“No one saw anything when he dumped the bodies. He’s like a ghost. No one ever sees him come or go.” Tom sounded frustrated, and she couldn’t blame him. How were they going to catch this guy when they had nothing to go on? He wasn't going to stop; they both knew that. He was just going to keep snatching women and torturing and killing them. Death or arrest. Those were the only two things that would end this.
“What do you think he’s trying to achieve?” she asked.
Tom arched a brow at her. “He wants to break all their bones,” he said simply.
In the back of her mind, she knew that; she just didn't want to accept it. It was the only thing that made sense. He was breaking their bodies bone by bone. He broke over three times the number of bones in Christie's body than he had in Kelly’s. He had improved, but in the end, he had killed them the same way.
Both Kelly and Christie had died from complications to broken bones in their spinal cord. The medical examiner said in the reports that complications from nerve and blood vessel damage had likely caused cardiac arrest.
For some insane reason, this killer seemed to want to attempt to break every bone in his victims’ bodies, presumably ending with—if everything went according to his plan—their C1 and C2 neck bones.
This was so crazy, it didn't seem real.
Chloe just couldn’t comprehend why anyone would want to do this to someone. “Who exactly are we looking for? This guy isn’t young; it’s been thirteen years since he abducted his first victim.”
“That we know of,” Tom inserted.
She nodded. That was true; there could have been other victims before Kelly Mitchell that they didn't know about. “He doesn’t seem to care about physical appearance. All his victimshave different physical characteristics. But he obviously likes younger women—they were all late teens or early twenties when he took them.”
“And pretty.”
“Pretty, young, and despite the interest in broken bones, neither Kelly, Christie, or Taylor had ever had a broken bone before he took them.”
“Maybe that’s important to him. He likes to work on a blank canvas,” Tom suggested.
“No signs of sexual assault despite how long he had them.”
“He doesn’t need to rape them; he already has the power. He has them locked up and injured. Breaking their bones is all the high he needs.”
She agreed. “So, assuming that he was at least in his early twenties when he took Kelly, he has to be mid-thirties now.”
“I think he’s older.” Her partner looked thoughtful. “He had to be able to break each bone and make sure the women didn't die too soon.”
She quickly caught on to where he was going. “He had to tend to them. You think he has some sort of medical knowledge.”
Tom nodded. “I think he’s more likely late thirties or early forties. He’s smart, he’s methodical, and he isn’t reckless. He can keep his victims alive for years without rushing and losing control and killing them.”
Feeling helpless, she asked, “How are we going to catch him?”
“He messed up. Somehow, he let Taylor escape. Now we have a witness. We just have to hope she knows enough to lead us straight to him.”
Her partner was right. But Chloe knew her biggest struggle was going to be keeping her attention focused on Taylor and not getting distracted by Fin. Kelly Mitchell, Christie Neil, and Taylor all deserved justice, and she was determined to get it for them.
*****
8:42 A.M.
She was so tired. So why couldn’t she fall asleep?
Taylor had thought that the minute her head hit a pillow, she would be out. She hadn’t gotten a full night’s sleep in nineteen months. What sleep she had gotten hadn’t been good or restful. It had been fitful, full of bad dreams, with part of her brain always remaining vigilant for any signs that the man was coming into her room.
It was hard to accept that she was safe now.
That she was away from him and there was no way he could get to her.
It didn't seem real.
She kept expecting that at any second he was going to come barging through the door like he had so many times before.