Page 4 of In His Sights

I shivered. There would be time enough to dwell on Marius. The elation was still overwhelming. Another one gone.

I was in no hurry. My days had taken on a familiar pattern.

Erase one of those sluts from the planet.

Watch the news.

Add more names to the list.

Cross off the names of those who’d eliminated themselves.

Lay the groundwork for the next one.

Wash, rinse, repeat….

Only seventeen more to go. Seventeen men, out of a field rich with possibilities. The world would be all the better for the loss of those twenty-two souls. I’d have preferred a total of twenty-six, but it wouldn’t fit.

Then again….

I might change my mind when I reach twenty-two. There are plenty of men to choose from, after all. And why stop if I’m getting away with it?

I gazed at the photo that took center stage, framed with bare wall, the images of my victims—actual and potential—kept at a distance so as not to taint it with their presence. Men like them had tainted him enough.

They’re going to pay for what they did. And I’ve got nothing but time.

My gaze alighted on the image I’d already picked out. A definite possibility. My only difficulty?

I’d waited five months between victims, and it had been torture. It didn’t matter that it had been the shortest time span thus far. I didn’t think I could wait that long again. Not while the heightened emotions of the kill lingered still. Not with all those faces staring at me from the wall.

Not withhisface gazing at me. His voice in my head.

“I’m doing this for you,” I whispered. “To avenge you.”

I had another motive too, one that suffocated me, haunted me, but I knew of one way to assuage that emotion.

I smiled at the image I’d selected. A handsome face with bright eyes and a firm jaw.

“You’re next.”

Chapter 3

Wednesday, May 16

DEL ARCHEDhis eyebrows as Gary walked into the morgue. “I thought I’d have seen you earlier than this. You’re three hours late.” He gestured to the sewn-up Y-incision. “Or did you stop by to complement me on my needlework?”

“I’m here for the edited highlights.”

Marius Eisler lay on his back, the Y-incision the only visible evidence of the autopsy. Gary had watched Del at work on a couple of occasions and knew the reinforced thick twine that closed Del’s cuts concealed the heavy-duty, leak-proof plastic bag containing the organs, hidden from sight in the empty chest cavity.

“Body fluids have already gone to Toxicology, but we know what I’m looking for.”

“Your initial findings?” Gary knew better than to ask for more than that: It would be a while before the full autopsy report was finalized.

“As you correctly surmised, the letter was carved into the skin prior to death.” Del’s gaze bored into him. “And we know this how?”

“By the wound. Prior to death, the heart is working and blood is sent there. It has a different color, and the wound is significantly bloodier. After death, it’s paler, more… withered, and there’s less blood.”

Del smiled. “Full marks, Detective. Good to know you’ve been listening. Although I’d expect nothing less from one of Boston’s finest homicide detectives.”

---