Page 19 of The Killer She Knew

“Alice Dietz.” Ford had a knack for this work. Brilliant enough to connect leads, charismatic enough to charm his way through interviews and get what he needed, intuitive, even. Or maybe they just made a great team.

“Which means the killer’s intended target knew her, might even have a connection to her.” Leigh set her gaze on Tamra Hopkins, Alice’s second roommate. The other had to be sheltered in the dorms, and from the look of it, Tamra was letting her nerves run the gamut. “Both of Alice Dietz’s roommates believed she had a secret boyfriend. Someone she didn’t want them to know about. She was quick to anger at the possibility of anyone reading her messages and snuck out of the dorm in the middle of the night on several occasions. My bet is it was someone that could’ve caused a lot of backlash for our victim.”

“Because why hide the fact you’re seeing someone unless there’s a chance you could get in trouble.” Ford hiked his hands to his hips. Ready to chase down the next lead. “Considering all our previous victims are male, I’m going to assume Alice Dietz was heterosexual. Boyfriend could’ve been in a relationship. Married, even. Didn’t want the news getting out, so he’s laying low. Refusing to come forward to save his own ass.”

There was also a chance the killer had succeeded in assuming his next identity. But then where was the body?

“Maybe.” Leigh locked on to Professor Morrow. The weight of her attention caught his. Her former mentor tried for a quick smile. “Or maybe he’s hiding in plain sight.”

TWELVE

Durham, New Hampshire

Wednesday, October 9

5:14 p.m.

“This was everything of Alice Dietz’s I was able to find in my file cabinet. I’m not sure how it will help, but I’m certainly happy to assist however I can.” Taking his seat across the table, Professor Morrow handed off a stack of stapled papers.

She and Ford had managed to isolate him in one of the psychology classrooms under the pretense of asking for his help analyzing the investigation. Feeding into that magnificent ego. He wanted a piece of the pie, credit for vaulting her into stardom all those years ago, but it’d been her own experience with police investigations and murder that had given her the edge to keep going. He’d just supplied the textbooks.

“Thank you.” Leigh flipped through the papers. Crime prevention. Community policing. Economics of crime and patterns in crime. All topics typical of a criminology major, even some she’d studied herself on this very campus under histutelage. “These will give us a better idea of who Alice Dietz was, her interests, experience, state of mind. All helpful.”

Not really, but Morrow was enamored to be here.

Morrow leaned back in his well-loved tweed jacket that looked the same as it had eighteen years ago. Some things didn’t change. “How is the investigation going, Leigh? Nobody will tell me anything.”

“Unfortunately, there’s not much to tell, and we can’t give you any specifics of an ongoing investigation.” Ford was to play the bad guy in this little conversation. The one who didn’t think a professor could add any insight into a murder case. Get their potential witness riled up enough to forget the story he’d told himself. “I’m not even sure why we’re talking to this guy. He’s a teacher.”

“Professor, actually, Marshal Ford, and one of the leading experts in the country on criminology.” Morrow was already taking the bait, the muscle in his jaw ticcing with the insult to his ego. They had to play this carefully. Too many attempts to get the professor to talk and he’d see through them. “In fact, I taught Leigh here everything she knows.”

She wasn’t going to argue. They had more important things to focus on.

“Now that you’ve had a chance to review Alice Dietz’s papers, is there anything that stands out to you, Pierce?” Leigh returned her focus to the paper in front of her. “She sat in two of your classes. Was she attentive? Did anything seem off in the days leading up to her death?”

“No. No. Nothing like that.” Morrow folded his arms across his chest, accentuating the leather patches at his elbows. Not one hair out of place. “In fact, things were going well for her, particularly in my classes. She clearly understood the material and went out of her way to exceed my expectations.”

Ford’s turn. “Did you ever speak to her outside of class? Did she attend office hours, or did she seek any kind of mentorship or research opportunities?”

“No.” Morrow dropped his gaze to the papers on the desk. He was shutting down.

“Alice Dietz was killed with a combination of arsenic and cyanide, same as Teshia Elborne was murdered eighteen years ago. From what we can see, there is no connection between the victims.” She had to give him a reason to stay engaged. To show off even. “Why do you believe Alice Dietz was targeted?”

“Well, she fits the profile, doesn’t she?” Morrow leaned forward in his chair. She had him. “Young, beautiful, successful by university standards. If I recall, Teshia Elborne was also blonde, fit, even had those big brown eyes.” The professor raised his gaze to Leigh’s. “Seems your killer has a type.”

His point was clear. And it was a type that looked identical to her appearance. Of course, he didn’t have all the information. He couldn’t possibly know there’d been four male victims before Alice Dietz had been displayed on that sidewalk, and she and Ford would keep it that way. Well, unless he was the killer Ford had been hunting. They had one goal here: to establish a personal connection between Morrow and the victim.

Leigh would have to push a little harder. “Do you believe both women were killed by the same unsub? Now, I can’t call him a serial offender with two bodies—” That the professor knew of. “But eighteen years is an extremely long cooling-off period, don’t you think?”

“May I assume Alice Dietz’s body was washed and bleached in the same manner as Teshia Elborne?” Morrow asked.

“From the hints of bleach the medical examiner noted at the scene, the killer most likely used the same chemicals to destroy any trace of DNA on the body. Like Teshia Elborne.” Leigh waswilling to let that detail slide. “Scrubbed clean with bleach and dish soap.”

“Well, then this isn’t a copycat you’re looking for, seeing as how there weren’t that many details released to the public eighteen years ago, which makes me think Teshia Elborne and Alice Dietz were killed by the same unsub. I would conclude your killer is extremely disciplined.” Morrow’s eyes glazed over, the professor lost to whatever profile he was building in his head. “He most likely discovered the power to manipulate others as a young child, which gave him a sense of control he seeks. He’s intelligent, most likely well read. But he wouldn’t allow his compulsions to get the better of him. He makes the choice to kill, potentially explaining why he was able to go so long between kills. I would imagine his chosen hunting ground is tied to his past. Perhaps he was a student here or even a long-time resident of Durham. There is some resentment in his ties to this university, but at the same time, he can’t escape it. He has a preference for women, that’s obvious, but he likes the idea of a student. Believing he himself can teach her something.”

Despite the ruse she and Ford had created during this interrogation, Morrow had made a fair point. Manipulation. The killer they were hunting had to be able to read his victims and the people in his victims’ lives, and to adapt to any given situation. Become anyone based off face-to-face interactions. Serial offenders weren’t always sociopaths as popular media portrayed. They didn’t have to play pretend with emotion and try to mirror it back. There were some who simply enjoyed playing with those emotions. Looked at them like a game to be won.

The temperature in the room rose impossibly higher as Leigh worked her way through the stiff-necked, proud layers of the professor’s armor. “That would also mean he had a connection with both victims then and now through the university.”

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