Page 32 of So Twisted

Michael nodded. “Yeah, we figured it wasn’t him. Just had to ask.”

“But who would do this?” Trevor asked. “I mean… you have to really hate someone to do something like this, don’t you?”

Actually, killers who committed these kinds of ritualistic murders rarely hated their victims. They rarely saw their targets as human, only as pieces to whatever macabre puzzle they were trying to solve. It wasn’t important to share that with Trevor, though.

“We’re looking into the motive for all of this,” Faith said.

Cuthbert cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Trevor snapped his eyes to Faith. “Wait? All of this? There’s beenmore?”

Faith kicked herself for revealing that, but by now, the murders would surely be on the news. Trevor must be one of those people who didn’t follow the news. There was no good reason for Cuthbert to hide the information. If he was upset, she could deal with it later.

“Yes. Two previous victims. That’s all I can share right now.”

Trevor gasped. “God.” His brow furrowed. “But… why not me?”

“Why would someone want to kill you?” Faith asked.

“Well, I don’t know, but I don’t know why someone would want to kill Dr. Vasquez either. She was always nice to me. We only saw each other every now and then when she was working late, but she would always smile and ask how my day was going. Most people don’t do that. I’m just a piece of the furniture to them.”

Faith nodded. “Our killer seems to be focusing on certain aspects of his victims’ past when he chooses them.” She hesitated a moment, then decided to be more specific. “He appears to target victims with allegations of animal rights abuse in the past. Do you know of any such allegations about Dr. Vasquez?”

“Dr. Vasquez?” The thought seemed nearly inconceivable to Trevor. “No. Never. I mean… we didn’t know each other that well, but… no, that seems crazy. She was so nice.”

So are a great many bad people,Faith thought. A touch of guilt followed that thought. She didn’t have any right to judge Dr. Vasquez, and it wasn’t helping her case to assume the worst right now.

“What’s with the cameras?” Michael asked. “Are they not working or something?”

Trevor sighed. “They’re working. They’re just not cameras.”

Michael stared at him a moment, then pointed to the very-obvious camera hanging above the door. “That’s not a camera?”

“I mean… it is, but not really. The camera part doesn’t work, just the motion sensor. It’s attached to the lights, but… no sound either. It’s just that nothing happens here.”

“Well, something did,” Faith said.

Trevor slumped forward. “I know. And it’s my fault.”

Strictly speaking, Trevor was definitely to blame for falling asleep on the job, but it wasn’t right to blame him for the murder. “It’s not your fault that someone killed Dr. Vasquez,” Faith said. “But you can help us find that person.”

Trevor lifted his head again. “Yes. Anything.”

“I need you to make me a list of all of the staff at the zoo. Put the names of the other vets and nurses here on top. Someone might know something about Dr. Vasquez that will help us understand who might want to kill her.”

Trevor brightened. “I’ll do that. I’ll do that right away.”

He jumped up and rushed from the room. The uniform glanced at Detective Cuthbert. Cuthbert shook his head. “He’s not guilty of anything but laziness.” He sighed and shook his head. “Sad thing is the zoo will probably use him as a scapegoat to deflect from the fact that their damned cameras don’t work.”

Faith looked at Turk, who was now carefully sniffing a trash can in the corner of the room. She walked over to the can and frowned when she saw that it was empty. Nothing there but a fresh plastic liner.

“Come on, boy,” she said curtly. “Let’s go get some rest.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want to look around a little more?”

“Cuthbert, send us the CSI report and the coroner’s autopsy report when you get it. If you find anything else you think we need to know, send that too.”

“Sure. Will do.”

Faith stormed out of the room and nearly bowled Trevor over on her way out. He pressed a sheaf of papers into her hand. “What’s this?” she asked.

---