Page 36 of Bad Mother

“You lied by omission. You made it sound like she’d died of natural causes. But she wasstonedto death.”

Another pause. “Yes. She was stoned to death by degenerates who were probably high on drugs or alcohol or just the thrill of hurting a creature weaker than them. It was terrible, and it was cruel, and I thought I’d spare you—”

“You thought you’dspareme?” She laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. In fact, it sounded—and felt—oddly like a sob. “You thoughtyou’ddecide what I could and could not handle and lie accordingly? Is that it?”

“Sienna.” His tone had gentled as though he had realized he was talking to a crazy person and didn’t want to say anything too loudly or with the wrong inflection and risk sending her over the edge. “Yes. I’m sorry it upsets you to know I left that out. It was the first time I’d seen you in eleven damn years, and I didn’t want to talk about animal cruelty.”

Animal cruelty.She’d seen a dead woman who’d been strangled to death tonight, posed in a used-needle-and-condom-laden alley, and it was the knowledge of aswan’smurder that had sent her for an emotional loop.God, I’m tired.As suddenly as her emotions had flared, they drained away, leaving her feeling listless and defeated. Embarrassed. She sighed, sinking back against the wall.

“I’m not weak and prone to hysterics, Gavin. You didn’t have to worry about me making a scene.” She attempted to insert some steel into her tone but could hear that she’d barely managedtin.

“Are we really talking about swans?” Gavin asked softly.

Sienna closed her eyes, grimacing. No, maybe they weren’t. And despite her assertion about not being prone to hysterics, she was currently acting less than grounded. Her emotions felt twisted, her thoughts convoluted. She blew out a long breath. “Listen... I’m sorry. I just got home, and I’m exhausted. I went online to find out where Otis might be... if he was still close by... anyway, calling you was inappropriate.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you called me.” She heard a man say his name, and the boisterous sounds that had been in the background when he’d first picked up blasted in the background again as though the door to wherever he’d gone had opened. “Hey, hold on a minute. I’m at work and—”

“You go. Clearly, I need to get to bed anyway. I apologize for interrupting you.”

“Sienna, if you—”

“Good night, Gavin.” She disconnected the call and then stood and headed into her room to put herself to bed. This day needed to end.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Her name is Bernadette Murray, otherwise known as Queen Bee, after a wig store she owned and operated that goes by the same name,” Ingrid said.

“Queen...Bee?” Sienna repeated. “The metal bee, and the chess piece,” she said as realization hit. “Clever.”

“Isn’t it?” Ingrid asked, though her tone sounded less impressed than annoyed. “Her sister called to report that she didn’t show for a family event two days ago. She gave it a day, thinking she just forgot, but when Bernadette still wasn’t answering her personal or work phone, she called the police.”

Sienna nodded, grateful that at least putting the bee and the chess piece clues together hadn’t had them running all over town.

So now they had a name. One move forward.

“Do we know anything about her yet?” Sienna asked. Ingrid and Sienna had gotten to the station a couple of hours earlier, but Kat was still at the ME’s office.

“Not yet, but I’m having some information pulled on her now.”

Sienna worried her lip for a moment. “He’s planning all of this way in advance,” she said, thinking. “We found the bee days ago. We couldn’t have put it together without the chess piece, but it means he had her in his sights, even then. These are not random victims.”

“No. Definitely not.”

The door opened, and Kat breezed in, waving a few sheets of paper in the air. She dumped all her things—purse, briefcase, and what looked like lunch in a brown paper sack—on the table. “We’ve been gifted with another installment,” she said, handing Sienna the papers. “Art found these folded and tucked under the victim’s wig.” Sienna’s eyes widened as she took the papers Kat offered, glancing down to confirm they were what she assumed they were—copies of the continuation of their suspect’s life story.More.Of course there was more. She’d known this guy wasn’t done. She and the criminalists had searched the crime scene, and the criminalists had done a quick check of the victim’s clothes before she’d been packed up in a body bag and driven away. But they hadn’t thought to look beneath her wig. She blew out a breath as Kat handed Ingrid her own copies. “The actual notes are at the lab, but—”

“We shouldn’t expect there are any more fingerprints on these ones than were on any of the others,” Ingrid finished.

“Correct. This guy is careful.”

“So far,” Sienna murmured.

“Ah, very optimistic attitude,” Kat noted. “I like it.”

“I’ll try to keep it.” Sienna smiled. “Thanks for meeting with the ME. We have some information on the victim.” And then she relayed what Ingrid had told her about the woman’s name and the shop she owned.

“No shit. Queen Bee. Okay. Well, that saves us some mental gymnastics.”

“What else did Art give you?” Ingrid asked.