Page 7 of Girl, Empty
She wanted to deny it, but Luca knew her too well.The thought had crossed her mind.More than crossed it.It had set up camp and started a fire.This killer was sending her a message in the form of dead bodies, meaning they had the type of psychopathology that would inject themselves into the environments they created.Every mourner at Ben’s funeral would be a suspect.
‘It’s a bonus.That’s all.’
‘You can’t keep dodging the obvious, Ell.You know that, right?’
‘What’s the obvious?’
Luca moved over to the coffee machine.She now realized that he’d been wearing the same outfit for nearly this entire holiday, and was the only man Ella knew who wore shorts in winter.‘You think these murders have something to do with Creed.The investigators agree that this has something to do with Creed.So why has no one gone to visit Creed?’
Ella clenched her teeth.Of course she'd wanted to visit Creed.She'd inquired the moment she'd made the connection and practically begged the investigators to let her talk to him.
‘Creed's off limits,' she said.
‘We’re the FBI.’
‘His lawyers are appealing his death sentence.They won’t get anywhere, but they’ve got him locked down like Alcatraz.No visitors except legal counsel.They said any contact with outside agencies could constitute harassment and compromise his mental state.’
‘Mental state?He’s a serial murderer.’
‘That’s their angle.A sick man who needs treatment, not execution.They want him moved to a psychiatric hospital instead of a prison.’
‘That sucks,’ Luca said, ‘but what about things like his mail or his contact with people inside jail?If he’s manipulating someone on the outside, then he’s talking to someone on the outside.’
‘His mail has been monitored since day one.You can’t get a birthday card into prison without it being dissected by the admin staff.If there was anything fishy in his mail, they’d have flagged it.’
Luca took his coffee and leaned against the refrigerator.‘Bring back the rope.Or the firing squad.It’d be so much easier if someone just shot him.’
‘That’s exactly what’s going to happen when his execution date comes.’
‘Yeah, in about twenty years,’ Luca said.‘We shouldn’t have to wait that long.Anyway, I need to get dressed.You probably should too.You don’t want the trainer to think you’re a lazy oaf.’
Ella watched Luca disappear into the bedroom and let her thoughts drift to darker places.God, she'd love to visit Creed.To sit across from him in an interview room and extract answers from him by whatever means necessary.
Would it be a good idea if someone killed him?The moral calculus shifted depending on which lens she applied.Yes, because a dead Creed couldn't manipulate anyone.No, because Creed was the only lead they had, and killing him might let his accomplice escape justice.
But Ella wondered, in the dark territory of her mind where emotion won out over objectivity, that if she found herself alone with Creed, could she resist putting a bullet in his head?
After what he’d done to Julianne and Jenna and Ben, could she look at the man who’d orchestrated these deaths out of some pathetic revenge scheme and not be tempted to put him in the ground where he belonged?
She'd like to think she was better than that.
But sitting here in her kitchen, with Ben's funeral looming and the memory of finding his body still fresh, Ella wasn't sure she was better than anything at all.
CHAPTER THREE
Ella found Mia Ripley in her backyard, wearing what appeared to be a full beekeeper's suit despite the presence of any beehives.The January air was crisp enough to see her breath, but Ripley seemed unbothered by the cold as she wielded what looked to Ella like a flamethrower.
‘Is that what I think it is?’Ella asked from the porch.
‘Yes.This is a flamethrower.Well, an industrial weed torch.’
‘Why?’
‘Wasps.Got a nest out here.’
‘And you’re going to smoke them out?’
‘Burn them out.The guy at Home Depot said this was overkill, though.’
