concerned that heâd withheld possibly critical evidence for hours. Alexa hoped the killer was still checking into that chat room so Jericho could try to contact him.
And find him.
Of course, she doubted the Moonlight Strangler would just give her his location, but he might let something slip. That was a big might, but mights were the only thing they had when it came to the killer.
âHow did you find me?â Alexa asked. âHow did you find the house where I was supposed to be staying?â
Scottie froze. For just a second. âI didnât find you, exactly. But rather I found Tasha. I knew she was about to deliver the baby, so I got in touch with hospitals, looking for someone who matched her description.â
âIâm betting that involved hackers,â Alexa said, and she filled in the blanks. âSo, you managed to locate Tasha, saw me with her and then what? You didnât follow me to the house, because I didnât go there.â
âNo, but I got some photos of you. Asked around the area, and when I learned your name, or rather your fake name, I got your address, went to the house to talk to you. Thatâs when I found the letter.â
âWhen you saw that the letter was from the Moonlight Strangler, why didnât you turn it over to the cops?â Levi asked.
âIt slipped my mind.â Scottie lifted his chin, a defiant pose challenging Levi to argue with that.
âArrest him,â Levi told Mack.
And Mack moved to do exactly that. He holstered his gun and took out some handcuffs.
âWhat?â Scottie howled. âThis is absurd, an abuse of power. Why the hell are you arresting me?â
âTheft and withholding evidence,â Levi quickly supplied.
Scottieâs face tightened so much it turned red. âYou canât do this!â
âAlready doing it,â Mack assured him.
âAre you even trying to find Tasha?â Scottie snarled while Mack slapped some handcuffs on him. âMendoza could haveââ
âHeâs dead,â Levi interrupted.
Scottie made a flustered sound. âThat loan shark then, Perryman.â
That got Alexaâs attention. âWhat do you know about him?â
âThat heâs a bad man capable of doing bad things. You should be arresting him, not me.â
Levi shook his head. âI donât have probable cause to arrest him. Canât say the same for you, though.â He motioned for Mack to get moving.
âI demand a phone call.â Scottie was still shouting when Mack led him away toward lockup. âThatâs the law and you canât deny me. I want to call my lawyers. So help me God, Iâll have all your badges.â
âGood luck with that,â Levi said before looking at Mack. âRead him his rights and let him make his one phone call.â
That meant Scottieâs lawyers would be there in no time. Probably less than an hour. Still, for that hour Scottie wouldnât be out planning another attack.
âDid you find the chat room?â Levi asked. Both Alexa and he went to the desk where Jericho had his attention fixed on the computer screen.
âItâs cyberspace for sickos.â Jericho turned the laptop screen so they could see it.
Alexa only had to read the first post to realize what Jericho had said was true. The poster who identified himself as ColdMan was looking to buy a corpse.
She cringed. âIâm surprised the site hasnât already been shut down.â
âIt will be,â Jericho assured her. âBut I just sent a message to the FBI to ask them to monitor it and check through the old messages to see if thereâs anything about the Moonlight Strangler. Nothing obvious stands out to me.â
Alexa thought about that a moment. âMaybe he wanted me to post something first. If so, he could be checking it.â
Jericho nodded. âIâll let the FBI take the lead on this. They can create
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