Page 62 of Shattered Sanctuary

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to play the recording I made last time,” Kaely said. “It will help me to remember what I saw. I have my notes, but listening to me talk about him is more helpful.”

Erin nodded. “I understand.” She didn’t really, but whatever worked for Kaely was fine with her.

Kaely lowered her head and prayed silently before turning on the recording she’d made previously.

Erin listened as Kaely’s voice came over the phone. Once again, she felt something in the room. An energy. A presence. What was it? Better yet,whowas it?

Erin listened as Kaely said,“You’re angry. You’ve been angry a long time. Ever since you were a child. Something happened to make you this way. You’ve been planning to pay someone back for a while. Not long ago, you startedpracticing. Practicing for vengeance. Against God. Against the angels. You’re in your late twenties, early thirties. You’re considered good-looking.”

Kaely suddenly paused the recording. “I’m changing this,” she said. “I think he’s closer to forty.”

“Why?” Erin asked.

“Hailey. Hailey Duncan. She was in her late thirties. Active in her church and by all accounts happily married. She wasn’t meeting this man for a date. This was something else. It has to do with his job. She met with him because she trusted him because of that job. His position. I don’t think a really young man would be able to have the kind of persona that these women, including Hailey, would trust.”

“Kaely, there’s something that’s been bothering me.”

“Tell me.”

“Your profile. The last time you did this something occurred to me. I hate to even think about this but...”

“Profiling is educated guessing,” Kaely said. “If you have a guess, I want to hear it.”

“You keep talking about his job. That he has a position of respect. That these women come with him because they feel safe?”

“Yes, I stick by that.”

“Wouldn’t a police officer fit your profile?”

Kaely frowned. “Yes, it would. Why?”

“I don’t know. I hate to bring it up since I was a police officer, but it’s been on my mind.”

“You think a police officer could hide his own evidence,” Kaely said. “Like Sergeant Johnson?”

Erin nodded. “Or... or even Adrian?”

“I don’t see anything in his personality that makes mebelieve he’s involved,” Kaely said. “But no one should be off the table.”

“I feel terrible pointing the finger at either one of them,” Erin said. She liked Adrian and Timothy and hated to think either one of them could be a serial killer.

“I’ve been wrong before. Besides, you need to remember that we’re not accusing anyone of anything.” Kaely shook her head. “I’ve wondered about Steve. He fits the profile too.” She sighed. “If we let our minds wander, we could start thinking everyone looks like a possible suspect. That can be dangerous.”

“Okay.”

“So, let’s get back to the profile.” She smiled. “Try not to see anyone specific sitting in the chair. Instead, let a picture come to you from the profile, not your preconceived ideas.”

Erin nodded, but she wasn’t sure she could do what Kaely asked.

Kaely focused her attention on the empty chair between them. “Everything else I said about you is true. You hate women, but I think you see them every day with your job. Maybe this is how you scout them out.” She turned the recording back on and fast forwarded it a bit.“The most important thing isn’t the woman—it’s the figurine you force them to hold. You’re uncomfortable touching them. You have no physical attraction to them. You want to kill them in a certain way. You practiced it several times before you killed Chloe. However, what you did to them wasn’t perfect, so you buried them. But you got it right when you killed Chloe. That’s why you displayed her. She was perfection.”Kaely stopped the recording again. She clicked over to the picture of Hailey. “The connection betweenthese women is your job. If we can figure that out, we’ve got you.”

Kaely stared at the chair for a moment. Erin wrapped her arms around herself as the wind outside howled like a woman in pain. She shivered as a chill ran down her back. Kaely was watching the chair, but she couldn’t bring herself to look. However, out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw something dark sitting there.

Kaely clicked the recording on, but once again fast forwarded it. When she stopped, her voice filled the room. She spoke distinctly, with assurance.“You’re killing because of someone else. And the angels? What does that have to do with it?”She paused.“Okay, let’s move on. You don’t mind the makeup, their shoes, or their jewelry. Why? Is it because you’re not attracted to them that way?”

She stopped the recording and stared down at her phone. It was obvious she was thinking. Once again, she skipped over some of it. When she started it again, Erin listened as she said“They told you the angels took someone away that you loved, didn’t they? And that’s why you dress these women up as angels and put that figurine in their hands. You think you’re paying the angels back for what they did to you.” Another pause. Fast forward. “You don’t take off their makeup or their shoes because your mother wore makeup and liked high heels. You can’t remove them because it would betray her in some way. My guess is whoever told you that the angels took her also believed your mother shouldn’t wear makeup or wear high heels. That’s it, isn’t it? Two of these women wore heels. One didn’t. But that doesn’t really matter. I already know about the shoes.”

Kaely stopped the tape again and looked at Erin. “Haileywas wearing heels and makeup, so this confirms my profile. These things don’t matter to him.” She looked at the empty chair and sighed. “I still believe that your victims are picked at random, but now I’m thinking you use your job to lure them. I stand by my conjecture that you don’t care about them, and you’re not choosing them by type, job, or personality. Only by convenience. I’m not sure why you don’t have elderly victims, but my guess is that unless you’re stopped, that could happen.”

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