Page 36 of The Girl He Claimed

It was worse than that, though,because, in that moment, Paige understood what Adam and the ExsanguinationKiller had done. She knew why they'd chosen these victims.

"Look at her,Christopher," Paige said. "Tell me what you see."

"Well, Riker has tied her thesame way that he always does, and-"

Paige shook her head. "No,don't focus on what Adam did. Focus on her. Tell me what you see when you lookat her."

"She's short. She's wearing adark suit that's similar to the other victim's, she has red hair..."

Christopher's eyes widened inunderstanding. He looked at Sadie's face then, really looking at her. As hestudied the features, Paige saw the realization come into his eyes.

"She looks like you,"Christopher said.

"Exactly," Paige replied,nodding at him. Her heart was racing, and she could feel the adrenaline pumpingthrough her veins. "That's why he chose her. That's why they chose both ofthe victims."

"Daniel Beckmeyer is meant tobe me?" Christopher said, with a note of disbelief, or maybe shock, it washard to tell which.

"The resemblance isn'tperfect," Paige said. "But it's there. If you don't look at the face,and you just look at the body type, the hair color, the height, it's closeenough. They even took the time to dress their victims in those suits to makesure their victims resembled us."

"Why do it that way?"Christopher asked. He looked shaken, and Paige could see the remnants of angerin his eyes.

Paige shook her head, trying tofind the right words, but it wasn't easy. She didn't know how to explain howshe felt at that moment. She felt cold, and it wasn't just the temperature inthe room. Her skin felt like it was covered in goosebumps, as if she'd justbeen plunged into ice-cold water. She looked at the dead woman, knowing thatSadie had never stood a chance, tied up like that, unable to fight back.

"They're treating this likesome kind of sick game," Paige said. "Or maybe it's because we're themain thing they have in common when it comes to choosing victims. TheExsanguination Killer has taken people from both of us, and we were bothresponsible for recapturing Adam the last time he escaped."

Whatever the reason, two innocentpeople were dead now. Two people who'd had nothing to do with any of this,whose only crime was to look slightly like Paige and Christopher. She knew thenthat Adam and the Exsanguination Killer weren't going to stop. This was aspersonal to them as it was to Paige and Christopher.

They were going to target everyonearound Paige and Christopher. They were going to kill strangers who looked likethem just to make it clear that this was all about them. They were going tokeep going until they were stopped.

Yet right then, Paige didn't knowhow they were going to stop them. She doubted that there would be a usefulforensic lead anywhere here in the garage, and all their other approaches hadproved to be dead ends.

They were out of options, and thetwo killers were still out there.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"This isn't working,Christopher."

Back in the library, Paige couldn'tescape the conclusion that she and Christopher had failed utterly.

They'd been given the job ofcapturing the Exsanguination Killer. They'd taken on the additional work oftrying to recapture Adam Riker. Yet both were free to keep killing.

"What isn't working?"Christopher asked.

Paige made a sweeping gesture toencompass their entire investigation. "Everything. We have no leads, nosuspects, no idea where to even start looking next. We're running out of timeand we're running out of options."

Christopher leaned back in hischair, folding his arms across his chest. "I understand your frustration,Paige, but we can't give up. We've come too far to just throw in the towelnow."

She slumped back in her chair,feeling defeated. "We're out of ideas, Christopher. We've triedeverything, but we're no closer to catching the Exsanguination Killer than wewere months ago."

Christopher didn't say anything,but Paige could feel his frustration echoing hers. Every lead they'd followedup had turned out to be a dead end. Every suspect they'd brought in had beencleared. Every forensic test the FBI had run had come back negative.

They'd been chasing their tailssince Adam's escape, and they were no closer to catching the two killers. Paigefelt like they were running out of time. How many more innocent people weregoing to die before they caught them?

"We can't give up,"Christopher said, breaking the silence. "I know it's not looking good, butwe owe it to their victims to think of something."

Paige nodded, knowing he was right,but the enormity of the task ahead of them was overwhelming. They were chasingtwo of the most elusive killers in recent history, and worse, those two killersseemed to be fixated on her and Christopher now.

"They killed two peoplebecause of us," Paige said. It was hard to push away the memory of SadieZielinski hanging there in a tangle of ropes, clearly intended to be an effigyof Paige.

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