Page 47 of Girl, Bound

A uniformed officer –making no attempt to conceal his look of contempt – approached her and Ripley.‘Detectives. The witness who found the body is over there. Thought you mightwant to talk to him, seeing as how you're so keen on solving this case.’

Ella bit back a sharpretort, the words burning like acid on her tongue. She knew the local cops werepissed, knew they saw her and Ripley as a couple of glory-hounding feds who'dswooped in and made a mess of their investigation. And maybe they were right.Maybe she'd let her ego get the best of her, let her desire to nail Barberblind her to the bigger picture.

But now wasn't thetime for self-recrimination. They had a job to do, a killer to catch. And ifthat meant swallowing her pride and playing nice with the local yokels, then sobe it.

She nodded curtly tothe officer. ‘Thanks. We'll take it from here.’

The witness was ascrawny slip of a man, his face pale and his eyes wide with shock. He huddledagainst the wall of the alley, his arms wrapped around himself like a shieldagainst the horrors.

Ella approached himslowly, her hands held out in a placating gesture. ‘Sir? I'm Agent Dark, andthis is my partner, Agent Ripley. We're with the FBI. Can you tell us whathappened here tonight?’

The man looked up ather. ‘I was just… walking by. On my way home from work. And I saw...I saw thebag. Just lying there, in the middle of the alley. I thought...I thought it wastrash at first. But then I the zipper. And I knew...I’d read the news. It wasthe body bag guy.’

His voice broke, a sobwelling up from the depths of his chest. Ella felt a pang of sympathy. This manwas an innocent bystander, a good Samaritan who'd stumbled into a nightmare. Hedidn't deserve to be scarred by the evil that lurked in the shadows of thistown.

She reached out,laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. ‘You did the right thing, calling thepolice. I know it must have been tough, seeing something like that. But thanksto you, we have a chance to catch the person responsible for this. You may havejust saved a lot of lives tonight.’

The man nodded, aflicker of gratitude sparking in his eyes. ‘I just...I wish I could have donemore. Wish I could have saved him.’

Ella swallowed hard,the words hitting too close to home. ‘You couldn’t save him. I couldn’t savehim. Even the medics couldn’t. He was gone before long before he stoppedbreathing.’

‘I guess. It’s just…tough to take in.’

‘Go home. Get somerest. You’ll be thinking of this for a while, but you did everything youcould.’

A familiar voice cutthrough the chatter of the crime scene, a gruff bark that set Ella's teeth onedge. She turned to see Sheriff Holbrook striding towards her and Ripley. Shesent the witness on his way.

‘Well, if it isn't thedynamic duo,’ he sneered, his lips curled into a mocking smile. ‘I hope you'rehappy with yourselves. While you were busy playing pin the tail on the deputy,another poor bastard ended up in a body bag. Some fine police work there,ladies.’

Ella felt her hacklesrise, a surge of defensiveness swelling in her chest. But before she could openher mouth to fire back, Ripley stepped forward.

'You know what,Sheriff? You're right. We screwed up. We put too much stock in Barber, and welet the real killer slip through our fingers. And that's on us. But don't youdare stand there and act like you and your boys are blameless in all this? Youknew Barber had a history with the victims, knew he was a loose cannon with achip on his shoulder. But you were too busy closing ranks and protecting yourown to see the bigger picture.'

Holbrook's face wentwhite, his eyes bulging with indignation. ‘How dare you...’

But Ripley wasn'tfinished. ‘No, how dare you. How dare you stand there and lecture usabout police work when you've got a serial killer running wild in your town andyou're too busy playing politics to do a damn thing about it. We may have mademistakes, but at least we're trying to catch this son of a bitch. Which is morethan I can say for you and your good ol' boy network.’

Ella felt a surge ofpride, a fierce, defiant love for her partner that burned like a bonfire in herchest. Ripley was a force of nature, a hurricane in sensible shoes. And heavenhelp anyone who got in her way when she was on the warpath.

Holbrook opened hismouth, but before he could unleash the torrent of vitriol that was no doubtbuilding behind his teeth, Ella stepped forward, her voice as cold as thegrave.

‘Save it, Sheriff. Wedon't have time for a pissing contest. There's a killer out there, and he's notgoing to stop until we make him. Me and Ripley are going to persist, knockingdown every wall until we find the right path. I’m sorry we screwed up withBarber, but mistakes happen in this game. You know this.’

Holbrook dismissedthem and walked off, disappearing amongst the crowd. Ella turned to Ripley,silence saying everything that needed to be said.

They'd lost thisround, let the killer slip through their grasp. But the game wasn't over yet.Not by a long shot.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Barely two hours sincethe test and the news of his latest victim's demise scrolled across themonitor. The magician, the con artist. He’d passed away inside that body bag.Suffocated by his own hubris. That was three-for-three. Three tests, threefailures.

But even as the weightof this failure ate at him, he refused to succumb to the embrace of defeat. Hebelieved in the work, in the twisted alchemy of pain and revelation that hadforged him anew in the crucible of his own suffering. The tests were necessary,a sacred ritual of transformation that could strip away the facades andfalsehoods that shackled the human spirit.

After all, it hadworked for him, hadn't it? He had emerged from the chrysalis of his own tormenta new being, a creature of shadow and sinew, purged of the weaknesses andfrailties that had once held him back. And if he could achieve such ametamorphosis, then surely others could as well. All they needed was a guidinghand.

He closed down thenews article and navigated to his online sanctuary. This place was the backboneto his handiwork. It was a digital purgatory where the damned and the depravedgathered to bare their blackened souls, usually for the entertainment of others.

Here, in the anonymousdepths of the internet, people shared their darkest secrets and most twisteddesires, laying bare the festering wounds of their psyches for all to see.

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