Free Payback by T. S. Worthington

but this man might come after you again. A guy with an ego like that is going to be outraged that his target outsmarted him and that you hurt him in the process. And of course you got away and you have been able to give us some really valuable pieces of information.”
    Darla groaned. “Well, can you at least put some cute cop patrols on me? I would love to have some sexy cop action.”
    Brian was not sure if Darla was joking or not. It was definitely one of the weirdest request he had ever had a witness of a survivor to a heinous crime ask for.
    “We will see what we can do for you,” Brian said as he left the room. He almost burst out laughing but held it in. it would have been in poor taste he felt.
    He joined the chief in the other room where he was watching the interview sipping from his famous Simpson’s coffee mug that he had drank from daily for about ten years. Brian was sure that he washed it occasionally. Or at least he hoped.
    “You think the Copycat will come after her again?” Arnold asked.
    “I’m not sure. It fits his M.O. that he should, but he might decide that this one is not worth the trouble. It is just too tough to tell with guys like that,” Brian said.
    “I wish she had nailed him better too. Damn, it was so close. This could have been the thing that blew this case wide open.”
    “Well, it might still be.”
    “Well, we now have three separate crime scenes. Any connection to any of these victims as of yet?”
    “None that I can figure out. They all come from different backgrounds and socioeconomics classes. Even race is not a calling card here. The first victim was part Hispanic. It makes no sense how he is just randomly choosing the victims. If we could establish how he is finding them or what his criteria is then we would know a lot more about him and where he might strike next.”
    “Damn, we just don’t have enough yet, do we?”
    “No, I—“
    “Sir!”
    Adam Myers, the head forensics blood spatter expert rushed into the room just then. He looked like he had heard the best news that had ever come across his ears in his entire life. Brian braced himself for something not useful. Adam had the same tendency with any new little tidbit that he happened to find out about any case that was coming his way. It was disturbing how much this guy actually loved blood. It was like he day dreamed about blood and all of the different things you could do with it. It had always given Brian the creeps.
    “What is going on?” Brian asked.
    “We were able to retrieve some of the blood of the assailant. We found some clinging to the sink drain where she washed up at the neighbor’s apartment. We found a small trace and we were not sure it belonged to anyone besides the owner of that apartment or the victim here. But it does not match either one.”
    “Did you run it through the database?” Arnold asked.
    “We are doing that as we speak. I’m excited. It could take several hours, but if this guy has ever had his DNA collected for any reason in his life we will have it.”
    “That is great news!” Arnold said. He slapped Brian a high five.
    Brian did not share the chief’s enthusiasm on all of this. It was promising, but he didn’t think this guy was going to match anything.
    “What’s wrong?” Arnold asked.
    “I don’t think we are going to get a hit. It would be amazing of course if it did turn up something, but I just don’t think it is going to happen.”
    “Why?” Myers asked. He looked like he might fall to pieces and start crying any minute because Brian had dashed his hopes and dreams in the world. He was going to have to step in front of a semi now and do the world a favor.
    “So far as meticulous and as careful as this guy is, I just don’t think he has ever been in trouble with the law before. A lot of these types of offenders have minor things on their records from petty crimes when they were younger, but I just don’t think it fits this guy.”
    “Well, you are