Undercover Hunter(17)
Cade thought about it. “He did it once before. Or maybe he kept some of his victims in cold storage until the weather got better.”
“He could be doing that now.” She shook her head. “He likes risks, but he’s not stupid. My guess is he won’t be hanging them in the woods this time.”
Cade eyed her sharply. “Why?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I bet he wasn’t happy to lose his trophies.”
“He must have known he was giving them up when he went away.”
“Maybe, maybe not. He might have thought they’d never be found. Regardless, he knows they’re gone now, and it wouldn’t make him happy. He needs something more secure, and the way he hung the first ones seems to indicate a need to admire his trophies. To relive the experience.”
Cade nodded. It was a common enough impulse among serial killers. That’s why they kept trophies, to relive the emotional high they’d gotten. “How many serial killers have you studied who didn’t accelerate?”
“None. I don’t know whether the compulsion gets stronger or they start to feel invincible. I do know of some cases where they wanted to be caught and stopped. We don’t know which kind we’re dealing with here.”
“I’m wondering because he came back. Gage is scouring the files for anyone who might have been picked up by the law five years ago and got released last spring or so. Nothing so far. But unless he was in prison, he chose to leave. That means he chose to come back here. That could be key.”
“It could be.” She ate another mouthful of roll and washed it down with coffee. “Thanks for these. A power bar doesn’t sound good right now.”
“My pleasure. We could get breakfast at the diner a little later when we go to see the sheriff. I guess search parties are going out again today, but he’s not planning to be out there until this afternoon.”
“They won’t find anything.” Her tone was almost sad. “So if he chose to come back, why? Unfinished business? Wanting to see if his trophies were still there? Thumbing his nose at the people around here? Because I’m not buying stupid.”
“What kind of unfinished business?” he wondered.
Her dark eyes met his, looking almost hollow. “Who knows? But I’d wager it’s personal. He’s got something to settle, and he needs to settle it here. A demon’s riding him.”
“I’d call him a demon.”
“No argument from me.” She glanced at the digital clock on the stove front. “I guess I need to clean up to get ready for the day.” She pushed back from the table, and a minute later he heard the wheels of her suitcase trundling down the hall to the bathroom.
* * *
Her eyes felt full of grit, but nights on short sleep were nothing new to DeeJay. A shower and some more coffee and she’d be fit. Plus some protein. Those rolls had been great, but she needed eggs and bacon to power up her brain.
She reached a decision in the shower, however. Cade Bankston wasn’t all that bad. Maybe he hadn’t wanted her as a partner for some reason, but nothing about him seemed misogynistic, at least when it came to work. They’d been cooperating like equals since last night, and she’d had enough of the other kind of relationship to appreciate it.