She turned to me. “His last name isn’t Cupcakes?”
“That was his nickname. Johnny Cupcakes actual last name is Howard.”
She blinked. “Aww. So, the nickname is due to the bakeries?”
“They called him that since he was a kid. He always liked to bake cookies and pies.”
She widened her eyes. “Were his bakeries good?”
“The best in the city.”
Looking up from his game, Viktor chimed in, “Johnny made a caviar lime cake that was so good, it that made you want to jerk off on your mother’s face, just to let her know how bad her baking was compared to him.”
Rose stared at him in horror.
I sighed. “Back to the verses, Ms. Walsh.”
“Oh.” She shook her head and pointed to Johnny’s image. “So, here we have this verse about filling yourself up on food.”
I read it to myself
“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.’”
“The killer is saying that Johnny lived the sort of life where he filled up on food and money. Plus, the whole time he did, he didn’t feed or give to others.”
“Okay.”
“Then, the blood is on the words fulness of bread. The rest of the paper is clean. Which tells me that the drop was intentional.”
I checked out the other pictures. “How does that relate to these?”
“Romeo’s verse seems to talk about adultery.”
I read it out loud. “Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
I looked up. “Romeo was single and he messed with whores. I doubt that connects to adultery.”
“Exactly and there’s no blood drops on adultery.” She tapped the image. “The blood is on lust.”
I hadn’t gone over Chanel’s bible verses or information yet. For some reason, her death had been the hardest to accept. I thought God knew that if he was going to take Romeo, then he would have to leave Chanel with us for several years.
I swallowed and read the verse that was left for her. “Luke 12:15. Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’”
Rose touched the one blood drop on the verse. “Greed.”
My brain began to unfold with the other clues. Pieces of the puzzle began to come together easier.
Rose continued, “He stabs seven times, so—”
“Seven is important to him. But it’s not just the number seven.” I rubbed my face with both hands. “Damn it. He’s talking about the Seven Deadly Sins.”
“Johnny Cupcakes represented, Gluttony. It makes sense with the cakes and cookies all around him in a bakery.”
I nodded. “Now, we have Romeo dead in a brothel with sex toys. That screams lust.”
“If it didn’t, the killer put a blood drop on the word to give you a hint.”
“And now we have Chanel dying in a green and gold club with jewelry all around her.”
“And the blood drop is on greed.”
“Alright.” I rubbed my hands together. “Now we’re getting closer. He’s going to kill four more people.”
“And they’ll all be from the Diamond Syndicate.” She went over to her notebook. “So, I’m playing with some ideas here.”
She’d written down all of the seven sins—gluttony, lust, greed, wrath, envy, sloth, and pride. She placed Johnny, Romeo, and Chanel’s name to their sins. For the sins that didn’t have victims she’d left them empty, except for one.
I frowned. “Why did you put my name by pride?”
“It’s my guess for what the killer would theme you for.”
I held out my hands. “I’m not pride. I’m lust due to my playboy reputation.”
“When I moved here, I was actually told by everyone that Marcelo was the Playboy of Paradise.”
“He is the only one that calls himself that.”
“But, everyone I’ve met here has mentioned that Marcelo—”
“That’s not important. I could be wrath also. Surely, no one wants my—”
“I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “I really feel like out of everyone in the Diamond Syndicate, you’re pride.”
“You don’t know anyone else.”
Viktor looked up from his game. “Dima, I think she has a point.”
I scowled at him.
Viktor shrugged. “Since Chanel is dead, Lei would be for wrath. He’s going to be caught up for the rest of his days, seeking revenge.”
“Interesting.” Rose wrote that down. “Lei loved Chanel. Did she know?”
Viktor shrugged. “She might have, but she was also focused on her money.”
“Then, let’s see.” She wrote Lei’s name down by wrath. “We only have sloth and envy left. Viktor, which one would Marcelo fall in?”
“Either of those could be him. Out of the top, Marcelo is the laziest. His focus is boxing and partying. Sloth would work for him.”
She scribbled in her pad. I tried to see what she was writing. She backed away and looked at Viktor. “The top?”