“I’ll check, but I don’t think so. Were these physical problems readily apparent?”
“You mean would the killer have noticed it by just observing them?” Tony asked. “No, I don’t believe so.”
“Then I’d mark that down to coincidence, but I’ll still run it by my detective. Sometimes catching these guys is like putting together a puzzle. You’re never sure what piece goes where.”
“You’re right,” Tony agreed. “Will you keep us in the loop? This might be the person who’s been threatening us and Nathan—and who may have killed Kevin Bittner.”
“Sure, not a problem.” Arnie looked back and forth between them. “I’m still hoping for a confession from your Casanova guy. I’ll keep you updated.” He smiled at them. “So do you two plan to solve all of April’s cases?”
Tony shrugged. “That would be nice, but it’s probably unrealistic. Right now, we’re trying to focus on our client, Nathan Hearne. He wants to know what happened to April. If this guy is responsible for these other murders, he may be the one trying to keep us from looking too closely at her cases. Which is good news and bad news.”
“What do you mean?” Arnie asked.
“The good news is that we can give you a profile that should help you find him. The bad news is that if he’s the one who took April, we can be almost certain that she’s dead.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
River had to agree with Tony, but she wished it could be different for Nathan’s sake.
“Before I leave,” Arnie said, “I want to talk to you about this.” He tapped the box.
“I’m not crazy about this plan either,” Tony said. “But we agreed that this was our best option. We have to make certain this ends now. Without any evidence, I can’t come up with a better plan. This may be our only way. At least now we have control, and we’re better off than we were just waiting around for something terrible to happen.”
“I hate to agree, but I do. I just wanted to check with you one more time.”
“I’m convinced it will work,” River said. “I’m confident everything will work out just the way we planned it.”
“All right,” Arnie said. “But be careful and stick to our arrangement.”
“Trust me, we will,” Tony said.
After promising Arnie they’d send him a profile and that they’d also email him everything they had on Shelly and Ted, Arnie left to go back to the station.
He’d only been gone a few minutes when someone else opened the door. A young woman stuck her head inside and asked, “Is River Ryland here?”
“I’m River.”
The woman came inside holding a vase full of white lilies and baby’s breath. She set it down on River’s desk and smiled. “Have a good day,” she said. Then she left.
“What in the world?” River said. She stood up and removed the card from the flower arrangement. When she read it, she looked over at Tony. “Can you guess who this is from?”
“Not a clue. It wasn’t me.” River walked over and handed him the card. Tony’s face flushed and he looked angry. “Sorry for your upcoming loss?” he read. “This makes me furious.”
“I know, but he’s just reminding us he’s around.” River smiled at him. “I’m not afraid of him anymore, Tony. God is teaching me that no matter what, I can rest in Him. I’ve been memorizing Psalm 91. It ends with this: ‘Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With lone life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.’” She put her hand on Tony’s arm. “This guy may think my life is in his hands, but it isn’t. I believe God will deliver me. There are things I want to do. I need to be here for my mother . . . and you. I’m not worried. The only person who should be afraid is the Strangler’s accomplice. He’s almost done.”
Tony nodded. “I’m so proud of you,” he said, his voice husky. “You’ve changed so much. Now you’re the one reminding me that I need to trust God.”
“You showed me how.”
Tony smiled at her. “Should I call the flower shop? See what they can tell us?”
“No. We can do it later if we need to. Besides, you know as well as I do that he paid cash, and he went to a shop without cameras. He’s too smart to have done anything else.”
“All right. We’ll let the police follow up if they need to.”
“Let’s get back to work,” River said, walking back to her desk.
“I’ll start working on that profile,” Tony said. “I think we agree that this is an organized killer. White, probably in his late twenties or early thirties since he has the strength to overpower all of his victims. I’m going to say he probably dresses well and has a good job. He’s reasonably attractive since he was able to get close to all the victims. He doesn’t feel ashamed of his looks. He kills mostly women but will kill a man if he feels drawn to do it. I think Ted was convenient. He was walking along a rather isolated road, and the killer saw an opportunity.”
River looked up from what she was doing. Her training was always there, always working. Always whispering in her ear. There was really no way to turn it off. “So, his compulsion isn’t sexually based, which is unusual. He’s obsessed with something else. He entered an apartment to kill.” She met Tony’s gaze. “That’s the murder the police need to focus on. The one that will lead police to the killer. I think that victim was someone he knew. He departed from his usual MO to murder her.”
“I agree,” Tony said. “He’s clearly a psychopath. Has no compassion. Hasn’t shown any remorse toward his victims.”
“His comfort zone is rather extensive,” River added. “My guess is that he has some kind of job that causes him to travel in Missouri, but not too far from St. Louis. I’d say he used his job to get into the apartment to kill the woman Arnie told us about, but I think he’s too sophisticated to wear a uniform. I think he’d feel it’s below him.”
Tony’s eyes widened. “Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono. They posed as off-duty police officers. That would fit this guy’s MO.”
“It would also explain how he could get close to people,” River said. “And why Shelly pulled off to the side of the road.”
She and Tony stared at each other for a few seconds before River said, “I’m sure Arnie knows this is just guesswork, but I think it could be pretty accurate. But what about the flowers? We don’t see them as a sign of remorse?”
“No, not in this situation. Do you?”
River shook her head. “I don’t think so. The only person holding the flowers was Shelly. Ted was lying on top of them, and they were on the floor of the other woman’s apartment. Lying in an alley next to another body. I think they mean something different.”
“Then could Shelly be the murder that means the most?”
