"Tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Maybe the next. They were a bit reluctant to turn it over. Still open state case. They are wanting the glory, I think. Shayna's in the bio lab if your peeps need anything processed," Kelly said. "I'm heading out, but she'll be here until eight."
"I'll let her know if something comes up."
Chapter 31
This time Knight had been the one to pick the diner. There was a small place on the main drag downtown that he’d thought she’d like—and they’d gotten takeout. Knight wouldn’t admit it to her, but he had started indulging her little fascination with diners everywhere they went. He strongly suspected she was keeping notes on each of them—for some weird Miranda-project someday.
It was harmless and it made her happy. And it was just food. He didn’t care where it was they ate as long as it was reasonably good food and reasonably priced. She had her container pushed to one side now, and her phone full of notes right in front of her while she finished the last of her…tater tots, extra ketchup.
Now she was curled up on the foot of the extra bed in his room, her food beside her. While she looked at him. Knight wasn’t exactly certain how they’d ended up in his room again. They just had.
It was a dangerous place to be in.
But he was going to do his damnedest to keep it professional. No matter what.
"The fixation was already there before that night," she said. “I think he had a plan well in advance. And I really do think it was Aimee he was after. Nothing shows us differently. And…if Dani’s cases are connected—he was after the mother when he knocked out that teenager. He could have been after the older man’s daughter; Dani noted she stayed there sometimes and was near Aimee’s age. And the woman he shot that survived was thirty-six. All fit a bit of a pattern—taller, athletic build, mid-thirties, and long, light-to-medium colored hair.”
“If it’s the same killer, and it’s a bit of a stretch—but possible—he has a type. And he preselects.” Which narrowed their profile even more. Dani was on to something—the woman had very strong instincts when it came to people, even though she claimed computers were her superpower. “And he has a geographical profile.”
“I wonder how long it took him to be triggered, plan the attack, and then execute? Because something had to trigger him.” Big green eyes looked up at him. The woman had power in those eyes, no denying that.
“Won’t know until we have him.”
“Every action he took looks to be precise and deliberate. Almost militarily organized. I’m sticking with the belief he’s former military. We should have Dani cross-reference our potential pool for military experience. Probably higher ranking than little Petey was. Trust me, I have seen enough military men in my day to know how they do things. My father even executes a plan when it comes time to setting the table, Knight. Marin used to go behind him when he’d be visiting at the inn and turn all the knives sideways, just to set him off. Of course…Meyra would go behind her and fix them.”
“And what would you do?”
“Study them all, dear Galahad, study them all. How do you think I got so into this kind of job? Profiling my lunatic family from day one.”
“So if Aimee was the target, we need to figure out where Terra fit into the plan. She most definitely did not fit his preferred type. She was small, blond, and very young.”
“Maybe…she did. The sister. The boy who was knocked out—the attacker went after the sister. But he asked where the mom was. The mother, not the father. And not the sister. The little girl’s statement said he asked ‘why mommy had left her alone if she cared about her so much?’ The little girl was very clear on what he said to her then.”
She put the tater tot back on the plate, a sick look on her face. He hated how this job affected her. She thought he didn’t know, but…he did. Every case, every moment of evil they studied, affected her. Deeply. She was too sensitive for this job. Knight would never change his mind on that.
Knight thought for a moment. “What if we assume that while Aimee was the target, the daughter was the trigger? Let’s assume the older man killed was just a robbery gone bad, with an element of remorse. Especially for the dog. Let’s mark it off the list. But the woman who was shot—her fourteen-year-old daughter had decided last minute to stay with her father across town to give her mom some ‘alone time’. The fourteen-year-old lived in that house, too.”
Miranda straightened, from where she’d been almost lounging. She looked at him. “We are getting a different pattern here, Knight. We have three families, three young girls—and women who all fit a very specific profile. What were their occupations?”
Knight checked Dani’s notes. The woman was incredibly thorough, that was for sure. “Aimee—receptionist, woman shot is a receptionist at a doctor’s office, and the mother of the two children who escaped…admin clerk at the county courthouse.”
“So we have…low level white collar admin. Three women, all with daughters. All in their mid-thirties, all physically similar. We have a pattern. A real one, different from what we’ve had to go on before. Our victimology is narrowing.”
“Get Dani updated tonight. Have her start searching those forty cases she found for any others that fit this pattern.”
“Gotcha, Captain Galahad. Now, let’s look at the Gibson case again.” Miranda had her phone open now. She would record what they were saying and create a transcript for the record later. Knight preferred handwritten notes, but sometimes, her way was more expedient.
“Cruz wasn't killed for symbolic reasons, he was just removed. Quickly.” Cruz Gibson had been old enough to run for help. He was a threat to the killer’s main objective, and that was it. “The teenage boy was attacked because he was in the way. Same as with Derek and Cruz. But…why didn’t he shoot him?”
“Good question. The boy said there was a gun. It made a clicking sound when the guy pulled the trigger. He just reacted and jumped the guy. Said his little sister was in the house so he was going to fight. Brave kid. And I bet it was the gun that hit him that night.”
“Misfire, or jam. We’ll probably never know. But I think you’re probably right. He brought his weapons with him.”
“Aimee is where the real punishment shows up in the Gibson case," Miranda said. "She represents something to him. He couldn’t have brutalized her that horribly without there being some sort of meaning—if just to him.”
"Punishment for a perceived failure. The girl in the closet said ‘why did mommy leave you alone’. Which means he blamed the girl’s mother for something specific. Blames the mothers for something. Probably something that happened to him.”
“He watched Aimee suffering. For hours. Every time she turned her head, she would have seen her little boy. And the man she loved. And he’d have…gotten off…on that.”
