Shades of Temptation (20 page)

He wasn’t crazy. He was just smarter. Smarter in ways that most
people couldn’t understand. Smarter than even Dr. Bowers.

Of course, Bowers hadn’t seen it that way. He’d been arrogant
enough when he’d just been a doctor, but a doctor who was killing women and
evading the police, too? Hell, he’d thought he was some kind of God.

Yet, that’s exactly how Brad felt now. And if Brad was a God,
if he was smarter than Bowers, who was smarter than the police, then that meant
that Brad was smarter than the police, too. So why not have a little more fun
with them? Amp up the ante even more. After all, perhaps that was to be his
final test. Who was stronger and more powerful than a bunch of cops?

Him, that’s who.

That’s why he’d started planting his clues on the internet. He
wanted to give them a fighting chance. If they were smart enough to discover his
clues, it would make things more exciting. It would be an ultimate challenge.
Proof of his superiority. That he could so easily evade the police. Dupe them.
Just like he was duping them now.

People thought they knew him. Everyday, they saw him. Talked
with him. Probably dismissed his importance without thought. That wouldn’t
happen for much longer. Not anymore.

He didn’t care about his own physical perfection. That was just
a means to an end. But she cared. And she was all that mattered.

Brad’s blood rushed through his veins in anticipation of seeing
her again.

Maybe he’d be merciful with Tony Higgs. Forget the fact that
Nora fawned over him.

Brad turned to look at the container that held the eyelids of
his first two vic—donors. Instantly, he imagined it filled to the brim.

No, he hadn’t had mercy on them. He couldn’t have mercy on
anyone else.

Mercy was for the weak.

Tony Higgs had to die.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

H
OURS
LATER
,
EVEN
AFTER
Jase and Carrie had thoroughly instructed their replacements on the facts of the
case and what they should be following up on, Jase asked Carrie to stay at the
office for a little while longer to talk things out.

“We believe he picked Tammy Ryan because she was even more
beautiful than Kelly Sorenson. If we forget the movie that involved the eyelids
for a minute, the other two movies, the ones he incorporated into his murders,
explore the theme of beauty, too. That’s not coincidental. So he enjoys subtext.
Layers. Riddles. Someone like that is going to think he’s smarter. Smarter than
us. Smarter than the whole damn world. What’s the best way to prove that? By
playing with the whole world. Taunting them with clues.”

Carrie nodded in understanding. “You’re talking about the
internet.”

“Exactly. I’m suggesting he might be leaving clues on the
internet. But not just any clues. The horror movies are significant to him.
Someone who’s a movie buff would be interested in sharing that interest with
others. Making the movies part of his riddles. So I asked Larry Tanaka to do
some searches on the web. He’s been looking for anything having to do with
horror movies, but in particular horror movies that have a common theme of
beauty.”

Larry Tanaka was a computer forensic tech for DOJ. One of the
best they had. “And he’s found something?”

“He thinks so. He’s on his way up to tell us right now.”

“Carrie! Jase! You’re not going to believe this.”

Carrie glanced up. Tanaka rushed toward them, several papers
clutched in his hand. The compact Japanese American always moved as if he’d had
one too many cups of coffee, which was hilarious considering he didn’t touch the
stuff. Or refined sugar. Or meat. Larry referred to his body as a temple and
treated it that way.

“We found your guy on the internet.”

“What?” Both she and Jase exclaimed at the same time. They’d
been hoping for some good news, but this?

Tanaka shook his head. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to get you so
excited. We don’t know who he is, but he’s been bragging about his crimes. The
guy’s a fucking nut job. You know Michael Miller, down in Vice?”

She didn’t blink at Tanaka’s abrupt change in topic. It was
typical for him, but the information he often found was well worth the tangents
everyone had to endure to get it. “Sure.”

“He’s been working a child-porn case, searching for predators
on the net. Came across an interesting blog. You know, it’s like the other
social networks out there, only for freaks. Do you know there’s an organization
called the Kevorkian Clan? They advocate ‘voluntary population reduction.’
Altruistic suicide. God, people are twisted.”

“I’m interested in one twisted person, right now,” Carrie
prompted.

