Free The Coldest Fear by Rick Reed Page A

situation wasn’t so different. “Sorry about your mom, buddy, but I’ve got something hot for you.”
    â€œOh, goody,” he said with feigned enthusiasm.
    Jansen filled him in on the early-morning murder at the Marriott hotel, and then told him that there was a second murder, this one in the south-side projects. When Jansen finished, Arnold let out a sigh.
    â€œSo, we seem to have another spate of murders in Evansville,” Arnold remarked. Evansville was a pretty quiet town normally, although they had their share of murders over the last couple of years. But, then, two murders in one day aren’t necessarily a crime spree .
    â€œAre they connected?” he asked Jansen.
    The line was quiet. Then Jansen said, “Well . . . we’re not really sure yet.” In truth, he didn’t know much of anything about the second murder except that the hand from the Marriott murder had been found there. But he wanted to put as much pressure on Murphy and Blanchard as he could. And there was nothing better to pile the pressure on than the news media stirred into a frenzy.
    He’d been careful building his news-media contacts, and he only fed them things that they could have gotten from any number of sources. The thought of this new girl, Claudine Setera, caused him to get a lump in his throat. She was definitely hot. But so far she had not been interested in what Detective Larry Jansen might be able to do for her career. She seemed to think she could make it on her own. Apparently she didn’t know how things worked in Evansville.
    If he could make the public think there was another serial killer on the loose it would do several things for Larry Jansen. He could zing the politicians again, make himself more desirable to Claudine, and shove the news media right up Murphy’s ass. And all the while, he could remain outside the nuclear-blast zone. This was Larry’s specialty. It was why he was the king, and had been untouchable.
    Nobody screws with Larry Jansen, he thought, and smiled.
    Â 
    Â 
    Arnold was confused when he hung up the phone. What did Jansen mean, “They’re trying to keep it quiet.” Jansen wouldn’t say who was keeping it quiet, but he hinted broadly that the orders to shut the news media out had come all the way from the top. And how could “they” keep serial killings quiet?
    According to Jansen, the first victim was the lady at the Marriott whose body was found early this morning by the desk clerk. Arnold had been unaware of the announcement of the killing on Channel Six news this morning because he had been . . . preoccupied. According to Jansen the woman had been hacked to death and then one of her hands had been cut off. That hand was found six hours later at the scene of the second murder. And that woman had also been hacked to death.
    Arnold switched on the small television set in his bedroom, tuned to Channel Six, and watched until the recap of the day’s events. A glowering Jack Murphy could be seen crossing under the yellow crime scene tape, heading for the door to an apartment, while a crowd of onlookers clamored nearby.
    Arnold felt a twinge of envy. That should have been him taking charge of a murder scene. Should have been Arnold talking to the news media. Detective Byrum, what can you tell us? that cute reporter would say to him. And Arnold would say, No comment at this time, Claudine.
    And speak of the devil, he thought, just as Claudine Setera’s sweet face filled the television screen. Arnold reached over and turned up the volume.

    SETERA: Once again, Blake, we’ve just seen Detective Jack Murphy enter the newest crime scene—the second one since we reported from the Marriott hotel this morning—and take over the murder investigation of a woman who lived here in the Sweetser Housing Development. The police are not releasing the name of the victim as of yet, but sources close to the investigation say that she