Page 53 of So Twisted

“I know,” she said softly. “But…”

She let her voice trail off. Clark’s voice said,I know it’s hard. That’s the price we pay to have creatures as awesome as dogs. They don’t live very long. The fact is that Turk probably won’tsee you turn forty and definitely won’t see you turn forty-five. It sucks. It’s hard. It’s terrible. It’s unavoidable.”

She lowered her head and wiped tears from her eyes. “I know. I know, I just hate it.”

Look, don’t give up yet. There’s a reason the Bureau allows retests. Humans make mistakes, and even good vets like David screw up sometimes. Let’s wait to see how Turk does with the retest. As for the smells here? Well, open your own nose. These scenes aren’t exactly the freshest.

She chuckled and wiped tears from her face again. “Yeah, I know. You’re right. Damn, I wish you were actually here right now. You understood me even better than Michael does.”

“Faith?”

She shot to her feet when she heard Michael’s voice. Her partner lifted his hands placatingly. “I think I know what happened.”

She took a deep breath and ran her hand over her hair. “Yes. Sorry. Talk to me.”

“Well, I think we’re on the right track that this was someone Dr. Clement knew. There’s no sign of forced entry here or in the house.”

“So he was let inside?”

“Yes. I believe he was let in through the aviary gate because there are actually working security cameras in the house.”

Faith’s spirits lifted when she heard that. That could explain why Turk was interested in the gate. Maybe his confusion came because the killer was masking his scent, and Turk couldn’t quite get a full whiff.

“And Grace didn’t see him?” she asked.

“No. And before you ask, no, she wasn’t the killer. The driveway cams capture her car pulling in about four minutes before the police were called. About twenty minutes before that,they show Dr. Clement reacting to a noise from the aviary and going to check it out.”

“That’s when the killer arrived.”

“Yes.”

“And there are no cameras in the aviary?”

“None here and none in the basement. I’m guessing Dr. Clement didn’t want a record of her research.”

Faith nodded. “So the killer was known to Dr. Clement. I wonder if he was known to the other victims?”

“Maybe. I don’t think so because there were signs of a struggle with Dr. Vasquez, but that could only be because she remained conscious longer. That’s the other big news. The first hook to Dr. Clement pierced her brainstem.”

Faith winced. “So she was dead before all the rest of the mutilation.”

“Yes. She didn’t suffer. That’s the silver lining, I guess.”

“Yeah. I guess lights out is better than a slow, cold descent. Good work, Michael.”

He gave her a half-smile, but she could see the pain in his eyes. Well, he deserved it. He’d said some really hurtful stuff, and it killed her that he would just decide to drive her to the airport without even a conversation first.

But she would deal with that later. They had a case to solve first.

Faith called to Turk, and the three agents walked into the house. Faith looked around for Detective Cuthbert, and Michael said, “He’s in the basement. I ran into him when I was looking at the cameras.”

They headed downstairs to find the detective looking through a sheaf of papers and taking notes. Faith glanced at the basement and had to agree with Detective Cuthbert. She didn’t know what all of the odd tables, cages, machines and other equipment did, but it looked an awful lot like a sanitarium froma horror movie. She wondered if Grace knew about all of this and genuinely believed the ends were worth the means or if this place was off limits to the assistant. That made her wonder if Dr. Clement’s motives were as noble as she claimed or if the doctor simply enjoyed the power she had over defenseless creatures.

Something to think about, Special Agent. Ask yourself if the world isn’t better off without them in it.

Detective Cuthbert looked up and said, “Good. I was just about to call you. I think we found our guy.”

“Oh yeah?”

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