Free Abomination by E. E. Borton Page A

possible.”
    “Consider it done,” replied Tom. “Will I be using our
new gadgets to gather the data?”
    “What data?” asked Michelle, walking in the room and taking
Dallas’s coffee out of his hand. “What are you boys up to?”
    “Those two boys are going to Baltimore to visit Kristina
Anderson,” explained Tom. “And you and I are going to stay behind and put her
life under a microscope.”
    “Sweet,” said Michelle. “I love digging up dirt on
unsuspecting civilians.”
    “Our trip and your digging will be under the radar,”
said Ryan. “Your profiling and hunting Elliot can be out in the open, but
Kristina needs to stay a ghost. Dallas and I will be leaving our company phones
behind so it looks like we never left New Orleans. My guy cloned my number into
my untraceable phone, so if the deputy director calls, the GPS will show me in
this room. But you guys are free to move around the city.”
    “Okay,” replied Michelle. “When are you leaving?”
    “This afternoon, so I’ll need a dash of speed on her
itinerary for the next few days. But for right now, I want you both to talk to
me about Peter Arrington. You know, the subjects I cut you off on earlier.”
    “Sure,” said Tom, going first. “Back at the farmhouse, I
was making the point that the crime scene didn’t look anything like the others.
Arrington created a comfortable space to work on his victims in the basement.
It was meticulously cleaned, and the furniture was arranged to mimic a woman’s
bedroom. It seems to me he wanted them to have some comforts of home.
    “In Syracuse, the scene resembled a sadistic torture
chamber. There was no attempt made by the killer for comfort. The degree of
brutality suggested an extremely elevated level of anger. The ritual was about
inflicting pain and prolonging suffering until the anger apparently subsided.
Like I said, I’d stake my reputation on Arrington not being responsible for Syracuse.
    “As far as him killing the woman in front of us and our
two agents, I believe it was his reaction to being cornered. I’m not saying he
was going to let her live, but all indications were it was less about torture
and pain and more about being powerless to stop himself from hurting her. If
you remember, before he knew we were there, he apologized to her and told her
they made him that way. I’d sure like to figure out who they are.”
    “I agree with Tom,” added Michelle. “The Syracuse killer left her body to decompose out in the open after he repeatedly raped and
then disemboweled her. Once he was finished with his ritual, he simply left
without even trying to hide his work. Arrington buried his victims and marked
the graves with their names on crosses. That would indicate he felt some sense
of remorse or even guilt for what he did to them. And like I said, no serial
killers on record have ever marked the graves of their victims in that way.”
    “Unfortunately, we’re not going to know for sure how he
killed the other three he buried in the basement unless we get ahold of the
autopsy reports,” said Ryan.
    “Those would speak volumes as to his method and frame of
mind during the killings,” said Tom. “If we could find a way to get our hands
on those reports, I’d know without a shadow of doubt if Arrington was
responsible for Syracuse. I’d also know a hell of a lot more about the killer
who actually is responsible.”
    “I might have a way to get ahold of those findings,”
said Ryan.
    “Let me guess, you have another guy?” asked Michelle.
    “I just might. I’ll see if I can reach out to him while
I’m in Baltimore.”
     “What about the reverse engineering of the profiles?”
asked Ryan. “Any clues on who or what created them?”
    “Well, it took very little time for us to figure out
they weren’t fabricated,” answered Tom.
    “You just told me it wasn’t Arrington in Syracuse.”
    “Correct,” said Tom.
    “English, please,” pleaded Ryan.
    “The information in each