Page 6 of Go Alone

“Eleven years,” Winters replied. “Moved north from Columbus. Why?”

Kate shook her head. “Just wondering. Maybe this is something from the past catching up to him.”

“Wayne County Sheriff’s Department is pretty convinced this is Lawgiver-style work,” Winters said.

Marcus watched Kate’s face carefully. Cox had been obsessed with her from the beginning of the Commandment Killings. Sometimes Kate returned the favor, which frustrated Marcus to no end. It was bad enough the bastard decided to make Kate his favorite. It was worse when Kate succumbed in any way to his manipulation.

The corners of Kate’s lips tightened slightly. Not a good sign.

“Do they believe this is Cox himself or another disciple?” she asked.

Elijah Cox had escaped from prison for the second time the previous summer. Kate and Marcus had come within inches of apprehending him again only for him to escape once more. They knew he was alive because he had communicated with the past disciple, a woman named Nora Avery who murdered several people for bearing false witness against her brother and her family, but they didn’t know where he was.

Kate knew he would strike again at some point, either himself or through another disciple. Whether this was one of those cases remained to be seen.

“They will defer to your expertise in that regard,” Winters replied. “I feel obligated to remind you that it could also be a copycat. I know we’ve only seen one of those, but logic suggests there will be others.”

Marcus’s own lips tightened. That was the worst thing he could imagine. Not just one asshole and his baby assholes killing innocent people but admirers wanting to follow in Cox’s shit-stained footsteps.

“We’ll take a look,” Kate said.

Winters nodded. Then, since it didn’t matter anymore, she asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Kate said. “Nothing hurts anymore.”

And other lies we tell our boss, Marcus thought.

“Glad to hear it. Keep me updated. I want to know if we think this is Cox, a disciple, or a copycat as soon as possible.”

“We’ll keep you posted,” Kate agreed.

Winters handed Marcus a second folder. “That contains your boarding passes. Your flight lives in an hour, and TSA at the Jetport knows you’re coming, so they’ll push you through to the front of the line. Wayne County Sheriff’s Department will hold the scene until you arrive. The body’s already at the morgue and CSI’s gone through it, so it’s not a clean scene, but the cipher’s still there in case you want to see more than just a photograph.”

She stood, signaling an end to the meeting. “Good luck you two.”

“Thank you,” Kate replied.

“I’ll drive,” Marcus said.

Kate nodded, and a minute later, they were in his Dodge Charger heading to the Portland International Jetport. Another word for a jetport was an airport, but Portland had to be special, Marcus guessed.

“So what are your initial thoughts?” Marcus asked.

Kate screwed her lips up, which made her look… Well, everything made her look beautiful.

“I think I want to know what the potting soil has to do with ‘thou shalt not covet’,” she replied.

“The first part of that is ‘thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house’, right?” Marcus said. “Maybe the potting soil is supposed to represent the land.”

“Maybe,” Kate said. “That’s actually a strong possibility.”

Marcus grinned. “I come up with good ideas sometimes.”

Kate flashed a distracted smile that lasted about as long as a firefly’s glow. When it was gone, she said, “I can’t decide if the choice to paralyze him was practical or personal.”

“You mean was the killer just trying to hold him still, or did he want to enhance his suffering.”

“Exactly.”