“In saltwater?”
“Yes,” Laura said. “Probably right next to the ship itself, wouldn’t you think? Drowned and then dragged upwards to hang. She said the marks on his neck were made when the killer pulled him up to the figurehead. He used the rope to lift him, not to strangle him.”
“But the others were definitely strangled?”
“Yes,” Laura confirmed. “You saw Alana Garland. She was strangled on land. The only water around was the storm, and that came after the killer had already left her.”
“Then Elias was the point?” Nate suggested. “The first killing was the only real one, and the others are just covering it up?”
“If that’s the case, it would have to be someone connected to Elias. But I don’t know. Eventually, we would get around to investigating every single person connected to every single victim. It’s not a tactic for staying under the radar permanently.”
“Then maybe he got it wrong and refined his technique for the others,” Nate said. “That can happen with serial killers. A little deviation from the first time when they figure out how to do it. Maybe he realized that when he drowned Elias, he wasn’t able to see his face—to see the life leaving him. With the others, he’s been able to savor the moment.”
“Maybe,” Laura replied, though she had doubts about whether it applied. He hadn’t been able to see the life leave Alana Garland—he’d mistakenly left her alive. It was more like he was in a rush, but she couldn’t put the words and the theory together enough to explain it to Nate.
Nate thought for a minute, rubbing his chin. “What’s he doing?” he asked, which seemed to her to come out of nowhere.
“What do you mean?”
“In the vision.”
Laura thought. It seemed like an obvious question, a stupid question—what was she missing? “He’s looking at the book. Then he glances up and toward the window.”
“Why is he looking out of the window?” Nate asked. “What is he seeing?”
“The ships.” Laura thought, turning in a circle. “He’s seeing specific ships. The tall ships at the end of the harbor. The ones with the masts and figureheads.”
“What is he going to do next?”
Laura didn’t know. How was she supposed to know? She pressed her hands against her forehead and held her breath, like the answer was going to burst out of her if she just pushed hard enough.
“The ships,” she said, gasping for air. It was the only thing she could think of. If there was a gun to her head, that was what she would say. “He’s looking at the ships because he’s going to go down there.”
“He’s going to find his next victim,” Nate said.
Laura rushed over and opened the door of the interview room to find herself face-to-face with the Sheriff, his hand raised to knock.
“What?” she asked, annoyed at the interruption, the delay.
“The boys said you two went in here a while ago. I was wondering if you wanted to come and finish the interview. The lawyer’s here.”
“Release Cody Schafer without charge,” Laura said, making a gesture to the Sheriff to step aside. “We have another lead to investigate.”
The Sheriff half-stumbled backwards to allow her passage out into the corridor, and Laura took the gap without looking back. She knew that Nate was following her.
There was a killer out there and they had a chance to catch him.
Neither of them was going to let anything get in their way.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
He turned distrustfully from the water lapping at the pillars that held up the whole walkway and looked up at the ship instead, his heart racing. He’d looked at this view for so long from his window. Dreamed. Known. He’d always known that it would end here.
His last victim. Or so he hoped. And if it wasn’t enough, then maybe he could find someone else who was just as fitting. Someone else who needed to be taken out of the world.
It would be a lot less tiring than taking anyone he could find—and maybe, just maybe, there would be less scrutiny from the Sheriff as well if he was doing good work.
He should have done that from the start, but it was too late now. He was evolving, getting better at this with each try.