“So we got a lust killer, huh?”
Ella turned back to the whiteboard. “No. Even though he’s killed two escorts, there’s no sexual component to his crimes. No rape, no semen left behind. He may be fetishizing these women’s legs, but it’s impossible to say for sure. Lust killers also tend to penetrate with blades, whereas our unsub only slit the throat. Weapons are generally considered to be substitutes for the attacker’s genitals, but our killer used his hands to kill these women.”
“Found her,” Paige interrupted. She spun her laptop around to show Ella and Reed. The website banner read Elite Divas. Below was a series of photos of Kate Sutton in various glamor shots. Playing a piano in a flowing dress, sipping champagne on a private jet. The chief moved in for a closer look and read the little description box beside her photos.
“Rena. An intoxicating, passionate seductress who’ll make your wildest fantasies a reality.”
It was her.
“Is her phone number on there too?” Ella asked.
“Yeah it is,” said Paige.
They couldn’t trace their messages if it was all done via personal phones, but it suggested that this was how the killer was finding his victims.
Chief Reed repositioned himself with his hands on his hips. The classic power pose.
“You know, we had a case like this not long ago. This time last year.”
Ella perked up. “You did?”
“Well, similar. We got reports from a few working girls who’d been smacked around. There was this local guy, real piece of work, he’d hire them and beat them. He never killed anyone but..”
Ella finished the sentence for him. “He might have progressed to murder.”
“Yeah.”
“What was he like? We still have to take the eyewitness statements into account.”
“Mid-twenties fella. I’m guessing he’d be 25 now. Medium height, trim frame. The skinny muscular type.”
“Hair?” asked Ella.
“Long and black.”
“I guess he could have cut it,” Ella said. “Can you grab his details?”
Chief Reed ran out of the room. Ella grabbed the big three: gun, phone, purse.
“Ready for another trip, Ellis?”
Paige was already on her feet. “Just try and stop me.”
Out in the corridor, Ella peered her head into Reed’s office. He was clicking around his computer chaotically.
“Got him,” Reed called out. “Calvin Hammerstone. Lives on Emerald Avenue.”
“That’s right near the first crime scene,” Paige said. “I saw the signs for it.”
“He did five months inside. Assault, battery, and solicitation. And he got out….”
“Recently,” Ella finished the sentence again.
“Yup. Three months ago.”
“Text me those details, chief. We’re going to give Calvin a session he won’t forget.”