“Cox…what’s going on?”
“I take my faith very seriously, Polly.”
Some of that chill from the cellar returned to her skin. “Okay.”
“And when I became a deputy, I started seeing things I couldn’t unsee. Sin drenchedeverything. I watched it. I felt it. Every day, everywhere. On the streets. In my congregation. In women who forgot modesty and humility and the path they’re supposed to be on.”
“What are you talking about?”
“They flaunt themselves,” he said, almost to himself. “They tempt. They ignore the teachings meant to keep them pure. And when I try to help them find righteousness, they just mock me. Theylaughat me.”
“Cox—”
“I couldn’t change anything with my badge. I had no way to implement the kind of change the world needed. I couldn’t fix it with the law.”
“Stop the car.”
“Then one night, just over a year ago, I was going through old cases. I found these women—two drowned and three missing. At first they didn’t appear connected…but they were all young, promiscuous women. One had a child without being married. Another, Eileen Baker, was sleeping with a string of different men. It was all in their case files.”
She tried the handle but the door wouldn’t open.
“But this person who was doing the Lord’s work, they stopped.” Cox shook his head. “They hadn’t taken another woman in over five years. And that’s when I realized that God had led me to those cases. SoIcould continue his work.”
“His work?”
“I took over and became God’s hands. His warning.”
“You’re a copycat killer,” she hissed.
“No. I’m God’s reminder of what happens when women parade their bodies like banners of rebellion.”
“Were you dating Jenna before you killed her?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “She was getting drugs from her pharmacy for me. I told her they were for a good cause. To help. And I wasn’t lying about that. But when she overheard your little conversation, she realized the truth. She went to the mansion while I was there. She saw them. She ran. I followed and did what I had to do.”
“You killed her!”
“It was that or be arrested. Then I would’ve had to stop all the good I was doing.”
He really believed that hurting,killing, was good? “What about Teagan?”
“Every week she flaunted herself at church. The way she dressed. The way she cozied up to men—evenmarriedmen. And those tourists…you should have seen the waytheywere dressed. The men they had flings with in this town.”
Polly swallowed. “What aboutme? I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You think I didn’t hear that little conversation in The Pancake Bar? Joel’s mother told the entire town the truth—that you started dating a man who was promised to another.”
“No. He was never?—”
“Don’tlie to me, Polly!”
He slammed a fist against the wheel, making her flinch. There was no talking him around. In his head, he was doing God’s work, and that’s all there was to it.
“I’m sorry, Polly.” He swallowed. “I really liked you. But I’ve been put on this path for a reason, and I can’t stop now.”
His eyes gleamed, but not with the righteousness she was sure he felt—with obsession.
No one was going to save her. She had to save herself. She had to get out.
