Page 31 of Girl, Empty
‘You met a man.’
‘I didn’t meet a man.’
‘You met a woman.’
‘Ha.’
‘Okay, maybe not.I just feel like you’re trying to prove something.Do you want to impress the new recruits?Or the new director?Is that it?’
Ripley gave her the side-eye.‘In a way, yes.’
‘Aha, I knew it was something.Go on then, spill.’
‘Never mind spilling.How about we focus on what’s important?’
Ella guessed she should have known better than to pester, so she officially benched the topic.Pushing Ripley when she was like this was like trying to punch a hole in a brick wall.All you got were bruises.‘Fine.What ideas did you have last night?’
The traffic disappeared as Ripley verged into a side street.The GPS said they were five minutes away from the precinct.‘I found the security company behind all those bells and whistles at Morrison & Associates.It’s a firm called Sentinel Tech Solutions.When we get to the precinct, I’ll get Riggs to help me dig a little deeper.We need to go through the security documents one by one.’
‘Roger that.Anything else keep you up last night?'
‘Yeah.This pentagram.Michael Rankin puts a pentagram tattoo on his daughter's arm.Then someone draws a pentagram on his computer after murdering him.That's not coincidence.'
Before crashing last night, Ella had wracked her brain over the same issue and reached the same conclusion, but hearing from Ripley made it feel more real.'So our killer knew about the tattoo.'
‘Had to.Which suggests he knew Michael intimately.’
'If he was watching the Rankins, he would have known about Michael's schedule.When he'd be at the office late.'
Ripley said, 'And if he works for the security company, he'd know exactly how to disable their systems.I’ve already asked Riggs to dig out the employee records for Sentinel Tech.'
Ella stared at her partner.The Ripley she knew didn't text people.She barely knew how to send emails.This new version was operating three steps ahead of everyone else, including Ella.They pulled into the parking lot at the precinct and nabbed a spot right outside the doors.
‘I’d like to say I was concerned, Mia, but this proactivity is refreshing.’
‘Are you saying I was never proactive before?’
‘Yeah.’
Ripley slammed her door shut.‘Well, maybe I got tired of being the muscle.Ever think of that?’
Ella was formulating a response when Detective Riggs and two other uniforms burst out of the precinct doors.Riggs looked like a human punching bag; more flushed than anyone should be before midday.He made a circular motion with his finger.
‘Riggs, what’s going on?’
‘Get back in the car and turn around.We’ve got a second body.’
Ella’s stomach plummeted like a broken elevator.The name Michael Rankin shrank and became a data point, because if there was a second body, it meant Rankin was just number one in a sequence.
They had a serial killer.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ella had never worn a gas mask in her life, nor had she ever seen comically-high piles of money before.But here in the Riverside branch of First National Bank, Ella was up to her elbows in both experiences at once, with a blue-faced corpse thrown in as a bonus.She looked over at Riggs and Ripley, and she could read the confusion on their faces even behind the gas masks.
‘Tell me I’m not going mad, Mia,’ she said.
‘You’re not going mad,’ Ripley said.Her voice came out muffled through the mask.‘This poor guy was really killed inside a bank vault.’
