24

He was almost ready for his next target, and this plan was more creative than anything he’d done so far. He laughed to himself. He’d prove he was truly in charge.

He hadn’t decided how far he would go, though. When he would feel satisfied. He had two targets in mind. Would he bring down both of them? Or was the next one enough? He wasn’t sure. He was waiting to hear from his eyes and ears on the inside. He didn’t plan to leave anyone behind who might turn on him. No loose ends. Truth was he really didn’t like traitors. He would make sure justice was delivered. Judgment was right around the corner, and it would be dispensed soon.

Alex, Kaely, and Monty started going through the files again, but Alex had looked over everything so many times that the information was burned into her brain.

“We decided he’s male,” she said, “maybe in his late fifties or early sixties, but he could be older. Have you noticed that we haven’t seen him do anything that required physical strength?” She looked at Monty. “Your grandmother was elderly. Wasn’t able to fight back.”

“Is he killing this way because he has physical limitations?” Kaely asked. “He’s smart, but maybe we’ve been looking at this the wrong way.”

Alex thought about her comment. “You could be right. I was thinking he was trying to be clever, but maybe his MO is born out of necessity. He had to come up with a way to pull off his murder spree without being confronted by the person he wants to kill.” She thought for a moment before saying, “We decided his motivation for killing is his passion to prove he’s smarter than we are. Does everyone still feel this way?”

“I’m sure that’s part of it,” Kaely said. “But it might not be the only thing that’s driving him. It would help us to know what triggered him. If he is older, I have to wonder just how recently his plan was hatched.”

“We thought he might be someone who’d been turned away from the BAU,” Monty said. “But if we’re right about his age, that would have been years ago.”

“And if he knew Davis and Bayne, even longer,” Alex said.

“So why wait all this time to take revenge?” Kaely said. “That still doesn’t make sense. I don’t think our idea about him being rejected from the FBI—or at least the BAU—is viable.”

“Right. Why wait until you’re past retirement age to strike back?” Monty said.

“If you don’t mind a comment from someone without your training . . .” Julie said.

Alex smiled at her. “Of course. You’re a part of this team.”

“Wouldn’t this guy, the one you call your UNSUB, need time to put this together? If he operates out of this area, didn’t he have to wait until John Davis was here? The Murder Will Out convention is held only once a year.”

“That’s a great point,” Alex said. “This thing could have taken up to a year to plan. And most people don’t know anything about drones, so he would have had to train himself for that.”

“We’re checking drone sales in the area, by the way,” Julie said. “So far, nothing. We haven’t found anyone who seems suspicious or can’t account for their whereabouts when Davis died.”

“He may have bought the drone somewhere else,” Kaely said. “If I were him, I would buy it used from someone selling it on Craigslist or through newspaper or online ads. It would be almost impossible to track him then.”

“We won’t give up,” Julie said. “But I tend to think it’s a wild-goose chase at this point.”

“Let’s talk about Bayne,” Monty said. “I know we brought this up earlier, but it really bothers me. I doubt his death was easy to plan. How could our guy know Bayne would jump off the cliff? Seems rather sloppy.”

“Doesn’t that confirm Davis’s death was the most important to him?” Alex said. “That’s why he’s using pages from Davis’s books. And you’re right, Monty. He took more of a chance with Bayne.”

“How can you say he took a chance?” Julie asked. “Most people who jump off cliffs die when they hit the bottom.”

“But how did he know where Bayne was?” Alex said. “I mean, he obviously knew he was in Australia. It wouldn’t be that hard to find that out. But how did he know he was near a cliff? What if Bayne had fallen on something below the cliff edge and hadn’t ended up at the bottom? How could the UNSUB know? He would have hung up right after seeing Bayne jump, right?”

“But we know that didn’t happen because people saw his body wash out to sea,” Monty said.

“Look,” Kaely said, “I don’t believe the UNSUB knows everything you’re giving him credit for. He didn’t tell Bayne to jump. He just told him to put the phone where he could watch him die. And when you give people thirty seconds to kill themselves, they’ll find a way. Step in front of a bus. Take a knife from the kitchen and stab themselves. Or jump off a cliff.”

“Maybe . . .” Alex said.

“Let’s go back to the idea of an associate for a moment,” Kaely said. “Could this person have traveled to Australia so he could make sure Bayne died?”

Alex turned that over in her mind. “It’s possible, but I can’t quite believe that. That could make Bayne the most important target. I just don’t think he was. It feels like he was significant only because of his relationship with Davis.”

Alex was about to say something else when Logan and Cooper returned. Logan sat down, but Cooper didn’t.

“I owe you all an apology,” he said, his voice shaking. “My wife has a gambling problem. I didn’t know anything about it until recently. She would go to Baltimore with her friends for what she called a girls’ weekend. I had no idea she was really going to the casino. She . . . came to me a few weeks ago and told me she’d cleaned out our savings account.” He shook his head. “She lost over two hundred thousand dollars. That was college money for our two girls. My father left us the money in his will for that purpose. With my salary alone, we’ll never be able to cover the cost.”