She and Jase looked at each other, and the amused glint in
Jase’s eyes suggested a shared joke between them. She was so tempted to smile
back but forced herself not to. He was dangerous to her in more ways than one.
She couldn’t forget that.

“Right, right. Anyway, Miller came across this site. Didn’t
know if the guy was just another nut but didn’t want to take any chances. He
started looking for word patterns and figured out a code. Based on that, he
deciphered a whole bunch of gobbledygook words into blog posts that actually
made sense. He compared the dates of his blogs to our homicide reports, and
presto, they matched up. Kelly Sorenson and Tammy Ryan.”

A rush of excitement and hope slammed into her, and she
greedily latched onto it. It had been devastating for her to think that she’d
stopped The Embalmer only to realize that another killer had taken his place and
was proving to be just as elusive, if not more so. With the long hours they’d
been putting in, she wasn’t sure how well she and Jase could stay at the top of
their game before something had to give.

This could be the break they’d been waiting for. But a blog?
Why would the killer be stupid enough to blog about his kills? As a general
rule, serial killers were smart. They had to be to get away with multiple
crimes. But most of them did get caught. Eventually. It was only a matter of how
many victims had to be sacrificed before that happened.

For half a second, Carrie’s mind went somewhere she rarely let
it. To memories of a man who’d thought he could get away with raping her. She
hadn’t let him. She’d done the right thing by turning him in, but she’d been
shocked by how their friends had turned on her. She’d somehow become the bad
guy, and it had changed her life enough to make her want to start over. To
leave. To prove that she didn’t need him or anyone else. Not so long as she had
herself. Her strength. And afterward, she’d continued to do the right thing
regardless of what it cost her.

Just like shooting Kevin Porter had been the right thing to
do.

“—we can use to track him?” Jase finished asking.

“We don’t know yet. In terms of the content, he doesn’t give
much away. In fact, he was obviously trying to be careful, never giving away the
type of information that could be used to track or identify him. He’s been
blogging about movies, in the guise of movie reviews, but see how his blogs have
used the key phrases you had me look for? Things like the movie titles. And
other words having to do with beauty. Beauty and strength.”

“Strength?” Carrie asked.

“Yes, apparently that’s what floats his boat. Not only beauty,
but being the strongest. You know, the whole Darwin survival of the fittest
philosophy. Does that fit with your victims?”

“It does,” Jase confirmed. “The two women he’s killed have been
gorgeous. Sorenson was a runner. Tammy Ryan was a competitive softball
player.”

“Then I’m betting the guy will be an athlete, too,” Tanaka
said.

“What guy?” Carrie and Jase asked at the same time.

“His next target. If we’ve decoded his blogs correctly, he’s
already got his sights on a another victim. A man this time.”

“Show us,” Jase ordered.

Maybe it was simply Tanaka’s certainty that the killer had
already picked out a third victim. Or maybe it really was because she was tired
and hungry and feeling burned out. In either case, even though he wasn’t even
talking to her, the sound of Jase’s authoritative voice rankled Carrie. As much
help as he’d been, she couldn’t forget she was the lead on this case. She needed
to act like it. “Wait,” she said to Tanaka. “Before you show us the blogs, tell
me what we’re doing to track him down.”

Beside her, Jase shifted impatiently, but listened as Tanaka
talked.

“Tech just called me with the results on the ISP search.
They’ll keep working on it, but it looks like Darwin’s using proxy servers,
which makes him even harder to track.”

Darwin? So this second killer had finally earned his own
moniker. “And you said the blog entries themselves were useless?”

“Right. Other than a possible motive, he doesn’t reveal
much.”

Carrie remembered Sorenson and Ryan’s ravaged bodies. Murder
she could understand. Focusing on them because of their beauty made sense, too.
But what kind of motive was Tanaka talking about? “What hints?”

“Not sure. Again, it has something to do with power. And
beauty. The commander wants Dr. Hudson to look it over. If she can’t come up
with anything, he’s going to send things over to the FBI.”

Carrie nodded. Of course, Commander Stevens would want to keep
things internal if at all possible before asking the FBI for any more help.
Despite his confirmation that she and Jase had “impressed” some people at the
FBI, there was still that ever-present sense of autonomy and competitiveness
separating the state and federal agencies.

