with
another officer assisting right now.”
“I understand why things will change in the event of a copycat.
I can take the lead, sir. And I can accept the FBI stepping in if that turns out
to be necessary.”
“Good. SFPD got a 911 call an hour ago from some hikers over at
the Marin County Water Preserve. The hikers found a mutilated female. Patrol
officers have secured the area and are waiting for you to examine the body.”
“So there’s actually a body this time, not just photos? Was the
body embalmed?”
“I don’t know that. But the body was eviscerated.
Mutilated.”
“If we don’t know whether the victim was embalmed, how are you
linking this victim with The Embalmer’s victims?”
Stevens sighed and swiped his palms over his face. For the
first time, he looked truly troubled. As if he really questioned their ability
to catch a killer. “Upon being interviewed by the patrol officer, one of the
witnesses said he found a woman’s head. One whose eyelids had been cut off.”
CHAPTER TEN
S TANDING IN FRONT of
his bathroom sink, Brad washed his hands. Unlike last night, the water ran
clear, but his imagination filled in the color that was now missing. The woman’s
blood and his shaking hands had combined with the water to create ribbons of
pink liquid and splashes of crimson against the dingy white bowl.
The woman…
As soon as he’d killed her, he’d been flooded by a sensation so
foreign he almost didn’t recognize it.
Power.
And pleasure.
Emotional and physical. So much so that he’d barely had to
touch himself before he’d had the most powerful orgasm of his life.
Hours had passed. Hours to dispose of her body. Smartly.
Fastidiously.
Dramatically.
But the rush of power still ran gloriously through his veins.
Raising a steady hand, he ran his fingers over his neck and face, feeling the
cobbled texture underneath the dark purple stains. Still there, but definitely
better.
He’d done that. Simply by killing her. A prostitute. A
whore.
He’d made her see his power. His strength.
His beauty.
And he had Dr. Bowers to thank for it. After all the bumbling
and unsuccessful treatments he’d put Brad through, Bowers had finally earned his
salary by leading Brad onto the right path.
No amount of power the other man had experienced as a doctor,
even one with the ability to save others’ lives, could compare to the feeling of
so ruthlessly ending one. It was a heady rush unlike any other. One that
couldn’t be duplicated by alcohol or drugs, and God knew Brad had tried both at
various points in his life to numb his pain.
He’d always felt slightly foolish afterward. Guilty. As if he’d
been weak to rely on a foreign substance rather than his inner strength.
But what he was feeling now was all him. Nothing artificial.
Nothing meant to stifle or disguise, but rather expose. Clarify. Magnify.
It wasn’t the violence or actual killing responsible for the
change in him. He’d killed animals when he was a kid. Raped that one girl two
states away before he’d graduated high school. And last year, he’d killed a
girl. Not on purpose. By accident. After she’d laughed at him. Mocked him. But
those acts hadn’t made him feel like this. Because he hadn’t been focused.
Hadn’t realized the extent of his power and what he could gain from it.
It was selecting the right victim for the right reason that was
the key.
The one last night had simply been a small taste of what he
could have.
Just imagine what he could accomplish if he actually killed
someone who mattered.
Maybe then Nora would notice him. Maybe then she’d desire him.
Maybe then she’d finally see him for who he truly was. Imperfect by birth but
not by will.
I’ll prove myself worthy of her. Prove I
can change.
For her.
His angel.
* * *
C ARRIE NAVIGATED her government car around a skeletal-like screen of trees
surrounded by the tall marsh grasses of the Marin County Reservoir. Pulling to a
stop next to a county
another officer assisting right now.”
“I understand why things will change in the event of a copycat.
I can take the lead, sir. And I can accept the FBI stepping in if that turns out
to be necessary.”
“Good. SFPD got a 911 call an hour ago from some hikers over at
the Marin County Water Preserve. The hikers found a mutilated female. Patrol
officers have secured the area and are waiting for you to examine the body.”
“So there’s actually a body this time, not just photos? Was the
body embalmed?”
“I don’t know that. But the body was eviscerated.
Mutilated.”
“If we don’t know whether the victim was embalmed, how are you
linking this victim with The Embalmer’s victims?”
Stevens sighed and swiped his palms over his face. For the
first time, he looked truly troubled. As if he really questioned their ability
to catch a killer. “Upon being interviewed by the patrol officer, one of the
witnesses said he found a woman’s head. One whose eyelids had been cut off.”
CHAPTER TEN
S TANDING IN FRONT of
his bathroom sink, Brad washed his hands. Unlike last night, the water ran
clear, but his imagination filled in the color that was now missing. The woman’s
blood and his shaking hands had combined with the water to create ribbons of
pink liquid and splashes of crimson against the dingy white bowl.
The woman…
As soon as he’d killed her, he’d been flooded by a sensation so
foreign he almost didn’t recognize it.
Power.
And pleasure.
Emotional and physical. So much so that he’d barely had to
touch himself before he’d had the most powerful orgasm of his life.
Hours had passed. Hours to dispose of her body. Smartly.
Fastidiously.
Dramatically.
But the rush of power still ran gloriously through his veins.
Raising a steady hand, he ran his fingers over his neck and face, feeling the
cobbled texture underneath the dark purple stains. Still there, but definitely
better.
He’d done that. Simply by killing her. A prostitute. A
whore.
He’d made her see his power. His strength.
His beauty.
And he had Dr. Bowers to thank for it. After all the bumbling
and unsuccessful treatments he’d put Brad through, Bowers had finally earned his
salary by leading Brad onto the right path.
No amount of power the other man had experienced as a doctor,
even one with the ability to save others’ lives, could compare to the feeling of
so ruthlessly ending one. It was a heady rush unlike any other. One that
couldn’t be duplicated by alcohol or drugs, and God knew Brad had tried both at
various points in his life to numb his pain.
He’d always felt slightly foolish afterward. Guilty. As if he’d
been weak to rely on a foreign substance rather than his inner strength.
But what he was feeling now was all him. Nothing artificial.
Nothing meant to stifle or disguise, but rather expose. Clarify. Magnify.
It wasn’t the violence or actual killing responsible for the
change in him. He’d killed animals when he was a kid. Raped that one girl two
states away before he’d graduated high school. And last year, he’d killed a
girl. Not on purpose. By accident. After she’d laughed at him. Mocked him. But
those acts hadn’t made him feel like this. Because he hadn’t been focused.
Hadn’t realized the extent of his power and what he could gain from it.
It was selecting the right victim for the right reason that was
the key.
The one last night had simply been a small taste of what he
could have.
Just imagine what he could accomplish if he actually killed
someone who mattered.
Maybe then Nora would notice him. Maybe then she’d desire him.
Maybe then she’d finally see him for who he truly was. Imperfect by birth but
not by will.
I’ll prove myself worthy of her. Prove I
can change.
For her.
His angel.
* * *
C ARRIE NAVIGATED her government car around a skeletal-like screen of trees
surrounded by the tall marsh grasses of the Marin County Reservoir. Pulling to a
stop next to a county
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