Page 53 of So Smitten

She sounded like she was trying to remind herself of that point. Faith didn’t blame her. Considering what she knew of their victims and what she and Michael had seen of the gang and the people involved in it, she had a hard time drumming up any sympathy for the people who had died.

But she had a job to do, and just because the people you targeted were bad people didn’t mean you sacrificed your values to do it.

She felt a stab of guilt at that thought. Faith herself had compromised a shocking number of her own values over the course of her pursuit of West. From confronting and accusing people with no evidence other than her own intuition to speaking with witnesses behind the Bureau’s back to even assaulting a suspect and breaking down his door, Faith had oftentimes wondered who exactly she was and if she still believed the things she believes.

Well, she had suffered her own consequences, and whatever opinions she might hold, Ciccolo needed to suffer his.

“Did you see any signs of flight at Ciccolo’s house?” Faith asked.

“Well, we didn’t go inside yet,” Garvey replied. “I went ahead and applied for that warrant on the way over here, so we’ll probably be able to enter the property tomorrow.”

“By that time, he could be halfway to Canada,” Faith said.

“He could already be halfway to Canada,” Garvey pointed out, “but I think I’ve seen enough vigilantism for one lifetime. I don’t intend to become one myself.”

“Fait enough,” Faith replied, “but I think we can justify this as probable cause.”

“Right,” Garvey said. “I’ll send some officers back over to enter and see what they can find.”

While she radioed instructions, Faith headed to Michael. Michael was digging through Eric's internet searches, trying to see if he could glean any info.

“Anything useful?” Faith asked.

Michael sighed. “Well, he’s getting his collars from a website called Protected Pooches. He’s using a pseudonym, Vincent Harris.”

Faith whistled. “He’s using his victims’ names as his handle. That’s cold.”

Michael shrugged. “Can’t say I blame him. This is the first case I’ve worked that I sympathize with the killer more than with his victims.”

Faith looked over at Turk, who now rested next to the back door. “I know what you mean,” she said. “Have you found a trail for Vincent Harris yet?”

“Nothing yet. The electrical products are mostly coming from hardware parts stores. I do see two orders for a cattle prod, but those are under the name Francis Evans.”

“Evans was another victim,” Faith reminded him. “That might be something.”

“Yeah, but who’s Francis?” Michael asked. “None of the gang members were named Francis, unless I’m missing something.”

“No,” Faith said, “they weren’t.”

“So is it a completely made-up name or is there someone we don’t know out there in Eric’s sights?”

Faith’s blood chilled as she imagined their killer out there hunting while they were so close to finding him but at the same time so far away. That had happened a lot. In fact, it had happened more often than now. Faith and Michael never worked with the slow and methodical killers. It was always the crazed ones pushing a frenzied pace that fell in their laps.

“I’m not sure,” Faith replied, “but I’m leaning toward the latter.”

Michael sighed. “Well, there are…” he clicked a few more buttons, then said, “eight thousand two hundred four Francis’s in Atlanta. Male Francis’s anyway, although there were women at the dogfighting ring, so maybe it’s wrong to assume all of his victims will be men.”

“That’s too many people to dig through anyway,” Faith said. “Eric will have killed his next victim by then. If he is looking for a victim.”

“You think he might have run already?” Michael asked. “I overheard you and Garvey talking about it.”

“I think it’s possible,” Faith said. “He was targeting members of the dogfighting ring, specifically members he saw as directly responsible for the deaths of the dogs. Since we broke up the ring, there’s no one else out there killing dogs. Not in Atlanta anyway. Eric might consider the job done. He probably knows we’re here, especially if he was following the dog fighting ring. So he knows we’re looking for him. He could have decided not to be findable.”

Michael tapped the edge of the desk and shook his head. "I don't think so. We didn't arrest everyone there. We got half the gangsters, but half of them escaped. Not all of them would have been directly involved with the dogs, but it's a good bet that some of them were. And the other organizers are among them. It's true that Eric's prioritizing people who directly caused dogs to die, but I don't think he'll stop there. I think he'll keep going until every member of the gang is wiped out."

“So who’s he going after then?” Faith said.

Michael shook his head. “Therein lies the rub.” Then his eyes widened. “Wait. I think I figured it out.”

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