Page 61 of Girl, Unseen

‘Ella. What’s wrong?’

‘The hot air balloon crash. On the news. Have you heard about it?’

‘Heard about it? I’m at the scene right now.’

‘You’re there?’ Ella breathed. 'And no one thought to call us?’

‘No. Why would we?’

‘We've got an unsub targeting people with links to elements and you're all standing around a balloon crash without even considering-' She caught herself, forced her voice level. 'How long have you been there, Ross?'

‘We got here an hour ago. Cleanup is in operation. Looks like a bad accident.’

‘No,’ she protested. She was already reaching for her jacket. Even Luca should have woken her for this. Some partner he was. ‘Look around. This could be our guy.’

A moment of silence. 'Doubt it. There's only one body here. I don't care how good our guy is, he's not psychic. He can't make a,'

‘Look for symbols. On the rocks, on the balloon, anywhere.’

‘I did. There aren’t any. Nothing carved, painted, scratched - nothing like the quarry or reservoir scenes.’

Ella moved the phone away from her ear. Her pulse ramped up as she tried to think things through to make sense of this. Could this be a freakish coincidence? Was she seeing things that weren't there?

She glanced down at the translations she’d jotted down in her notepad from last night. It all rushed past her eyeballs in a blur of samey, nonsensical drivel, but then something suddenly clicked. A spark igniting in the back of her brain that quickly caught traction.

The symbols must be applied post-transformation, when the vessel has achieved its elemental state

In the case of Marcus Thornton, the killer had left their marks prior to his death.

But with Sarah Chen, the killer must have visited the scene post-murder to leave their mark.

Which meant that, if this was their killer, they’d need to get to this crash site too. In person.

‘Ross,’ she snapped, ‘Secure the perimeter. No press, no civilians, no one gets near that balloon.’

‘What? Why? Look, I’ve really got to get going. I can meet you at the precinct in-,’

‘No. Trust me. How many people are there?’

‘I don’t know. Loads. It’s drawn a crowd.’

'Good. Keep them there. Don't let anyone leave because our killer might be one of them.'

Ella hung up, turned to Luca, who was already dressed in his best. ‘Hawkins, we need to get there.’

‘Yeah. Luckily I’ve been ready for an hour. Get your ass into gear.’

Ella checked the time. 8AM. Of course, Hawkins was already raring to go. He could put a soldier to shame with his regimented routine. 'How far’s Storm King Mountain?’

‘Forty minutes if we break every traffic law between here and there. But is our killer dumb enough to invade a crime scene swarming with cops?’

Ella was already pulling her jacket on. ‘What do you think?’

‘You know ritualistic killers better than anyone. You tell me.’

‘It’s pattern-completion compulsion.’ Ella rushed around the room, grabbing what she needed. ‘Their need to finish the sequence overrides normal risk assessment. It's like OCD on steroids. To him, leaving the ritual unfinished would invalidate the entire process. Look at BTK. He broke into crime scenes after the fact just to pose his victims correctly. Couldn't stand the thought of his 'work' being incomplete.’

Luca was at the door. ‘Good thing I wore my running shoes. What if our killer can’t finish his work?’

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