A Dallas Suite

Chapter Twenty

I was not ready for the next phone call. I was still nowhere with this case, with the two unsolved murders. Paperwork was piling up on my desk and there was no end in sight. I was starting to get the piles in order when the phone rang. A third body had just been found.

Millionaire, throat slit, multiple stab wounds. Those were the only questions I had to ask to determine that the stacks of paperwork towering over my desk were about to grow a lot higher.

I logged out of my computer, grabbed the keys to my unmarked Chevrolet Tahoe and walked down the office.

"Hey Hope, grab your camera. They just found another body with a slit throat."

Hope stood up from her desk, camera bag already in her hand. "I've been waiting so long for you. How are you always the last to hear?"

"I guess they just save the best for last."

Hope and I walked out of the office floor before Moore had a chance to yell at us to get our asses to the crime scene.

Pulling up to the private estate, I immediately determined that this scene was different from the others. Seclusion was still in place here, the mansion rested on a completely private estate. There was a nine foot high privacy fence around the entire property, with a gate that looked like the military built it. But the body was left out in the open.

From bloodstains on the floor of the garage, it looked like Stephen Anderson was killed there. But his body was now lying lifeless in his front yard. Drug out of the garage to be put on display for the world.

Diggs had been found in a private hotel suite. Caping was in the trunk of his vehicle hidden away in a secluded floor of a private parking garage. Both bodies were in places where they would get discovered quickly, but this was different. This was evolution.

I've spent a lot of time studying the criminal mind. From people who commit one single crime after living a life of good deeds to convicted serial killers who were seemingly raised to be monsters. Most of my expertise stems from the way the mind works. This was a convoluted case of progression. Our killer was getting braver, more confident. He killed a man in his own home, then drug him into the courtyard for the whole world to see him.

This was a sign of danger. He was getting bolder. His killings could become even more frequent and more gruesome. If he was riding a high from the murders, he could divert from his list of the hotel patrons. He could see an opportunity and take it from this point. No one was safe if they were around him now.

This killing was also a power play. He wanted us to see all of these things; to learn what he's capable of and understand how dangerous he was.

I heard a commotion coming from the gate. I turned and saw multiple news vans and people on the outside of the fence trying to get down the long driveway. More officers rushed there to hold the crowd back.

This house was a good hour out of the city, but there was no way this was staying quiet. A wealthy, celebrity priest being murdered would be big news alone. Make him the third disgustingly wealthy person killed within 48 hours, this was going to make national news.

I knew this was a power play from the killer. Whatever message he intended to send with it didn't matter to me. All I knew was that I needed to make my own power play; I had to catch him. And fast.