Page 12 of Girl, Sought

An understatement. The scene pulled Ella into its guts and begged her to poke around and uncoil the innards. So many questions stabbed her brain. What was this monster’s endgame? Why Eleanor Calloway, a librarian of all people? What message was he trying to send with this staging? Why go to these lengths?

She had a feeling they were just seeing the tip of this psychopath's iceberg. A killer who put this much work into their displays didn't stop at one. They were just getting started.

'Well, if this guy thinks himself an artist, then I'm going to be his biggest critic.'

Luca said, ‘I don’t want to sound like a headmaster from the fifties, but what kind ofmanis this skilled at putting on makeup? I tried to cover a blemish once. Ended up with a massive orange circle on my cheek.’

‘I don’t think our guy was naturally skilled at applying makeup. I think he learned to do it – just for this.’

Luca regarded her. ‘You sure about that? Seems like a reach.’

The behavioral profile was beginning to take shape. Ella couldn’t imagine an unsub engineering a scene just to put his expert makeup-application skills to use. ‘Come on, Hawkins. This doesn’t seem like a revenge killing to me because death wasn’t the goal here. This is a fantasy brought to life. Our unsub needed everything perfect, and that included expert makeup application.’

'You think he took classes?' Reeves asked from the doorway.

'Maybe. Or he could work in a field where he does this for a living. Theater. TV. Photoshoots. Maybe even mortuary work. The point is, this wasn't impulsive. He planned every detail.' Ella circled Eleanor's chair. 'The garrote instead of manual strangulation. The perfect makeup application. Breaking her fingers post-mortem for the right pose. Everything calculated for maximum visual impact.'

'Like a director setting up his shot,' Luca said.

'Exactly. He's not just killing - he's creating.'

Luca nodded toward the dolls. ‘Why arrange them like this? Why make them watch?’

‘Because they're his audience. This isn't just murder - it's performance art. He's showing off his skills to the only critics he respects.’ Ella gestured at the display cases. 'And he’s not going to stop at one, but the question is – is it the dolls that attracted him here, or something else?'

‘Where should we start?’ Reeves asked. ‘Neighbors? Friends? Family?’

‘All of the above. Our killer knew about Eleanor’s collection, so he must have had contact with her.’

‘Someone close to her?’

‘Impossible to say. Could have been her best friend or just some tradesman who happened to stumble on this room. We need to look beyond the usual suspects though. It might not be as simple as a jilted lover or disgruntled co-worker. He's a predator. He would have stalked Eleanor, learned her routines. Probably ingratiated himself into her life somehow. We need to check out the collector community too.’

Reeves cleared his throat. ‘I'll put the word out, see if anyone in her circle has a screw loose. Maybe someone made a stink at an auction, threw a tantrum about losing a rare doll. If this guy's got an obsession, maybe there's a trail.’

Ella nodded. ‘Good. Get a list of any males Eleanor had contact with recently too - repairmen, delivery guys, anyone who came to the house.’

‘I'll pull her credit card, phone records,’ Luca offered. ‘See if anyone was harassing her.’

While Luca and Reeves discussed phone records and credit card statements, Ella studied the room's layout again. Everything was positioned with mathematical precision - the display cases exactly parallel to each other, each shelf measured to the millimeter it seemed. Eleanor's restoration tools sat at perfect right angles on her workbench. Even the chair they'd posed her in was centered precisely between the cases. This was OCD cranked to eleven.

Ella moved along the cases. They seemed to be categorized by era, although Ella would be lying if she said she was certain. Similar dolls had been grouped together, but that was as much as Ella could glean.

The central display case dominated the wall opposite Eleanor's chair. Prime real estate in a room dedicated to perfection. Ella's gaze swept over the shelves, taking in the arrangement. Then she saw it.

A gap.

Right in the center of the main shelf, surrounded by Eleanor's finest pieces, sat an empty space. Not random - precisely sized, like something had been removed. The velvet lining showed slight compression marks where a doll had once stood.

Luca and Reeves' chatter faded to background static as Ella zeroed in on the anomaly. She knew in her gut this was no oversight. Eleanor would never leave her precious collection incomplete. Not willingly.

No, this was something else. A message from their psycho puppeteer.

‘Hey.’ Ella cut through Luca and Reeves' conversation. ‘Come look at this.’

They joined her at the case. Ella pointed to the empty spot. ‘Notice anything odd?’

Luca squinted. ‘Something missing?’

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