Free Serial: Volume Two by Lily White, Jaden Wilkes Page B

I mean, sure, she’s obviously not high on the food chain, but she’s not desperate. At any time, she could have gone home and had all the money in the world to better her life. Somehow I don’t think this girl was targeted because she wouldn’t be missed, I think she was just a victim of opportunity. He hasn’t shown the same remorse with this one as he did with the others. This was about rage, about something other than what his previous kills meant to him.”
    “Is there an obvious cause of death, Agent Blake?”
    A male voice sounded behind me and I spun to shine my flashlight in the face of the medical examiner assigned to the scene. He reached out to shake my hand.
    “I’m Dr. Keith Montgomery. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
    Taking his hand, I shook it quickly. “You as well. This is Special Agent Emily Chase.”
    The two shook hands and Dr. Montgomery looked to me once again, “Have you determined how the young woman died?”
    Beaming my flashlight at Noreen’s neck, I was surprised to find that it hadn’t been cut open like the rest. “As a matter of fact, no. The neck appears intact.”
    “Well, can I ask you to move aside so that I can take a look?” Flashing me a friendly smile, he stepped around me to kneel down next to the body. After a few minutes examining her, he stood back up and breathed out heavily.
    “I don’t see any obvious signs of trauma besides the initials carved into her abdomen. I’m going to have to perform a full autopsy to determine cause of death. I can tell you that the letters were carved after her death, so at least he did her that small favor.”
    Floodlights clicked on at that moment and the entire scene was bathed in an eerie bright glow. Local PD and my team processed the scene, collecting everything we could find that might lead to the killer. Once I was positive we’d found all we were going to find, Emily and I returned to the car, climbing into the warm seats before simultaneously breathing out our exhaustion.
    Minutes of silence passed before she finally said what I’d been wondering all night. “He’s changed his MO completely, Donovan. Are we sure we have CK on our hands? Or is this another asshole hoping to pin his kills on the person we’re already hunting?”
    Giving the question some thought, I finally brushed off the concern that we had a second killer on our hands.
    “No, I don’t think it’s someone else. The timing was too perfect. This was an escalation based on what I said at that conference. If anything, he’s just helped me correlate the prostitute murders with the disappearance of the waitresses. We need to stay in the public eye about this now that we know he’s watching.
    Emily nodded her head. “Yeah, but if Veronica Lapierre is still alive, will our continued taunting come at her expense?”
    I thought about the poor girl that CK still had in his hands. If she was alive, I knew we wouldn’t be able to save her in time.
    “That remains to be seen, Agent Chase. But it’s not something we can allow to stop us in our tracks. We’re getting closer and hopefully, when all is said and done, we will be able to say that Ms. Lapierre was this bastard’s last victim.”
     

Chapter Ten
    Jude
     
    I finished pouring the wine and moved back to the living room. The evening had been an exercise in splendid domestic bliss, and nothing at this point could ruin it for me.
    I walked towards the sofa where Pet was curled up, watching television. I hadn’t taken note of the program when I’d left, but now it was on the eleven o’clock news.
    They were covering the waitress found in Washington Park.
    They were interviewing Donovan Blake, the arrogant worm who thought he knew me. I paused and listened as he expounded his own expertise and assured the public that they were on the trail of the monster who’d done such a thing.
    Pet’s tiny gasp caught my attention and I looked at her. Her eyes widened as she watched the interview, took in every