“Indeed, Detective.”
“We’ll catch him again,” Rex says.There’s a bleak finality to his tone that makes me turn to him.Earlier, he tried to comfort me.Now he looks solemn, like a man who’s just learned he’s been conscripted to go to war.
The letters all have the same handwriting, a spidery scrawl that gets wilder and harder to read in the latest letters.The latest one readsI’m coming for youin barely legible script.I fight the urge to take a step back.My stomach twists like I’m going to vomit, but I force myself to swallow.“He’s unraveling.”
“He’s fixated on you,” Rex says.“Has he ever had any contact with you outside of...”
“The night he came for my family?No.”I step away from the letters and suck in air.Maybe I will be sick.“It’s a delusion.”I suddenly get a whiff of something foul and turn my head, coughing.“What’s that smell?”
“Smoke and rot,” Hamish says.“The paper is saturated in those scents.”
“You said the paper stock was old,” I say.“Could it be from BK’s original hideout in the warehouse?”
“The one that burned down, supposedly with him in it?Perhaps.Hamish?”
“I’ll see if I can run that particulate analysis, sir.”Hamish presses a button, and a lab machine on wheels rolls forward to insert robotic arms into the protective case.“I’ll have to take another sample.”
This goes against all my training on chain of custody for evidence, but I have to admit that Rex has an advanced lab.I don’t like it, but if he can uncover more clues faster, it’ll be worth it.All that matters is stopping the Bondage Killer before he strikes again.
The scent of smoke coats my lungs.It’s more than a smell; it’s a taint soaking into my pores.The sensation is mostly psychosomatic, but I pace to the end of the glass cubicle to suck in some fresh air.The lair has great air circulation for being underground.
Rex follows me.“Are you all right?”He hovers at my side.
I rub a hand over my face as if I can wipe the psychic stink away.“A madman has come back from the dead to kill more people to get to me.I won’t be all right until he’s stopped.”
“He will be stopped,” he vows.“One way or another.”
“Everyone thought he died in the fire.”I never realized how much that comforted me.My family was gone forever, but the murderer met his karmic end.I could breathe easier, knowing that the case was closed.
Now, I feel like all hope has vanished.
I want to lean into Rex and accept his comfort, but I don’t.No more.I can’t allow myself to indulge in him.
“Inara,” Rex hesitates, as if choosing his words carefully.“Have you sensed anything since moving to New Rome?Anything strange, like the feeling of being watched?”
“Yes.”I give a bitter, broken laugh.“But I thought I was you.”Some of it was him.The body of my attacker on my doorstep, the gift box left on my desk—they were Rex’s doing.I didn’t realize another killer was also stalking me.“Where did you find the letters?”
“They were in your mailbox.A whole stack, all together.No envelope, so they had to be hand-delivered.”
I shudder.The Bondage Killer was at my apartment.On my front stoop.“He must have been writing them and waiting until he found where I lived to deliver them.”
“You’re sure it’s him?The original Bondage Killer and not a copycat?”
“It’s him,” I don’t think before I reply.“I don’t have proof, but I know it.”My psychic senses tell me it’s the same man who entered my bedroom all those years ago.
“All right.”Rex doesn’t ask how I know, he just takes me at my word.And it would be heartwarming, having him believe me without having to expose my secrets, if the reality wasn’t so horrific.“We’ll look for a connection, see what we find that can help us catch him now.How he could have escaped the burning warehouse and lived and what he’s been up to all this time.”
“Thank you.”I glance back at the cubicle where Hamish is bent over a microscope.
Rex puts his hand on my back.The heat from his large hand should comfort me, but it only makes me realize how chilly I am.“One more round of tests, and we’ll send them to the precinct.”
“When will the testing be done?”
“In another few hours.The crime labs are backlogged.This is the most expedient solution.”
“All right.”I want to get to work as soon as possible, but Rex is right.I’m uncomfortable with breaking the rules, but if unconventional methods are the best chance of stopping the Bondage Killer, I’m all for it.We don’t have much time.
He’s going to kill again, and soon.I know it.
