Page 56 of Love Me Fierce

Fuck, that’s a long time to wait.

Marin’s body had been exposed to almost twelve hours of snow and rain, but our state crime lab collected trace amounts of DNA. All of it came from her friends or family, but one profile did not.

One with no match in the system.

It also didn’t match Jeremy Fisher’s. Which meant the chances of him being our murderer dropped to zero.

That mystery DNA profile was just one of the many loose ends we couldn’t tie up.

However, if we get DNA evidence from Kimberly Saxon’s body that matches that mystery profile from Marin’s, it’s solid proof both women were killed by the same person.

“Any chance Kimberly’s murderer is a copycat?” I ask to play devil’s advocate.

“You mean if the DNA doesn’t match?” He hums. “I’ve been thinking about that too. If so, it would mean someone knows about the pendant, and that’s not common knowledge.”

“Which would narrow the pool of suspects,” I say.

“True,” Ballard replies in an even tone. “Make a list of everyone who would have access to that info, and I’ll do the same.”

“Got it.” I slow to merge onto the I-10 to Finn River. “Do you still think he gets his victims up to the mine while they’re alive?”

“It makes the most sense. He’d have to be Hercules to carry them that far.”

Though most of his victims are petite—Marin was barely a hundred pounds—he’s right. When search and rescue has to evacuate an injured hiker, it takes a team ofeightpeople, minimum, to carry someone just one single mile.

“So, he lures them up to a mine, then kills them. If he’s not in it for some sort of sexual satisfaction, what drives him?”

“Power,” Ballard replies in a confident, swift tone. “It’s why he not only strangles his victims but hits them as well. Overkill is a sign of a complicated set of motivations. He kills his victims quickly, in a way that makes him feel powerful, but then the self-hatred and shame kick in, and he has to destroy. It’s why he tossed Marin off that cliff. Why Michelle was found deeper in that mine. After he’s killed, he needs to erase what he did.”

Though I studied criminal psychology in college and again at the police academy, hearing it packaged like this in relation to human beings makes my stomach tighten. “How does this guy function in the real world?”

“He’s a master at keeping that side of himself hidden. It’s not rare that serial murderers have families, jobs.”

I stare at the road ahead, my questions like puzzle pieces rattling around in my mind. “If Kimberly was found in a mine, does that mean the killer is back to being cautious?”

Marin’s death is the one anomaly—she was the only victim left in the open. One theory is that our killer was getting careless. Luke said it was a possible sign of escalation, the killer’s craving outmatching his caution.

“Maybe we got too close to him with Marin’s case,” Ballard says.

“That doesn’t jive with him leaving a pendant with Kimberly.”

“I have a theory about that, but give me a little more time with it,” Luke replies.

He sounds almost wistful, and though I respect his scholarly drive to understand this sicko, I could give a shit about his why. “I want this guy’s head on a platter,” I say, gripping the steering wheel.

“Agreed,” he replies. “Real quick before you go, I’m still working on that LAPD cop you asked about. My contact is undercover, so getting through to him takes time.”

“No problem. Thanks, Luke.”

“Yep.”

We end the call, and my stirred-up thought snap back to what wefound today. If the killer thinks he’s going to keep getting away with murder, what’s going to stop him from striking again?

Chapter Sixteen

EVERETT

After my shift,during my drive to Linden’s, I use the ten minutes of quiet to put my rampant thoughts into the vault for the night.

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