Page 70 of Girl, Haunted

‘Yes, we can’t take any chances. Striking in an old location is exactly the kind of thing a killer like this would do.’

‘I’ll rouse the troops. Once I’ve got them in, you want to give them their orders?’

Ella nodded. ‘Two guys per house, if possible. Need them ready by the time the first haunt opens.’

Redmondturned and shambled out, already barking orders. Ella watched him go. Her bones felt like they'd been carved from lead. The prospect of spending the next fifteen hours wading through a swamp of fake blood and rubber masks made her want to crawl into a bottle, but there was no room for weariness when there was a psycho to catch.

She turned to Luca. He looked how she felt – like warmed-over roadkill. But there was a hungry gleam in his eyes she recognized all too well.

The thrill of the hunt.

‘Saddle up, Hawkins,’ she said. ‘It’s gonna be a long day.’

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

The hours slipped by at an alarming pace. Morning had turned to afternoon and afternoon was on its way out while Ella still stared at the name Cassius Auctor on her whiteboard. Across from her, Luca was still scouring Carter’s YouTube videos.

‘Down to the last ten videos,’ he said. ‘No sign of the mask yet.’

Ella was lost in her scribblings on her board. Cassius Auctor. Did it mean anything? Did it conceal his real identity somehow? Or was it just some dime-store alias he’d cooked up to sound spooky?

Cassius, from Cassus. A void. Auctor, meaning author. Pretentious as hell, that was for sure. Yet the more she chewed it, the less it tasted like a clue. Author, because he was writing his own story? Only he was using blood instead of ink?

But then there was the writing group lead, if it was indeed a lead at all. Like nearly everything in the past two days, it could just be another coincidence.

Just then, the office door crashed open. Redmond filled the frame, ruddy-faced and breathless, clutching the doorjamb like it was his only friend. ‘They're here. Every warm body I could wrangle, just like you said.’

Ella blinked at him, momentarily thrown. Her head was still spinning dark fancies of Auctor and his diseased imaginings. ‘What? Who?’

‘The cavalry, Dark. The troops we need to make this thing sing.’ Redmond straightened, tugging his uniform into crisp lines. A lawman going to war. ‘They're waiting for you. Ready to get their marching orders straight from the General's mouth.’

The General.Now there was an image. Ella Dark, scourge of Yamhill. Leading her ragtag platoon into the jaws of war. It would be funny if it didn't make her want to puke up her spleen.

Ella rolled her shoulders and readied herself. ‘You coming, Hawkins?’

Luca spun on his chair. The poor guy’s eyes had gone square. ‘You want me?’

‘Yeah. Let’s give these cops something to believe in.’

‘Alright, but you’re the speaker, not me.’

'Done.' Her voice held a tremor, but she coughed it away. This bitch didn't do doubt, at least not where anyone could see.

The precinct was a sea of blue when they walked out. Starched uniforms and shiny badges as far as the eye could see. Some faces she recognized, most she didn’t. But they all wore that same expression – the look of those who were about to gallop into the valley of death and just needed someone to tell them they wouldn’t die tonight.

Ella let her gaze rove over them, taking in the pimply rookies and grizzled vets alike. This was her army for the night. And she'd use every weapon in her arsenal to make damn sure as many of them made it home as possible. She must have projected some odd cocktail of bleak resolve because Luca, materializing at her elbow like a guardian angel, leaned in to murmur, ‘You've got this, Ell.’

She gave him a nod then stepped forward to the front of the class. She raised a hand, and the few ragged conversations that had been dragging tangled up. A collective hush fell.

'Thank you for coming, everyone,' she barked. 'I won't sugarcoat it. We've got a situation on our hands. The kind that doesn't end with tickertape parades and the key to the city.'

A ripple went through the assembled cops. Nervous glances. They'd all seen the headlines, heard the stories. They knew amonster lurked in their midst. Ella was just giving shape to their nightmares.

‘I’m sure you all know about the four murders, all having occurred in haunted house attractions around town. Well, this unsub isn’t going to slow down, so we need bodies in every haunted house, ready to catch this guy in the act.’

A hand in the crowd went up. Ella nodded at him. ‘How do you know he’s going to strike again? What if he just stops killing?’

‘We’re dealing with what’s known as a mission-oriented offender, which means this guy won’t stop for anything. He’s executing a vision, a fantasy, and nothing – not even the prospect of death or capture – will dissuade him.’

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