Page 32 of The Girl He Crowned

There wasn’t anysign of something like that, though, and the FBI’s systems didn’t suggest thatthere were any organized groups in the area targeting the rich. The symbol ofthe pendulum didn’t even factor into any groups further off.

That suggestedthat it might be a blind alley, but Paige kept searching, wanting to be sure. Thewomen’s wealth was one of their main linking factors, so Paige had a hard timebelieving that it playednorole in their selection as potentialvictims.

She started towrite notes, trying to determine what that said about the killer.

Obsession with wealth,or coincidence?

No, Paige couldn’tbelieve that it was truly just a coincidence. There had to be some link betweenthe killer’s motive and the fact that they had money.

A killer who hateswealthy women? Maybe someone who grew up poor, or who had wealth and then lostit?

It was just ahypothesis, but it felt right. It felt as though the killer had to have someissue with the fact that these women had wealth, or why not target other womenas well? If anything, that would be easier; a killer who targeted those on thefringes of society could potentially go unnoticed for months.

Maybe that was thepoint, though. By targeting wealthy, young, good looking women, the killerguaranteed that his crimes would get coverage.

Element of wantingto be seen? Wanting fame?

No, that didn’tfeel quite right. The pendulum seemed symbolic, but there was no attempt tograb attention for himself. There had been no attempt to contact the police, noattempt to boast about how easily he could kill.

Paige could feel awave of frustration rising in her. None of it seemed like enough. It didn’tseem specific enough to let Paige track down a potential killer, didn’t seem asthough there was a direct connection between any of the things she’d thought ofbefore and the man who had committed these crimes.

Paige foundherself wondering about the two pieces of physical evidence they had. Thegloves were a dead end for now. They would be useful if they found a goodsuspect, as a way of linking them definitively to the crime, but it wasn’t asif they could just go around Eddis until they found a set of gloves thatmatched the fibers that had been recovered from the scenes like some violentversion of Cinderella.

The pendulumsseemed like the main piece of evidence left in the case. They also seemed likethe best way of getting into the head of the killer.

The pendulums hadto mean something to him, or why take such trouble to set up the scenes as hedid? Maybe it was just a reference to the idea of time running out for hisvictims, but Paige wanted to believe that it was more than that. The pendulumsmattered.

The question nowwas how she was going to find out more about pendulums.

If there was oneskill Paige had learned in the course of completing a Ph.D., it was how to findan expert on an obscure subject. Every subject had its specialists, and mostspecialists were happy to share their knowledge with people who were genuinelyinterested.

Paige went lookingonline for books on the subject of clocks. It wasn’t hard to find them. Therewere books on everything out there in print, with people willing to write abouttheir particular interest, regardless of what it was.

It wasn’t longbefore Paige found at least a dozen books on the subject, but that was where ithelped to have the experience of research on her side. She looked for Americanauthors, who might be contactable, and then looked for their author websites.Almost every author had a website these days.

Paige went throughthem until she found contact details, and then used the FBI’s systems to parlaythose details into a phone number that she could use. Picking the author of oneof the more recent books, she made a call to one W.E. Morris, supposedly aleading expert on antique timepieces of all kinds.

A woman’s voiceanswered the phone after a couple of rings. “Yes? Who is this?”

“Is this W.E.Morris?”

“This is WynterMorris, yes. Whoisthis, please?”

“I’m Agent PaigeKing, with the FBI,” Paige explained. “And I’m currently working on a case thatinvolves pendulums. I was hoping to ask you a couple of questions aboutpendulums we’ve found, and the kind of clock that one of them might have comefrom. Do you think you might be able to identify a clock from its pendulum?”

“Maybe,” Wyntersaid. “You’d have to send me a picture.”

Paige sent acrossa picture of the pendulum from the Melody Smythe crime scene, then, on a whim,included pictures of the ones from the other scenes as well.

“Obviously, thefirst couple are just meant to look like pendulums,” Paige said, “but-”

“Why obviously?”Wynter asked.

“You think theyweren’t?”

“I think thatthose are perfectly viable pendulums,” Wynter said. “More than that, I thinkthat they’re from the same kind of custom longcase clock as the first.”

“The same kind?You’re sure?” Paige asked.

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