Page 5 of The Girl He Claimed

Agent Sauer walked into the conferenceroom. He was a slender man in his forties. He had a dark beard that did littleto disguise his general look of disapproval at the world. He was wearing a muchmore expensive suit than either Paige or Christopher dark, but with a faintlight grey pinstripe.

"King, you're here,” he said. “Good.We can get started."

There was no more discussion ofPaige's assessment, no pause to ask how she was doing. Sauer was all businessright then.

Agent Sauer went over to a largescreen at one side, using it to pull up what were presumably crime scenephotographs.

"As you both know,” he began, “theExsanguination Killer has been on our radar for years. He... sorry, she, haskilled at least a dozen victims that we know of, and we suspect there are morethat we haven't found yet."

The detail of the killer's sex hadbeen one that Paige had been able to supply. She'd gotten that detail from AdamRiker. He'd let it slip, along with the fact that he'd met her in the St JustInstitute.

That visit had been the one to costChristopher's wife, Jennifer, her life. Adam had informed the ExsanguinationKiller that Paige was asking questions, and the Exsanguination Killer hadretaliated. It hadn't mattered to the killer that she and Christopher had beenin the process of divorcing one another or that she had nothing to do with anyof this. She'd simply been a way to hurt Christopher and, through him, Paige.

Paige tried to keep her focus onthe case and tried to push aside the memories of her father's death at thehands of the same killer, but it was difficult. She could feel the angerbuilding inside of her, the desire for justice.

"Who's the latestvictim?" Christopher asked, his voice filled with concern.

Sauer clicked a button on theremote he carried, and a photograph of a young man appeared on the screen. Hewas thin and pale, with shoulder-length dark hair and angular features. He'dbeen tied in place, somewhere out in the open. There was a dark stain aroundhim that Paige knew had to be blood.

"This is Jacob Matthews,” Sauersaid. “Twenty-four years old. He was a student at the local college. His bodywas found near a hiking trail outside of town, drained of blood like theothers."

Paige felt a chill run down herspine. It was as if the killer was taunting them, leaving the bodies out in theopen for anyone to find. Yet that wasn't the only reason for doing it that way.Paige knew that the Exsanguination Killer liked how much easier that made it toavoid leaving forensic evidence behind.

"He was killed close to a weekago," Sauer said. "He was found by a couple of young hikers."

"Why are we only just learningabout the case now, sir?" Paige asked.

Sauer gave her a serious look."Honestly, King? Because I wanted to try other agents on this first. Ididn't trust you and Marriott to be objective about this. I was worried thatyour involvement in the case would mean that any suspect we arrested would walkfree the moment their lawyers heard about you two."

Paige bit back an angry response.She knew that Sauer had a point. Her personal connections to the case couldcompromise their investigation. But it still stung to hear him say it sobluntly when she wanted this so badly.

Christopher, however, was lesstactful: ”Sir, with all due respect, we have more motivation to catch thiskiller than anyone else. We're the ones who know the most about the killer's MOand behavior. Paige has been studying her for longer than anyone. If anyone cancatch her, it's us."

"And your personal feelingsabout the killer?" Sauer said.

Christopher spoke up before Paigecould; his voice was calm but firm, "We understand your concerns, sir, butwe're both professionals. We can keep our personal feelings in check in orderto solve this case."

Sauer nodded. "That's good tohear, because I've reached the point with this where I'm ready to take a chanceon the two of you. No one else has been able to make any progress on this. Thesmall snippets of information you gave us, King, represent more than we'vegotten on this killer in a decade."

Paige wasn't sure whether to feelpride or disappointment at that. She had hoped that the FBI would be able tocome up with more, given the information she'd provided them with. A part ofher had hoped that they might be on the verge of catching the killer.

"What happened with AnneDawson?" Paige asked. Dawson was the name Paige had come up with bylooking through patient records at the St Just Institute to try to find a womanwho could have met Adam Riker and who fit the likely profile of theExsanguination Killer.

"She's still in custody forattacking our agents when we went to question her," Sauer said. He wavedoff the suggestion. "Which means she couldn't have committed this mostrecent murder. She can't be the killer we're looking for."

Paige nodded reluctantly. Anotherthought came to her, one that made her worry.

"Okay, it isn't her, but it'ssomeone. And there's another problem with this. This is the ExsanguinationKiller's third kill in a row."

There had been a kill more than amonth ago, then Jennifer, and now this young man, Jacob Matthews.

"And that's a problem because…?"

"Because the ExsanguinationKiller typically commits three murders and then disappears for a while,"Paige said. "She has a pattern and she sticks to it."

Her MO was well established. It hadbeen a key component of the way she killed ever since that day eleven years agowhen she'd killed Paige's father. It meant that even now, she could be jettingoff to the other side of the world for the next few months, or even years. Theymight never catch her.

"As far as I'm concerned,that's a good thing," Sauer said. "We know that there aren't likelyto be more victims, and we have plenty of time to identify her."

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