Solitude Creek (Kathryn Dance 4)

Boling said, "Sorry? What do you mean?"

She explained, "Our unsub is a pro. He's working for somebody."

Dance then placed a call to TJ Scanlon, gave him the number of the California phone and asked him to contact the service provider and see if the unit was still active.

"On it, boss."

Then a thought occurred to her. She considered it. Interesting idea. She said to O'Neil, "Do you have the pictures of your Jane Doe, the one we think our unsub killed?"

"Sure."

He went onto the MCSO secure server and called them up.

On her computer she accessed the images of Stan Prescott.

O'Neil said, "Right. Like we said before. Same sort of MO. Strangled or asphyxia. On their backs."

"And," she said, "look. They're both under lights."

"Maybe they just fell there."

"No. I don't think so. I think he moved the lamps so he could get pictures on his cell phone. It occurred to me when I was looking at the crime scene pictures on that website--those bodies were all well lit too."

O'Neil nodded, now understanding. "Proof of death."

"Exactly."

"What do you mean?" Boling asked.

"He needed clear pictures to prove that the witnesses'd been eliminated. That line in the text about 'cleaning up.' He's making a lot of money on this job and he wants to make sure the man who's hired him is confident he's not leaving any traces."

Five-thousand-dollar shoes...

O'Neil said, "Brilliant. He's targeted a couple of venues to make it look like this's the work of a psycho. But no, he's got a specific venue in mind. He was hired to destroy it."

"Or a person," Dance said after a moment. "He could've been hired to destroy a location. But also to kill somebody specific."

O'Neil nodded. "Sure. Makes sense. But if it's an individual, then who?"

Dance offered, "At the hospital, no one in the elevator could be the intended victim."

"Because how could he know who'd be in that car at that time and that they'd die? And at the Bay View Center--that venue wouldn't've worked either."

"No," O'Neil said. "The people who died all drowned. He couldn't be sure he'd get a specific target there. How'd he know who'd jump into the bay? No, it was Solitude Creek. His target was there, in the audience."

O'Neil: "The panic starts. The unsub's changed out of his workman's clothes. He's in the audience. He gets close to the victim and kills him or her. Trips them maybe, crushes their throat, breaks a rib that pierces their lung."

"He'd be in the mob too. But, no--"

"Right." O'Neil carried through on her thought: "He's a big guy. He can survive a bit of jostling."

"Besides, remember, there was no fire. It wasn't like he was going to burn to death. He knew most people would get out okay."

O'Neil was scrolling through his mobile. "There were three deaths at Solitude Creek. Guess we'll have to look at all the victims."

It was then that she had one of those moments.

A to B to Z...