He blinked back tears. “I realize this is personal. I wouldn’t have told you except I need to explain my behavior. That’s why I’ve been so upset. It’s not you.” He looked at Logan. “I’ve been angry, but I had no right to take it out on you.” He managed a small smile. “I’m sorry. I hope you’ll all forgive me.”

“I’m sorry for your troubles, Ben,” Kaely said.

His smile widened. “Thank you. And no more attitude. Whatever I can do to help . . .”

“Sit down, and let’s get to work,” Logan said.

When Ben slipped into his chair, Monty patted him on the back.

“What have you come up with so far?” Ben asked Alex.

Alex quickly brought both him and Logan up to speed.

Logan didn’t say anything right away. Finally he said, “That makes perfect sense. But we still don’t have anything the police can really use. We suspect the UNSUB is older and that Davis was his primary target. But why not stop after Davis? Seems to me that he made his point, so why keep killing? Wouldn’t it be harder on him to carry out this plan? Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of older men are strong and capable of anything, but I think we have to ask ourselves that question.”

“I really am starting to believe someone on the inside is feeding him information,” Monty said. “They have to be.”

Kaely looked at Logan. “You’ve been keeping the other agents in this unit informed as to what’s going on, right?” He nodded. “Maybe that needs to stop,” Kaely said. “We need to be incredibly careful.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed. “You’re new to us, Kaely, but I’d put my life in the hands of any of our people. I understand your concern, but please be careful about casting aspersions on anyone in this unit.”

Kaely’s cheeks flushed pink. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to—”

Logan held up his hand. “Stop. I guess Ben isn’t the only one who’s under pressure. You’re right to try to figure out any way information could be getting out. I’m sorry. Even though I trust them, I’ll be careful. I was going to bring them in at some point so they could know what we’ve come up with, but I won’t do that.” He shook his head. “I still can’t believe any of them would betray us, though.”

“I understand,” Kaely said. “Of course, if the UNSUB is in league with someone else, it would be unusual. Usually serial killers like to work alone.”

Alex nodded. “If he does have a minion, I certainly wouldn’t give a nickel for that person’s life.”

“What do you mean?” Julie asked.

“He’s planned this meticulously, and his world revolves around himself. He won’t leave any open doors. He’ll kill his crony to ensure his own safety,” Alex explained.

“Where’s Reinhardt?” Kaely asked. “I haven’t seen him since this morning.”

“He’s still here,” Logan said. “And before you ask, we don’t think he’s our UNSUB. Nothing points to it. He has alibis for every killing.”

“I’m sure he liked having to defend himself,” Kaely said. “His ego is enormous.”

Logan smiled. “I’ll agree with that.”

“He couldn’t be working with the UNSUB,” Alex said, “because he hasn’t been privy to anything about us. At least not until he arrived here.”

“Right.” Logan sighed. “So we’re still looking for someone connected to Davis.”

“I think so,” Alex said. She tapped her fingers on the table as she turned over everything they knew so far in her mind. “Could these other killings simply be attempts to hide his main target—Davis?”

“But why send us pages from Dark Minds?” Monty said. “He’s not diverting attention away from Davis. He’s drawing us to him.”

Alex leaned back in her chair. “You’re right. Why doesn’t this guy fit any profile we can come up with? His first target is John Davis. So we focus on people who might have a grudge against Davis. But the UNSUB continues to kill. Bayne is next, so we decide he’s angry with the BAU. Because he killed Davis and Bayne, we decide he’s older. But who waits so long to get back at people? And then he murders Monty’s grandmother.”

She looked at Monty. “What was your grandmother’s first name? Calling her ‘Monty’s grandmother’ most of the time feels a little disrespectful, and Mrs. Wong seems rather formal.”

“Her name was Chunhua. It means ‘spring flower.’ As she got older, she used to tell me she was simply losing petals.”

Alex cleared her throat, trying to choke back the emotion that suddenly overcame her. She’d never known her grandmother, but she’d wondered what it would be like to have someone like Chunhua in her life.

“Then he kills . . . Chunhua.” She tried to pronounce it the way Monty had but failed rather badly. Monty didn’t seem to notice. “Anyway, that’s a variation. One that shouldn’t be there.” She groaned. “It’s like we’re trying to put together a puzzle, but someone has mixed the pieces with another puzzle’s, and we can’t put together the finished picture.”

“Did the person who killed my grandmother move like an older man?” Monty spoke slowly as if still forming his thought.

Alex turned to look at him. “Do you mind if we look at the video to see?” she said. “You can leave the room.”

Monty looked grim. “Go ahead, but you’re right. I can’t watch that again.”

“That reminds me,” Logan said. “I’ve got video from Georgetown. The police there sent it to Chief Gorman, and when he told me about it, I knew we needed to see it.”

He removed his laptop from his briefcase and put it on the table. “Let’s look at that first, and then we’ll go over the video from Monty’s . . . from Chunhua’s house.”

Logan connected his laptop to the video system in the classroom. Alex steeled herself. Would Jeff’s death be caught on this video? The last thing she wanted was to watch Jefferson Cole die, but if they hoped to help find his killer, she had no choice.