Free 14th Deadly Sin: (Women’s Murder Club 14) by James Patterson

grabbed a plate, and stuck in a fork.
    “Run it for me, will you?”
    “Yes, I will, Sergeant,” said Joe.

CHAPTER 29
     
    “SO I DID a little time-traveling,” Joe said. “The victim in year one of the five was an uptown lady, Ms. Alicia Thompson. She had been to Neiman’s and she was on her way to her car.”
    “We know this how?” I asked.
    “Shopping bags and keys in her hand. And she was killed a half block from Union Square Garage, where her car was parked.”
    “Did anyone see anything?”
    “Nope, and Ms. Thompson got the full five-star investigation. Chi was the lead investigator.”
    “And how did the case play out?”
    “Not only were there no witnesses, there were also no forensics, no footage, no nothing. Not even the knife. Make a note, Sergeant Blondie. Taking the knife is a common thread.”
    “Duly noted,” I said.
    “OK, next victim was very different than Ms. Thompson.”
    “Do tell,” I said.
    I took the empty dessert plates away and put them in the dishwasher while Martha and Joe headed to the living room. We all settled into the oversize leather sofa. Martha put her head on my lap, letting out a contented sigh.
    “Victim number two, Krista Toomey, was homeless,” Joe said. “Twenty-five years old, in bad shape even for a meth addict. She was sleeping in an alley in the Tenderloin. Olive Street. No witnesses, but plenty of people knew her.”
    “And were they able to contribute anything?”
    “Nothing useful. I found the autopsy report. Like your victim who was stabbed in the back outside her father’s diner, this girl was also stabbed from behind. The first or second blows were fatal, but the killer kept going. Stabbed her all over her back, arms, buttocks—thirty-five separate wounds.
    “Based on the shape and depth of the wounds, the weapon was probably a paring knife, but it wasn’t found. Again, no witnesses, no evidence—and because there were no leads, and no friends or relatives stepping forward putting pressure on the police, and there were a whole lot of open cases at that time, this one went cold.”
    I understood. I might even have been aware of this crime. All murder cases
should
be worked and solved. But there’s not enough manpower, not enough time, and some cases just don’t get solved.
    I said, “Whoever killed these women is smart, aware of cameras and bystanders and what constitutes forensic evidence. The victims were all women, and it looks like the five you’ve identified were all killed by a common type of knife that is never left behind.”
    “Agreed, Linds. Add all that to the date they were all killed, May twelfth. And that’s why I suspect one person killed the five of them.”
    “So you conclude what about the killer?”
    “If my theory is right, this dude didn’t know his victims,” said Joe. “He chose these women because the circumstances were favorable to him. And whatever his motive for murder, he was driven to kill violently. This is a guess, but I’d say he was mad as hell. He kills people he doesn’t know in a ferocious
rage
.”
    “Yeah, I can see that. And since he kills in daylight, and no one sees him, he’s got a cloak of invisibility.”
    “I decided to leave something for you to figure out.”
    “Awww. Thanks.”
    My husband patted my thigh. “I believe my work here is done. Let’s go to bed.”

CHAPTER 30
     
    AT QUARTER TO eight the next morning, my partner and I met in the break room and made coffee. Conklin’s face was lined from sleeping facedown, and I’m sure I looked like I’d gotten no sleep at all. Which was true.
    When Julie wasn’t calling for something, Martha was edging me off my side of the bed.
    And then there were my vivid, disturbing dreams about Maya Perez, in which she begged me not to let her die. I knew enough pop-culture dream analysis to know that I was Maya in that dream and I didn’t want to die or let anything hurt my baby.
    Conklin and I sugared our coffees and went to our computers.