Authors: Jon Osborne
Kill Me Once
About the Book
‘Terrifying, suspenseful and genuinely original,
Kill Me Once
will chill you to the bone’ Karin Slaughter
Nathan Stiedowe is seeking perfection – and he has been learning from the best. Recreating some of the most sickening murders in history, his objective appears chillingly simple, but his true motive remains unclear.
On the trail of this sadistic monster is FBI Special Agent Dana Whitestone. Driven by the brutal childhood slaying of her parents, Dana’s relentless pursuit of the most evil and twisted criminals has seen her profile many violent cases. But never has she encountered a maniac as demented as Stiedowe, or a mind as horrifyingly disturbed…
Fiction
www.rbooks.co.uk
Contents
Part I: Becoming Richard Ramirez
Part II: Channelling Dennis Rader
Part III: Updating Richard Speck
Part IV: Reprising David Berkowitz
Part V: Reshaping John wayne Gacy and Redeeming Nathan Stiedowe
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781409038498
Published by Arrow Books 2011
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Copyright © Jon Osborne 2011
Jon Osborne has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
Apart from references to actual figures and places, all other names and characters are a product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
Arrow Books
Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA
Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm
The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780099550921
As everything, for Khloe
KILL ME
ONCE
Jon Osborne has been a newspaper reporter for a decade, most recently for the
Naples Daily News
in Florida, where he covered everything from bake sales to triple murders. He is a veteran of the United States Navy. He is currently at work on his second thriller.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First thanks goes to my wonderful literary agent, Victoria Sanders, whose tireless dedication to this project provided the rock-solid foundation. She truly is the best, and I will be eternally grateful for everything she has done. Also to agency Editorial Director Benee Knauer – whose countless reads and structural suggestions were invaluable – and to up-and-coming agent Chris Kepner, who I know will have a long and outstanding career in the industry. Thanks, everyone, for hanging in there when the seas got choppy.
To everyone at Random House UK – especially Kate Elton and Georgina Hawtrey-Woore. From the first phone call to the final edits, Kate and Georgina embodied the genteel side of publishing I always imagined existed, and I couldn’t ask for better editors or nicer people to work with. Thank you, ladies, for everything. Thanks also to Nick Austin for his wonderful eye for detail.
To author Jeff Shelby – who showed me how a true pro does it. Also to retired FBI agent James Jessee, who selflessly ensured that all the procedural elements were in place. I still owe you that dinner, Jim.
Finally, I would like to thank my family. My parents, Richard and Della, made me the person I am today – so please direct all complaints to them. Thank you, Laura Osborne, for changing my world for the better the first time I laid eyes on you. We’ll always be like ‘peas and carrots’! To Madison and Justin, for letting me in, and to my sisters – Kathleen, Elizabeth and Julie – for sharing my childhood and making it so much fun to be a kid.
PART I
BECOMING RICHARD RAMIREZ
‘I love to kill people. I love to watch them die. I would shoot them in the head and they would wiggle and squirm all over the place, and then just stop. Or I would cut them with a knife and watch their faces turn real white. I love all that blood.’
Richard Ramirez, aka ‘The Night Stalker’, who murdered at least thirteen people between 1984 and 1985.
CHAPTER ONE
Los Angeles – Friday, 12 November – 10:30 a. m
.
Red, orange, yellow; green, blue, indigo, violet. Of all the colours in the rainbow, orange was by far Nathan Stiedowe’s least favourite, but on this morning it was making itself blessedly useful by warming his skin.
Thank God for small favours.
He stared directly up into the blazing ball of fire in the sky, not blinking, not feeling pain in his eyeballs like a normal person would. Then again, he’d always been different, hadn’t he? Different and
weird
– or so he’d been told countless times since childhood by his parents and schoolmates.
Legend had it that he didn’t cry upon receiving the painful round of inoculations all children received as one-year-olds. Not a single tear. The nurses were amazed – and horrified – by his complete lack of reaction when the sharp needle punctured his baby-smooth skin.
What the hell was wrong with him?
they frantically wondered, fear in their voices as they scurried about.
We must run more tests immediately
. It was just plain
weird. All
babies cried.
Not Nathan.
Then there was the time in fourth grade when he’d broken his ankle in three places while playing soccer on the playground during recess. His terrified classmates had actually
heard
the bone breaking – or so they’d breathlessly informed the playground monitors – a loud crack that had sounded like a thick dry tree branch snapping underneath enormous pressure. But Nathan hadn’t cried then, either. Not a whimper. Like everything else in life pain was only a state of mind and if your mind was strong enough you could simply block it out. Didn’t anyone understand that?