Evil Never Dies

Hayley gave her a quizzical look before she walked over and took a look inside. Her gaze co

Salma grunted. “I need help.”

“You got it,” Hayley said as she climbed in.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Thanks for letting me come along for the ride,” Jessica said as soon as they drove off. “I really need to talk to you.”

Lizzy stiffened. “She’s not a killer.”

“Who’s not a killer?”

Shit. Lizzy figured Detective Chase or Jimmy had talked to Jessica about Hayley. Wrong again. She needed to calm down and get her act together. Hayley was not a killer, and therefore Lizzy needed to stop freaking out about it. “Nothing. Never mind,” she said. “What do you want to talk about?”

She could feel Jessica’s eyes on her.

“Are you OK?” Jessica asked.

“I’m fine. Just spit it out. What do you want to talk about?”

“The Sacramento Strangler.”

“What about him?”

“The killer works quickly. He strikes without leaving any evidence or witnesses. He appears to be getting more brazen, killing in broad daylight and in public places where lots of people are around.”

“So why are you telling me this?”

“Because it’s becoming clear the killer had a co

“How so?”

“The night before what was to be your wedding day, Jared talked to the deputy assistant director and told him he was close to having a name. They were set to meet the following week to talk about it.”

“Are you saying the Sacramento Strangler could have something to do with Jared’s death?”

“No, I don’t think so. My point is Jared was killed before he had a chance to reveal what he knew about the Sacramento Strangler.”

“I see. Is Jimmy handling the case?”

“No. He’s involved, but Ke

Lizzy said nothing. The name Ke

“They want to talk to you,” Jessica told her.

“Who? Jimmy?”

“And Mitchell.”

“It would be a waste of all our time,” Lizzy said. “Jared rarely talked about the cases he was working on. Mostly because I think he preferred to leave work behind when he stepped through the front door, since we both dealt with the darker side of reality all day long.”

“We need to find this guy, Lizzy. He’s now been linked to more than a dozen victims.”

“What have you found?”

“It turns out he’s been leaving a mark. His signature. He’s probably gotten a good laugh that nobody has figured it out.”

“What does his signature look like?”

“A symbol, a Z or an N with an extra line through it. It’s this mark that has allowed us to co

“Sounds pretty obvious. What took them so long to co

“The killer’s mark isn’t always so apparent. Sometimes it’s so small, it’s hard to see. For instance, on one body, he left a tiny mark behind the victim’s ear. Recently, though, they have requested bodies be exhumed, and in many of the cases they are finding the mark on the scalp under the hairline, between toes, inside the mouth.”

“Interesting.”

“It’s exciting,” Jessica said. “A real game changer for this case. It turns out he didn’t just strangle his victims; sometimes he drowned them or cut their throats. Victims are mostly female. Recently, though, he’s picked up the pace, killing much more frequently and more randomly. And that tells me he’s either gotten bored or he’s decided to have fun with investigators.”

“Any witnesses at all?”

“Not so far. Nobody credible anyhow. And no forensic evidence, either. Mitchell believes there is more than one person involved.”

“And you?”

“So far, I’m betting on one man, aged thirty-four to forty, considering how long he’s been killing. He probably started at a very young age, maybe as young as twelve years old. I believe we’ll be digging up bodies for years to come.”

“What’s your reasoning for believing he started at such a young age?”

“The typical serial killer is male, between the ages of twenty-five to thirty-five. Our guy’s been at it for eighteen years, at least. Because of the changes in his MO and the lack of lust involved in the earlier killings, I believe he was very young when he first started killing.”

“Twelve years old,” Lizzy said, shaking her head.

“It’s not unheard of. Look up Mary Flora Bell and Norma Bell, no relation. They were caught before Mary could be considered a true serial killer by definition, but still, ten years old.”

“I don’t know why any of this would surprise me,” Lizzy said, “but it always does. In any event, it sounds like the guy’s getting reckless. At some point, they always do.”

Jessica kept her gaze on the road. “I think you’re right. The girl he found on the American River trail was probably his first attempt at getting messy.”

“He’s trying to get messy? Why do you say that?”

“Everything was still too precise.”

Lizzy said nothing as she waited for Jessica to elaborate.

“I’ve been examining pictures from the crime scene for days. It seems obvious the killer is trying hard to do things differently, but the mark isn’t the only thing he leaves behind. In fact, if he didn’t have the one thing most serial killers have, he might have thrown us completely off track.”

“What’s that?”

“A larger-than-life ego.”

“So what is it? What’s he leaving behind?”

“It’s peculiar, and I can’t possibly remember them all, but to give you an idea, he’s left a clock, a book, a candleholder, even a fasces.”

“Fasces?”

“A bundle of rods, usually around the handle of an axe. A symbol of power.”

“That is strange,” Lizzy agreed. “What did he leave with the latest victim?”

“At first they came up empty-handed, but I figured if it were the same killer, there had to be something in the vicinity. You see, he doesn’t always leave the object on the body. Sometimes he buries it nearby or hangs the item from a tree. Mitchell wasn’t happy with me, but hell, I didn’t ask for this, so Jimmy finally talked Mitchell into sending crime scene technicians back to the scene. Sure enough, they found a vintage mirror buried deep under the soil a few feet away from where they found the woman’s body.”

“A mirror? Do you know what that means?”

“Not a clue.”

There was a moment’s pause before Jessica said, “So, will you consider coming with me to talk to Jimmy?”

“I’ll think about it,” Lizzy said as they turned in to the parking area of an apartment complex.

They climbed out of the car. It was getting dark, and a cold breeze swept across Lizzy’s face. She pulled out her cell and read the note she’d made earlier: Olimpia Padula. Apartment 6D.

They headed up more than one flight of stairs before they found her apartment. Lizzy knocked on the door and waited.

“Who is it?”

“Lizzy Gardner. We talked on the phone thirty minutes ago.”

“Who is that with you?”

If she told the woman Jessica was with the FBI, she’d never talk to her. “This is Jessica Pleiss, my assistant.”

The door opened a crack. Olimpia Padula took a long look at both of them before she removed the chain and gestured for them to come inside.

Once they were seated, Olimpia said, “I heard through the grapevine that you were on some sort of personal vendetta to see Wayne Be

“Vendetta?” Jessica asked, though she was looking at Lizzy when she said it.

Lizzy raised her hand, letting Jessica know that now was not the time to butt in. “Call it whatever you want,” Lizzy told the woman. “I want to see the man behind bars where he won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”