“Read them out, one by one,” Ella said, feeling like she’d inherited Ripley’s penchant for bluntness.
“18-year-old assaulted a male amputee three years ago in-,”
“No. Too young. Next.”
“29-year-old man suing hospital for brother’s botched surgery-,”
“No,” Ella interrupted. “Keep going.”
“Group of boys assaulted a homeless amputee-,”
“Nope. No groups. This is a lone perp. Another.”
“24-year-old man’s wife died on operating table, assaulted the surgeon.” Paige stopped herself, looking like she was expecting to be cut off.
No, it sounded promising.
“Was the surgeon a woman in that case?” asked Ella.
Paige leaned closer and squinted at the screen. “Yes she was.”
“Any details on the guy’s wife?”
“Two seconds….” Paige said. She clicked around. “Joanne Perry. 25 years old. Worked as a…” Paige stopped as her eyes rolled across the screen.
“Ellis?”
“Teacher,” Paige finished. “The woman who died was a teacher.”
Just like the last victim.
“But that doesn’t make sense, right?”
Ella thought about it. Maybe this was the last piece of the puzzle. The unsub could be taking out people who had the same attributes as his wife. She knew she’d missed something, and the more she thought about it, the more it made total sense.
“No, it absolutely fits,” Ella shouted, grabbing her pistol and psyching herself up for one more confrontation. “If these women remind him of his wife, whether it’s through looks, characteristics, jobs, whatever, he might be killing them as a ‘if my wife couldn’t live this life, nobody can’ kind of way. Or these women could have been involved with his wife in some way, maybe they were friends or colleagues, or maybe they encouraged her to get the surgery.”
Paige’s gusto refreshed. She was animated again, ready for a fight.
“A violent man who assaulted a surgeon? Remember what I said about connection and separation? That man has guilty written all over him. Grab his details.”
“Jesse Perry, lives on Coyle Avenue,” Paige said.
It was too much of a coincidence to ignore. This had to be her man.
Ella just knew that someone like this wouldn’t come quietly.
“Let’s do this,” Ella said.