I reiterate my entire conversation with her as if I’m sharing the weather. By the time I’m finished, Barry is groaning on the other end.
“He’s going to be the death of me,” he mutters to himself.
Truthfully, I’m surprised he hasn’t been already. Barry and Jeff took a huge hit publicly after arresting and charging Lionel with Katherine’s murder. The world criticized them extensively for being terrible agents, especially since the copycat murderer only further makes Lionel appear innocent. Some have even called for them to be fired from the FBI, but outside of the Locksmith and copycat cases, Barry and Jeff are bothhighly respected in their field.
It’s a godsend Barry’s supervisor, Rich, is one of the few who isn’t a mega fan of Lionel’s. Apparently, he has some reservations about Lionel being the Locksmith, but he considers Barry his best agent and trusts him, which is why Rich assigned him to the copycat case.
Some days, I think Barry resents it and wishes Rich would’ve just fired him like the world demanded.
“He did it on purpose,” I say. “He knows I feel guilty for—” My throat tightens suddenly, as if my body is warning my brain I can’t mentally handle diving into all that. I take a deep breath and restart. “He knows I carry a lot of guilt for what he forced me to do. As much as I hate it, he knows me better than I know myself, and he’s weaponizing that guilt against me. It’ll kill me if Roxi dies because of something I did.”
My brain shifts to the acceptance stage.
Whatever Lionel wants from me, he’ll use Roxi’s life to get it. And I either let him, or I don’t. Roxi dies, or she doesn’t.
That’s all there is to it.
“Maybe we can convince Roxi that Lionel?—”
“We can’t,” I state firmly. “You know damn well someone being manipulated like she is won’t just take our word for it. You know she’s brainwashed, and even if she sees red flags or feels something is off, she’ll gaslight herself into justifying or ignoring it, and she wholeheartedly believes Lionel is innocent. She’s in love with him. It’ll take witnessing a murder herself to wake her up.”
Even then, she might try to rationalize it.
All Barry can do is sigh, and I can sense his hopelessness as strongly as my own.
“So you’re not transferring to London?” Barry asks, his voice now devoid of emotion. He must be in the depression stage.
“I…” I groan dramatically. “I don’t know yet, okay? I haven’t decided yet. I just wanted to call and let you know he’s got his claws in an innocent girl. If I decide to leave, her life will be even more at risk.”
“Lovely,” Barry mutters bitterly. “As if the fucking copycat isn’t keeping me busy enough.”
A crease forms between my brows as my lips tighten into a firm line, feeling genuinely sorry for what he’s dealing with.
“What happens when Lionel's released and he kills again?” I ask quietly, my tone despondent. Especially because the prospect of Lionelkilling again is very much awhen, not anif. “How will you tell the difference between him and the copycat?”
He doesn’t answer immediately, and that causes my stomach to twist.
“I don’t know how to describe it, and I obviously can’t say much. All I can say is that after Lionel went to prison, the dismemberment slices were cleaner and feel cold and methodical. Whereas when Lionel was killing, they were messier, passionate. The cuts were noticeably jagged, like he was excited. Does that make sense?”
I frown. “Why do you think that is?”
Another heavy sigh. “Think of it as an employee who does their job because they have to and an employee who does it because they love it.”
“Right,” I say slowly. “So, like, what does it mean to you, though?”
“It supports my theory of them working together,” he says before exhaling heavily, sounding frustrated. “To me, it shows the copycat is killing in order to continue the Locksmith murders and further discredit Lionel being culpable. He’s doing it because he has to, not because he wants to. It's a job. But if this is the case…” He trails off for a moment. “Lionel and this person would’ve had to know one another prior to him being arrested. Clean versus jagged cuts aside, the murders are identical. The lack of DNA, or any form of evidence to lead us to his identity… it's uncanny. Even the way he targeted them. Many of the women mentioned having a date with a man to a friend or family member before they disappeared but were hush-hush about who. Lionel had to have trained this guy.”
“He never brought any friends around the house from what I can remember, but Lionel was obviously very good about leading a double life, so who knows?”
Barry sighs. “You know, the first words Kellan spoke after Jeff and me broke the news to him and his grandmother was, ‘Did you find the man with the angel wings?’ Eventually, he told us about his mom taking him to a car dealership, and it was pretty easy to find Lionel from there based on the tattoo and description. And from that moment on, I pursued that man for months leading up to his arrest. And he's just so… he’s so incrediblycareful. Stakeout meant nothing when it seemed like he always knew someone was watching. It bothers me to say, but it was almost…” He struggles for words. “Fascinating, for lack of better words.”
My stomach dips with uneasiness, though I can't pin the exact reasoning.
“Brenda always did say you were obsessed with him,” I mutter distractedly, unable to fully concentrate when my stomach feels like it’s filled with heavy stones.
Barry harrumphs, his tone considerably grumpier as he gripes, “It’s hard not to take it personally when someone consistently outsmarts you. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but…” He trails off, deliberately stopping himself from descending into a self-deprecating tirade. “Anyway, I don't know if any of what I said made sense.”
I hear his voice, but I hardly process the words beneath my growing anxiety. Maybe it's because of Roxi. Or because Barry is so sure Lionel and the copycat are partners. Maybe it’s just… all of it. Everything, at once.
