“Smart,” Kit said.
“Do you know anything about the guy Marco was selling the photos to?” Bishop asked. “His name, or anything else about him?”
“I don’t think he was a student. I think Marco was scared of him, based on the conversation I read.” Joyce chewed her lip. “His name was Ed Addersen. Do you think he could have killed Marco?”
Bishop sat back, stunned.
Across the table, Kit’s wide eyes were equally shocked. Because unless there were two lowlifes named Ed Addersen in San Corvo, this guy couldn’t have killed Marco Fernandez.
Bishop had already shot him in the head.
29
“Do you think it’s really a coincidence?”
Kit had never seen Bishop this rattled. Maybe Bishop had just neverletKit see him this rattled. Back in the car, Bishop turned the key to get the AC going, but made no move to back out of the space. He only buckled his seatbelt after twenty seconds of the system’s insistent beeping.
“You killed Ed,” Kit said. His wrist stung and his hands itched, and he shoved them in his pockets. “Or James did.”
“I did.” Bishop stared into the distance. “What do you know about him?”
Kit tucked one leg up on the seat. He wasn’t as freaked out as he maybe should be. Talking about the massacre he met Bishop in. Thinking about Joyce’s photos spread and sold against her will. Focusing on the case and figuring out the puzzle pieces was strangely grounding.
He liked having a way to help. He wasn’t spiraling.
No need to claw up his own skin.
“I don’t know much about him,” Kit said truthfully. He’d known Ed for ages, but never talked business. “I stayed at his place, but so did a bunch of people. We didn’t talk much. He offered me coke a few times, but I don’t do coke.”
“Good,” Bishop murmured.
Kit would love to accept the approval, but that felt dishonest. “I’m not good. I just tried it once and it didn’t do anything for me, so I’d rather use drugs I know I like.”
Bishop’s blank, distant stare snapped back to Kit. His mouth twitched like he was suppressing a laugh. “All right, kid, you’re very bad and you’re grounded. Do you know anything else about Ed?”
Kit frowned. “He was a really bad DJ.”
They both fell quiet.
Outside Bishop’s car, the little apartment complex was serene. Trees rustled in a faint breeze, and traffic on the nearby through-street was just distant background noise.
“This is weird, isn’t it?” Kit asked. “Like, it’s really weird that you killed Ed, and now you’re investigating this case, and it turns out Ed was involved with the victims. Do you think it’s really a coincidence?”
Bishop sighed and put the car in reverse. “I don’t think anything yet. It could be a coincidence, or it could be the key to everything. But developing a theory too early blinds you to other evidence. We need more information. I’ll have James look into what Ed might have been doing with these college kids’ photos.”
Kit couldn’t help liking the way Bishop saidwe. He much preferred being on Bishop’s side for something like this, instead of being the suspect at the other end of Bishop’s questioning.
“It’s also weird that there haven’t been any other murders,” Kit said as they pulled onto the street. “Unless there are others nobody noticed, the killer stopped after three.”
Bishop was fully relaxed now. Back in his element, after the shock of Ed’s name coming up. “I wouldn’t call that weird. It’s informative. The murders seemed like they were escalating—first a lowkey fake suicide. Then a clear murder with post-mortem mutilation. Then another murder with pre-mortem torture. But the fact that he stopped proves he isn’t out of control. Maybe he’s spooked by the police attention.”
“Or he might have left town,” Kit pointed out. “Or he already got what he wanted.”
Kit couldn’t shake the sense he’d gotten from first looking at the crime scene photos. The escalating grisliness. The murders weren’t random. They were violent, but not deranged. Victor showed no sign of a struggle, of course. But the other two didn’t look like they had a chance to struggle either. The killer kept careful control over each of them, before and after he killed them.
His only mistake was leaving the bodies to be found, and killing a group of friends similarly enough to be connected. Except Kit wasn’t sure that was a mistake.
Did this murderer want to be found? Did he need the attention, or something else?
