the killer was,” Dan remonstrated.

Gary stared at him. “The killer didn’t know that. Maybe he couldn’t take the risk.”

“I’m not so sure,” Riley mused.

“What do you mean?”

Riley picked up the copy of American Psycho .

“Either of you read this?” Both Gary and Dan shook their heads.

“Then maybe you should. Because the guy we’re dealing with is a genuine psychopath, and they don’t think like the rest of us.

I don’t think this guy is at all scared of getting caught. He probably doesn’t give a shit.”

Dan took the book from him. “Then I’m going to read this.

After all, the first murder was from this book, wasn’t it?

What if it was the first for a reason?” He smacked the paperback against his upturned palm.

“What if this is important?” He pointed to the phone.

“Gary, can you call Kathy Wainwright? Ask if she has time to do a consult for us?”

Gary nodded. “Yeah. We need a class. Psychopathy 101. And in the meantime, we wait for Greg Collins to call.”

“Something else I can be doing that I should have done a while ago. The warrant finally came through today.” Riley tapped his keyboard. “I’ll go visit Baystone Development and get the list of tenants for Cronin’s Landing. Maybe there’ll be a match with someone who was at the ball.”

Gary snorted. “You think the killer would be dumb enough to kill someone in his own building?”

“It’s not a case of being dumb. He just doesn’t care if he’s caught.” Dan met his gaze. “Or maybe a more accurate assessment is he doesn’t believe he can be caught.”