Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“I was referring more to the same city than the same neighborhood.” He paused. “But to take it a step further, the place that brought these two victims to the killer’s attention overlaps somehow. This killer chose those two women because he knew their past. He knew their failures. How? Who is he or what does he do that would have brought him into contact with both? Or in what way is he connected to them?”
Sienna gave him a small smile and a nod. Yes, they still needed more information about the two women’s pasts. But they were still sifting through the details of their present. Where did they go on weekends . . . where did they get coffee . . . did they use the same gym? She and Kat were buried in lists and didn’t have enough manpower to sift through any of it quickly.
“Can we talk about the letters?” Kat asked.
“Yes. I’ve read through them all once,” Professor Vitucci said. “I’d like to go over them again, since he left clues in the copy. It’s always possible to see something on a second read that wasn’t caught on the first.” The professor frowned. “However, I hesitate to use the letters as a significant part of the profile. Something feels off about them,” he said. “For example, what mother, while doing chores around the home, wears a sexy red vest?”
“So you got the Oedipus vibe too,” Kat said.
He shot her a half smile but paused, seeming to consider that. “Perhaps it is him romanticizing her. Perhaps not. He is playing games, as we already know. To what extent, I’m not entirely sure. I’d keep an open mind. Because as we also know, there is truth mixed in.”
The truth that they knew of was the existence of Mr. Patches and likely, considering his verifiable “hobbies,” what he’d done to Danny Boy under the guise of “tutoring sessions.”
“Other than playing games with law enforcement for his own amusement or as a power play,” Sienna said, “do you think there are other reasons for these writings? Kat and I have wondered if he’s trying to explain himself. Do they hint at him feeling remorse?”
“There is likely some of that mixed in there, yes. Or a desire to be understood. He’s telling us something with his writings that he’s not necessarily saying outright. In some sense I’d wager he’s hoping you see through his lies, in order that you understand the truth.”
Sienna worried her lip, not entirely sure she understood that statement, so she wrote it down as Detective Harris asked a question about the forensics of the notes and Kat answered.
Professor Vitucci glanced at his watch. “I’m sorry to say I’ll have to leave in a few minutes as I have an appointment. But please feel free to contact me with any follow-ups. Are there any last questions before I go?”
“Just one,” Sienna said. “The medical examiner confirmed this morning that the first victim, Sheldon Biel, was stabbed to death, as described in the writings. The second two, the recent victims, were strangled. Does this speak to the fact that he’s trying to differentiate himself from his mother? Is there anything to deduce from that?”
“There is definitely differentiation between the killing of Sheldon Biel and the killings of the two recent victims. I would say the main difference, regardless of the two separate killers, is the rage present during the teacher’s murder.”
“Which makes sense since the guy was raping her son on their kitchen table when she walked in the room,” Kat said, and even though Sienna was looking at Professor Vitucci, she heard the grit in Kat’s tone as though her jaw was tight as she said the words.
“Yes, that kind of rage certainly makes sense given the circumstances,” Professor Vitucci confirmed. “The strangulation killings, however, do not denote quite the same amount of passion. Hatred, yes; passion, no. Generally speaking, stabbings are killings of passion, while strangulation is premeditated.”
Which aligned with Danny Boy’s story thus far.
Ingrid stood, walked to the front of the room, and shook Professor Vitucci’s hand as they each got up to thank him personally as well. Professor Vitucci bid them all goodbye, and Sienna sat back down, thinking over everything he’d said and going through the few notes she’d written. Something was racing in and out of the tunnels in her mind, but she couldn’t capture it. What she did know was that if what Professor Vitucci had said about this killer was correct, there would be more victims.
And as of right then, there was nothing they could do but wait for him to strike.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Sienna swallowed, shifting on her feet as she pressed the buzzer. The home was lovely. A Mediterranean style with two tall palm trees flanking the start of the walkway, and more palms rising behind the house. Sienna hadn’t necessarily missed a lot about Reno, landscapewise, or at least she hadn’t realized she had, but she suddenly realized she’d missed the palm trees, somehow casually majestic—whether an oxymoron or not, to her, it fit. And the desert sunsets, she thought, tilting her head to the sky, like the one flaming above me right this moment.