Page 31 of So Lethal

She shook her head. “I think both are possible. But if you’re asking me to build a profile, I’d have to say I’m not sure. I still don’t buy that these victims are only connected because they’re deaf. They’re too far apart for that to be the only connection. There’s a reason why it’s these specific targets. Hell, we’re talking to eleven other hearing-impaired people today. Why did he choose Sarah?”

“She was aloof from the group and she parked on the tenth floor even when it was empty.”

She frowned. “Well, shit. So much for that.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arm. “I just don’t buy it, though. One victim in San Jose, one in San Francisco, and one in Fremont. He can’t just randomly happen to be in all of those places at different times and randomly stumble across deaf people in each location.”

“To be fair, Sarah Martinez lived in Fremont but was killed in San Jose,” Michael clarified.

“Fair enough,” she allowed. “Either way, he picked these particular victims. Even if he just wanted one of the people from this support group, he still picked this support group. I want to know why.”

The door opened, and Beth led a short, bespectacled man with a ring of dark brown hair circling a shiny bald pate. Faith would have to save brainstorming for later.

“Hello,” she told the man. “I’m Special Agent Faith Bold, this is my partner Special Agent Michael Prince and my K9 unit, Turk.”

Turk barked a greeting. A touch of grief crossed the man’s face. He signed something, and Beth interpreted. “His name is Ethan. He says he misses hearing his dog bark.”

Faith offered a sympathetic smile. Turk sidled up to the man and laid his head in his lap. Ethan sighed and signed something else. “He says he’s sorry to hear about Sarah. He was afraid something like this would happen.”

Faith’s smile vanished. “Why would you say that?”

Ethan frowned and answered through Beth. “I thought she killed herself. It wasn’t suicide?”

“No,” Faith replied. “She was murdered.”

Ethan’s jaw went slack. He shivered and signed rapidly. “I didn’t know that. I thought for sure she had taken her own life. Murdered? God, that’s horrible! Her poor sister.”

“Why did you think she killed herself?” Faith pressed. “Did she seem suicidal to you?”

“Oh yes,” Ethan signed back. “Especially after her fight with…”

Beth blinked. “Oh… I didn’t know about that.”

“Know about what?” Faith demanded. “What did he say?”

“He said that she got into a fight with Marcus.”

“Who’s Marcus?”

“He was one of the other students here. I had to kick him out after week five because he was being belligerent with me. He was surly with other students too.”

“And you didn’t think to mention this?” Faith snapped.

Beth paled. “I… I didn’t think… I mean, I didn’t believe that he’d do something like this. And I didn’t know that he had argued with Sarah.”

Faith sighed. “What’s his last name?”

“Wolfe with an e.”

“W-O-L-F-E?”

“Yes.”

Faith turned to Michael. “Find him. Beth, give him any contact information you have.”

“I deleted his number from my phone after I kicked him out, but St. Teresa’s might still have it.”

“I’ll call them,” Michael said.

He got to his feet and walked to the back of the room, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he did. Faith turned back to Ethan. “Tell me about this fight.”

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