CHAPTER THREE
Ella got to the FBI offices an hour later and made her way to the top floor. Cursory glances came her way, likely from people who’d heard about her suspension but weren’t privy to the update that she’d since been reinstated. Word traveled fast around here, so it wouldn’t take long for the news to reach the masses.
She hadn’t wanted to come here, but Ben had insisted. She’d apologized for taking the call in his presence, but it seemed his conscience was as fragile as hers. Ben refused to be an obstacle in the way of saving lives, even if they were the lives of people he’d never meet himself. She found his morality charming, but it wasn’t a trait that laid solid foundations for a relationship.
Outside Edis’s office, the big man was already waiting for her, his bulky frame filling the doorway. His ill-fitting black suit was tieless; the first time Ella had seen him forego all necessary corporate wear. It was either a special occasion or a not-so-special occasion.
He spotted her, then held open the door to his office. Maybe her lack of cooperation on the phone had made Edis reconsider his approach.
“Good morning, sir,” she said as she went inside his office. She started towards her usual seat, the single white leather chair, but found someone else already sitting there. The woman jumped out of her chair at the sight of the new arrival.
“Agent Dark, I’m so pleased to meet you,” the girl said. She extended her hand, tipped with perfectly manicured red nails. She gripped Ella’s palm and shook with gusto.
The girl was strikingly tall, easily six feet. Ella looked down and saw flat brown shoes, no hint of heels propping her up. She had golden hair that touched her shoulders, a narrow face and teeth as white as mountain snow. She was wearing a brown blazer with black pants.
“You too. Have we met before?”
“No. I’d have remembered if we had. I’ve been following your cases from day one. The Mimicker in Louisiana, that was the first. I’m sure you remember it. Probably better than I do.” The woman broadened her jaw. “Excuse me, I’m rambling. My name’s Paige.”
Edis interrupted them as he shuffled behind his desk. “Thank you both for coming. Miss Dark, this is Paige Ellis from our Criminal Justice Division down in Virginia. She’s the second person we’ve signed up to our new field initiative, and what better person to learn from than the first?”
Ella did a quick check of Paige’s vitals. She looked in decent shape but not particularly strong. Ella tried to imagine this woman out in the field, chasing down suspects and keeping them physically detained. She struggled to form a clear picture. Then again, Ella thought, Mia probably thought the exact same thing when they thrust Ella into her lap. Appearances weren’t always everything, she rationed. Sometimes it was soul and determination that made the agent.
“I’d be honored to learn from you, Miss Dark,” Paige said. She returned to her seat while Ella found one across the room.
Ella still wasn’t sure what this was all about. She thought she’d made it clear – she wasn’t leaving D.C. for the foreseeable future.
“And I’ll be happy to teach,” Ella said. Never in a million years did she think she’d be coaching people within the FBI system, let alone prospective field agents. But as she ruminated on the idea, she struggled to come up with any lessons she could actually articulate. What could she tell her? Have common sense? Pay attention to the details? Fight for your life? These weren’t the kind of revelations you’d expect from a masterclass.
Edis passed out two brown folders, CASE FILE 311B4 according to the printed text in the top right corner.
“We’ve got a bizarre case over in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I want to know what you two think of it,” said Edis.
Ella opened up the file but kept her eyes on the newbie. She wanted to figure out her style, get a baseline of how she attacked information. Ella remembered the first time she picked up a file like this. Her first point of call had been the crime scene photos, but that had been a mistake on reflection.
Paige read from top to bottom, never jumping ahead. Ella admired her fortitude because the first few pages were always the most boring.
“We’ve got two dead women. The first one died three nights ago. The second one last night,” Edis said. He went quiet while the agents familiarized themselves with the finer details. Ella broke the silence first.
“He cut the first victim’s leg off. And took it with him. That’s strange.”
Ella recalled a handful of modern killers who’d done the same, but they were incredibly rare. Dennis Nilsen had kept some body parts as trophies, as had Jeffrey Dahmer. Countless murderers had dismembered body parts, but very few actually kept them in their possession. While it was the ultimate souvenir, it was too risky for most offenders. Besides, you could only keep a body part for so long before the neighbors complained about the stench.
She kept reading. The second murder was almost identical to the first. Two young women, both killed within the privacy of their own homes. However, judging by the crime scene photos, there was one anomaly here.
“He tried the same again, the second time around, but looks like he changed plans halfway through,” Edis said.
In the second set of photographs, the victim’s leg had also been severed, but the killer had left it behind.
“Could be a few reasons for that,” Ella began. “He might have been interrupted. He might have panicked.” She looked over at Paige, holding a photo in each hand, rapidly absorbing every inch of them both.
“What kind of person are we dealing with?” asked Edis.
Ella put herself in the killer’s head and tried to think like he would. What was he trying to say here? Why cut off a single leg? Why not any other body parts, and why was one missing?
“A highly organized offender. He’s broken into two homes, armed with the necessary tools to perform a pretty difficult surgical procedure. These cuts look amateur because they’re slightly tilted, but even so, the lines are quite smooth. That means he’s physically capable. If he’d chopped at these limbs for hours, there’d be a thousand little grooves in the bone. There isn’t. That means he separated them quite quickly.”
Ella was hoping Paige might chime in with an observation. She was still scrutinizing the pictures.