Besides, Lana was good at her job, Carrie conceded, even if she
sometimes pushed when Carrie didn’t want her to. In truth, she and Jase probably
should have consulted with her as soon as they began to link the murders to
movies involving beauty. She’d make sure they did so as soon as they could. Lana
might be able to give them some insight into this killer.

“What about Lana?”

Carrie looked up. Simon had walked into the room, and she knew
immediately that the tension in his broad shoulders had nothing to do with the
job so much as the mention of Lana’s name. He was careful not to let the emotion
show on his face, but she knew it was there.

“Stevens has asked Lana to look over some blogs that might have
been written by our serial killer.” She finally looked down at the blogs Tanaka
had handed them. There were three pages.

Three. For three victims.

Knowing that Tanaka had his own work to get back to, Carrie
thanked him.

“Sure thing,” he said. “Keep me posted. I want to know when you
nail this creepy fuck.”

“Same goes for me,” Simon said before stalking off.

“You think he’s going to see Lana?” Jase asked her.

“I’d bet on it. Now, let’s sit down and read these blogs.”

The first one was short and dated right around the time Kelly
Sorenson had been killed. According to the code that Tanaka and Miller had put
together, the blog read:

I
killed last night. A prostitute who’d probably been too high on meth to show
me a decent time anyway. She’d thought she was doing me a favor. Laughed at
me. Kept yapping until it hurt my ears. I wrapped my hands around her neck
to shut her up. She died and that’s when I knew.

By
killing her, I’d made her see my power. My beauty. I’d had the last laugh.
And liked it. Fate had led me to her.

She
was the first. But she won’t be the last.

“He calls her a prostitute,” Carrie murmured. “So he knew Kelly
Sorenson was an escort. And that he was going to be her ‘charity case’ for the
evening. Obviously he didn’t like that.”

“Can’t blame him for that.” Jase jerked his chin, indicating
she should flip to the next blog post, which she did.

Killing the prostitute had been easy. A snap. LOL. Anyone could have done
it. Last night I proved I can do better.

Better prey. Stronger prey. It makes killing all the sweeter.

Survival of the fittest.

In
eradicating the strong, I will grow stronger. In eliminating perfection, I
will become perfect.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The
strong shall inherit the Earth.

Death is the ultimate equalizer.

“You were right,” Carrie said. “He’s not only killing to punish
people for how they treated him, but because he thinks it’s curing some kind of
defect he has.”

“But now he wants to amp things up? He’s getting tired of
killing women who weren’t posing enough of a challenge for him?”

“Right. So he’s going to kill a man. Assuming that Tanaka is
right.”

“Flip to the next one.” He moved closer to read over her
shoulder. His chest brushed her shoulder, and his breath tickled her neck, but
for the first time his presence comforted her rather than rattled her.

Carrie flipped the page to the next entry.

She sucked in a breath. “He wrote it today. This morning.”

He
thinks he’s a God but he’s not. She adores him, but she shouldn’t. He’s
nothing. Less than nothing. When I kill him, however, his power will become
mine. His strength will make me stronger. My scars will finally be gone and
finally, I won’t be alone. She’ll see how much time she’s wasted on him and
she’ll be mine. My angel. Together we’ll thrive, and make those who’ve
mocked us regret it.

“Oh, God,” she whispered. “Tanaka’s right.” She turned to once
more meet Jase’s gaze. “He knows who he wants to kill. Not just a random man but
someone specific.”

Jase stared at her grimly before speaking. “But who’s this
angel he’s talking about being with once he kills his next target? And
afterward, is she going to be with him voluntarily or not?”

* * *

J
ASE
STARED
INTO
Carrie’s horrified eyes.

He wanted to reassure her. To tell her they’d find the bastard
before he killed again.

He couldn’t.

Even so, the connection that had been between them had only
grown stronger as a result of the work they’d been doing together. He felt
steadied by her very presence, and he prayed that he offered her the same kind
of strength in return.

He rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen the tightness that
radiated up his neck and into the base of his skull. This case was going to
explode in the press soon. They’d tried to keep things under wraps, but he knew
it wouldn’t stay that way for long, especially not with these blogs on the
internet.

Darwin, as Tanaka had dubbed him, clearly wasn’t done yet.