Page 6 of The Girl He Crowned

“The most obvioussymbolism is to do with time,” Paige said. “This could be the killer’s way ofsaying that time is running out for the victims. I assume those pendulums werethe murder weapon?”

Sauer shook hishead, though. “There’s no sign of the victims’ DNA on them.”

“So maybe another,like that?” Paige suggested. “Maybe it’s so meaningful to the killer that hehas to carry one around with him? There are essentially two ways that thisgoes. For a lot of serial killers, the symbolism matters to them more than anythingelse. They feel the need to express their inner turmoil in a way that’s uniqueto them. For others, though, it’s a deliberate effect, designed to besensational. Even so, there’s the question of why they choose one symbol overanother. My own studies suggest that even in those cases, the choice of symbolmay have deeper roots than even the killer knows. As for which it is in thiscase, I don’t know at this stage.”

Sauer sighed. “Iwas hoping for more, Agent King.”

Paige had heardher boss disappointed with her before after the business in Lexington, but itwas still a strange feeling. She wanted to impress him, wanted to prove thatshe was worthy of being on this team, but at the same time, she was a littleannoyed, because she would have thought that the murderers she’d brought in sofar would have already proven that.

She knew now thatshe couldn’t tell him what she’d found out from Adam.

“We’ll find moreonce we’re on the ground,” Christopher said.

“I hope so,” Sauerreplied. “And this time, you need to do it in ways that don’t potentiallyendanger yourselves and the public.”

“Sir?” Paige said,because that caught her by surprise. “Is this about Lexington?”

Sauer gave her alevel look, as if considering exactly what he should say next. “Lexington, butalso your other cases together. Agent Marriott has been a solid agent in hiscareer to date, but it seems that from the moment the two of you startedworking together, things have become much more… unorthodox.”

He made that soundlike something distasteful. Knowing Sauer, he was probably thinking aboutnegative headlines in the media.

“Sir, I’m not surethat’s a fair characterization,” Christopher said.

Sauer fixed themboth with a direct look. “In what way is it unfair, Agent? On your first casetogether, when Agent King was still a civilian, she went ahead of you to meetwith a serial killer, placing herself in danger. Since then, the two of youseem to have been placed in a number of avoidable dangerous situations,culminating in Lexington, where Agent King took it upon herself to taunt akiller, not foreseeing what the consequences of that might be.”

“We caught thekiller,” Paige pointed out. That was the part that mattered, surely?

“And that is theonly reason you still have a job,” Agent Sauer snapped back. “But I still don’tlike the methods you used. We are here to keep the public safe, not to put themin greater danger. On your last case, you rode around a Renaissance Faire,shooting at one of the knights, who didn’t even prove to be the killer.”

“I fired once, tostartle his horse,” Paige said, “not at the rider.”

“And if he’d diedwhen he fell from it?” Sauer did not look happy. “I have to tell you both that Iam going to be asking for a performance review into your work, to assesswhether you should still work together, and frankly, whether there is still aplace for you on this team.”

“Sir-” Christopherbegan, in a slightly horrified tone.

It matched how Paigefelt right then. She couldn’t imagine being reassigned somewhere else,especially not when this was the only place where she might have a chance of bringingthe Exsanguination Killer to justice. She couldn’t imagine being split up fromChristopher, either.

“No, I don’t wantto hear it,” Sauer said. “I’ve set the process in motion. If you don’t thinkit’s fair, prove me wrong. Get over to Eddis, Illinois, and catch this killer.The local sheriff’s department will be waiting for you at the crime scene whenyou hit the ground.”

Paige swallowedback her sudden anger at those words. Sauer wasn’t even giving them a chance toargue their case or fight the review. Instead, they had to go chase after anotherkiller and just hope that everything would be all right. The only thing Paigeand Christopher could do now was to succeed in their jobs. Maybe if theybrought another killer to justice, it would be enough to persuade Sauer thatthey were too valuable an asset to simply throw away. If they could convincehim that they were the best team to keep catching serial killers, then maybethings would be all right with the performance review.

Or maybe not.Maybe nothing could persuade him to let them keep working together at thispoint. Right now, Paige couldn’t think like that. There was still a killer outthere in Illinois, and if Paige and Christopher were going to catch him beforehe killed again, they had to get there as soon as possible.

“And Agents,”Sauer said. “Be careful in Eddis. It’s the kind of place where Idon’twantto hear that you’ve been ruffling too many feathers.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“Is it just me, oris there something different about this town?” Paige asked, as she andChristopher drove into Eddis from the airport.

When Paige firstsaw it, Eddis looked like the kind of small town she was used to from her lifeback in Virginia. It was the kind of place that existed because farms andbusinesses out in the wider area beyond needed somewhere to act as a centralhub, and because there was some local industry on the outskirts that employed alot of the people there. At first glance, it seemed the same as a hundred othertowns just like it.

Yet one thingseemed to be different about Eddis; it was remarkably wealthy looking in places.It wasn’t that everything was perfect; Paige could see the usual run-downstores and dingy back alleys here and there. It was just that she could alsosee historic looking buildings almost everywhere, and a surprising number ofboth people and cars that screamed wealth. There were easily as many expensivecars there as Paige ever saw on the streets of Washington, D.C., and that wassaying something, when this was meant to be just some small town. There seemedto be a lot of mansions and expensive townhouses as well.

Plenty of peopleon the street were normal looking, but there were also at least as many whodressed and looked like they were on TV, or maybe just wealthy investmentbankers. Just the sight of them was enough to make Paige more than a littleself-conscious about her appearance.

Even some thestores around the town spoke to that wealth. While there were still the usual conveniencestores and diners aimed at attracting a local crowd and trying to persuade themnot to drive to the next city over, Paige also saw rows of couturiers andantique stores, fine dining restaurants and lawyers’ offices.

Christopher shookhis head. “It’s not just you. Remember Sauer’s warning about not upsetting toomany people here? I guess this is one of the reasons why.”

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