Page 4 of So Savage

“I talked to West.”

That stunned Faith into silence.If there was anyone in Faith’s life who’d had a more profound and more negative impact than Jethro Trammell, it was Dr.Franklin West.The so-called psychologist had seen Faith for months after the Trammell incident.During that time, he’d also been copying Trammell’s M.O.and improving on it successfully enough that he was able to kill over thirty victims and remain active more than four times as long as Trammell.

At long last, his obsession with Faith had proven to be his undoing.He’d attacked Faith in her apartment, and Faith had arrested him with the help of two officers from the Philadelphia Police Department.He was now awaiting trial after his first trial had ended in a hung jury.Hung because some jurors believed that Faith had exceeded her authority as an FBI agent and compromised the investigation.That was a big part of why she was off the grid in the first place.The other part was that the killer after her now—the Messenger Killer—was also obsessed with her.

She found her voice.“Why?”

“I was following up on the hypothesis that the Messenger is actually motivated by admiration for West instead of blind obsession with you.I think that she’s trying to impress him, and that’s why she’s murdering people and trying to attack you psychologically.The difference is that while West made Jethro’s MO more sophisticated and the psychological torture more subtle, the Messenger is more blunt and messier.”

“Okay… you talked to West, and what?”

“And it seems that someone’s been sending him love letters.”

“Love letters?Like Hybristophilia?”

“Like what?”

“Like she’s attracted to him because he’s a criminal.It’s a fairly common phenomenon.Ted Bundy supposedly received hundreds of letters from admirers after conviction.”

“Well, I don’t think West’s pulling the same kind of attention, but the attention he’s getting is pretty damned interesting.”

“What is it?”

There’s a woman who signs her letters as L.She writes West frequently, several letters a week.A lot of them are the typical smut bullshit you write someone when you want them, but hidden in a few of them are comments about you and how you deserve to die for humiliating him like that.”

Faith frowned.“Were there any descriptions of victims or crime scenes?”

“No, nothing like that, but one note said that she was planning to do something to get your attention and draw you out into the open where she could make you pay for humiliating him.”

“And you got this from West?”

“I got him to admit he was receiving notes and got the notes from the warden.”

She nodded.“And he didn’t say anything?Nothing that suggests that he might be behind this?”

“No.Honestly, he seemed defeated.”

She raised an eyebrow.“Is that so?”

“Oh yeah.He wore the smarmy façade, but he was all over the place.It was like he was desperate to show me how much smarter he was than me.”

“Yeah, that sounds like West, all right.”

“You’d know better than me.Still, I’m pretty confident West isn’t behind this.I shook down my warden friend again, but he swears up and down that he’s only received letters for West, not delivered letters for him.I’m inclined to believe him.”

"Fair enough.So, have you figured out where these letters are coming from?"

“No.That’s what I’m going to work on next.”

“And the brass is okay with you working on this?”

The pause that followed gave Faith her answer.She sighed.“Michael, thank you for helping me.I really appreciate it.But I don’t want you getting in trouble.Turn the info over to Desrouleaux and let them handle it.”

“They’re going to take forever on this,” Michael protested.“I can get answers now.”

“No.Absolutely not.I need you to advocate for me.If you burn your bridges with Gardner and Smythe, I’ll have no one on my side.”

“I’ll be fine, Faith,” he insisted.“But I can’t let this prick keep getting away with it.”

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