Page 67 of Throne of Secrets

Minutes later, Max whistled low. “Holy shit.”

Ethan tensed. “What?”

Max shared the screen. “It’s a pattern. Whenever a body’s been found, the person who found the body goes missing within the week.”

Ethan’s blood ran cold. “You’re saying?—”

“This guy doesn’t just dump bodies. He picks hisnextvictim based on who finds his last.”

Ethan shook his head. “That’s too fucking obvious, Max. The cops would’ve found that connection.”

“No, you’re not listening. The person who found the body and the person who called it in aren’t always the same people. A garbage man found the first body. The owner of the house it was found outside of reported it. They tried to find the garbage man, but he was terrified and allegedly walked away. No one could find him, and his documentation at the sanitation department was faked.”

“Okay, I’ve read the case notes on that.” Ethan blinked, realizing the connection. “The next victim was?—"

Max broke in, “Identified as an undocumented person here past his visa limitation. No criminal record. I’m comparing his visa picture to the ring camera images given to the police.”

“Run the theory on the PA murders, too.”

“Working it,” Max said.

“Jesus, Max, if this holds up, this bastard has Star.”

“Confirmed identity. Let me run the PA murders.”

Ethan closed his eyes. “And the victim Star found? The case report says a homeless man found the undocumented victim. He has a record for petty theft.”

“I’m sending you the mug shots,” Max said as the picture appeared on the computer screen.

“Has the coroner ID’d him yet?” Ethan asked. His fingers flew over the computer keys. “NYPD duty rosters have him working a day shift.”

“It takes a long time to do what he did to those bodies. He didn’t have the time.”

“He could have killed her already,” Ethan bit out. The fucking bastard.

“No, you know as well as I do the victim is alive when he cuts them apart. All the medical examiner reports state that.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Ethan sighed. “Sorry.”

“I understand. Hold on, I need to get into the medical examiner’s computer to get a picture of the last victim’s head.”

“Dear God.” Ethan scrubbed his face. He started working a background on the bastard. “What kind of fucking monster does this?” he asked himself as he pushed the laptop to perform at the maximum of its capability.

“Ethan.” Max’s voice stopped him cold.

A picture appeared on the screen alongside the mug shot of the homeless man. They were the same person.

Ethan’s computer made a noise, and he glanced down at it. “I have the camera for morning roll call at the precinct. The bastard is there.”

“So, we know she’s safe as long as he’s at work. We’ll track him back to her and then take that fucker down.”

He hated it, but Max was right. He wanted to go strangle the bastard until he talked, but with people like him, that might not work. They needed to find Star, then take down the fucker.

“We need to keep our eyes on him.”

“Yep, on it,” Max said as his fingers pounded the keyboard as he spoke. Ethan’s phone rang, and he glanced down at it. He picked it up. “Are you in town?” he asked without preamble.

“Yes.” Lycos’s growl was unmistakable.

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