He opened the door and she went inside. “Step outside, gentlemen,” August said to the deputies.
They looked at each other, then at Sarah, but they didn’t argue.
Before the door closed, Sarah heard Kale demand, “What the hell are you doing?”
August would handle him ... for now.
“Sarah.” Pope smiled. “I would stand but—” He pulled at his wrists, which were handcuffed to the chair arms.
She dismissed his apology with a wave of her hand, then settled into the chair directly across from him. “I have a few questions for you. Just to satisfy my own curiosity.”
He inclined his head, analyzed her. Looking for the lie, as she so often did. “How can I know that you’re not recording this conversation?”
She stood, peeled off her sweatshirt, and turned all the way around. “No wires.” When she’d faced him once more, she pulled the sweatshirt back on. “Do I need to take off my pants, too?”
A grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “Not necessary. Oddly, I trust you.”
“I’ll bet you do.” She eased back down in the chair.
For a moment they stared at each other, both analyzing. “How did you manage to kill so many without ever getting caught?” That was a hell of a record. Seemed like a good way to get him talking while at the same time lowering his guard.
“I traveled a lot then. All over the country.” His expression grew distant as he contemplated his past. “I always chose my victim while I was away. Never anyone close to home. And I planned extensively to lessen the likelihood of making a mistake.”
Anyone in the business of murder had to admire a man so precise. “Your victims were random?” With that many murders involving the same MO, one would think the feds would have noticed a connection. Typically when a pattern emerged, comparisons were done among the various jurisdictions.
“Oh, no, you know better than that. A serial killer is never truly random. There is always a distinctly similar motive driven by his compulsion.”
She had known he would understand what he was. “So, how did you choose them?”
“I needed to satisfy the urge, but I didn’t want to eliminate anyone who contributed to society. You never know when someone might turn out to be the one who invents the cure for cancer or who turns around global warming.”
She got it now. “So you selected those who were a burden to society rather than vice versa. Prostitutes, thugs, et cetera.”
He nodded. “Very good, Sarah. You understand me quite well.”
“When did you know you were a serial killer?”
“Aha. The million-dollar question.” He drew in a deep breath. “When I was perhaps seventeen, I began to feel the compulsion to cause pain. It was controllable then. By the time I was nineteen, it kept me from sleeping, haunted my nights ruthlessly.”
“Is that when you started to kill?”
He shook his head. “No, I conquered the demon by spending endless hours planning. I didn’t start killing until a full year later. I decided that if I was going to kill, I would plan the perfect murder.” His lips widened into that charming smile again. “And I did, repeatedly, for the next eighteen years.”
“I’ll bet you had a schedule, too.”
“Absolutely. I was allowed one kill per year.” He paused. “I’m sure you’ve already calculated and understand that eighteen years of killing is not twenty.”
“I wondered if perhaps the two extra murders were the two young women found at the chapel twenty years ago.”
“Those two were a rather unfortunate necessity.”
Sarah didn’t know whether to be surprised or not that he’d just openly admitted to having killed those two women. “I thought you never killed close to home.”
“Never. But I didn’t choose them. They were an unforeseen complication.”
“How’s that?”
“To that point, I had been somewhat careless in storing my memorabilia. I had designed a special storeroom beneath the waterat my boathouse. Those two drunken revelers had gotten lost that night. They’d docked at my boathouse and taken refuge inside. When I discovered them early the next morning, they had passed out, but it was obvious they had found the entrance to the storeroom. One had even attempted to pick the lock. I couldn’t take the risk that one or both would speak of the strange hidden door they had found.”
