Page 74 of Alex Cross Must Die

“Three people,” she replied, handing him a folded slip of paper. He opened it, glanced at it, then tore it into pieces, letting the scraps flutter into the water.

“They’re kidding with the names, right?”

“I’m not sure,” said Grey. “They’re PIs. Smart. Highly skilled. And no tracks at all. Like they appeared from Mars. And they’re all totally dark on social.”

“Nothing from facial recognition?”

“All that shows up are their driver’s licenses.”

“Fakes?”

“The best.”

“DNA?”

“No matches. They’re not in the database.”

“I’ll see what I can find.”

Grey cleared her throat. “Tread lightly, please.”

The man leaned in to look Helene in the eye. She turned away. But not fast enough.

He smiled. “Which one are you sleeping with?”

Grey stared out over the water.

“Sorry, Helene,” he said. “That was inelegant.”

“Good to see you again, Raymond,” she said, gazing at Lady Liberty.

When she turned back, he was gone.

CHAPTER 82

“OH, MY GOD!This istrue?”

Virginia wheeled her office chair closer. She was clutching a copy of Nelson Siglik’s confession. Her eyes were wide. Marple was sitting with her partners in the common area a few yards away, happy to have the office back to normal.

“What part?” Marple asked.

“Allof it! This really happened?”

“It’s a sworn statement,” said Holmes. “And the evidence backs it up.”

Even Marple was amazed at how quickly it had all happened. The Sigliks had not even requested a lawyer. They understood the evidence. They were both smart enough to know how hard it would be to fake insanity. And they refused to turn on each other. Brothers to the end.

In return for full confessions to multiple homicides and providing the identities of their victims, they asked for only one thing: to be assigned to the same prison and the same cellblock. Never separated for the entire length of their sentences, which would no doubt bethe rest of their natural lives. It was the easiest deal the DA had ever made.

Marple listened as Virginia read aloud from Nelson’s statement, which matched his brother’s in every important detail.

“‘Suspect states that he knew his father, Aldrich Siglik, to have committed multiple homicides of men and women and that his father frequently displayed bodies to him and his brother in the basement of the family funeral home and discussed with them techniques of dismemberment and …’” She stumbled over the next word. “… ‘excarnation’?”

“Flesh removal,” said Poe.

Holmes leaned forward in his chair. “Daddy was desensitizing the boys. Grooming them. Training them to follow in the family business. Therealfamily business.”

Virginia went back to reading. “‘Suspect states that at age eight, he and his brother witnessed the strangulation murder of their mother, Anna Siglik, by their father, Aldrich Siglik, at their Brooklyn address and were then made to assist in the dismemberment and disposal of her body …’”

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