“Something about him, Liam, it was off. He was… strange.”
“Well, to be fair, Destiny was like that. She would say odd things and she would go in and out of activities and habits, like she was almost becoming a different person. I always figured her family had to be pretty weird too. That doesn’t mean that her brother is a killer or that he’s involved.”
“He doesn’t think Destiny’s dead,” said Dawson. “Or, well, he didn’t want me to think Destiny was dead. He was very insistent that she was fine and would be coming home after she finished her little joke.”
“Weird,” said Liam.
“He also told me that he went to college in Washington state and stayed there for the full four years, and never came home once.”
“Also weird, but—”
“He was providing an alibi to tell me that he wasn’t there when those girls’ bodies were put in his freezer. But I don’t think there’s any way to confirm that. If he sneaked back to commit murder, he either did it without leaving a trail or he covered his tracks since. If he killed his father, maybe he also was in on killing Destiny. He and Finn could have planned it out together, and they could have been working together all this time.”
A long pause from Liam. She could hear his skepticism in the silence.
“He had a quote on his wall, something that Annie Gibbons said. ‘The highest form of love is sacrifice.’”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and when I asked him about it, he said it’s from an online course. Just like Annie Gibbons’s online course, the self-help thing she was into. Now, the police officer who investigated Annie Gibbons’s disappearance had a pet theory, that whoever was running this exorbitantly-priced course—which they were recruiting for from the fanfic sites—was allowing people to come and work for them for free as a volunteer in exchange for taking the course.”
“Did he have any evidence of that?”
“She,” corrected Dawson. “And no, she said she couldn’t find any evidence of it. It was just her pet theory. But think, okay, if Slater starts this New-Agey group on the Branwen College campus that is really just a lure to kill women, and then he uses his fanfic connections to start luring people online, it’s even better, because he doesn’t need a physical dupe to do it anymore.”
“Physical dupe? What do you mean?”
“Well, whoever Lola was,” said Dawson. “We know it wasn’t Slater in drag, so he must have manipulated a woman into doing it. Unless…” She pictured Quentin, his slim appearance. He wasn’t too tall and he didn’t have broad shoulders.
“Unless what?”
“Unless it was Quentin in drag,” said Dawson. “Catherine said that Lola had dark hair. Quentin has dark hair.”
“Well, he could have worn a wig.”
“I’m going to send a picture to Catherine,” said Dawson. She found the one photograph that she’d found online of Quentin Worth and forwarded it to Catherine with a note asking her to look and see if the man could have been Lola if he had dressed as a woman.
“Haysle?” said Liam. “You still there?”
“Yeah, sorry,” she said.
“I wish I would have come with you,” said Liam. “Now, I want to have met this guy.”
“I imagine we’ll be talking to him again soon,” said Dawson.
Her phone beeped, and it was a response from Catherine.
He looks weirdly familiar, it said. I can’t be sure, but I think it’s definitely possible. He looks like Lola.
“Shit,” breathed Dawson.
“What?” said Liam.
“Catherine Wilson texted me that she thinks it could be possible, that he looks like Lola.”
“Wow, this is getting insane,” said Liam. “I think I need to come down to the station.”
“Okay,” said Dawson. “We’ll talk strategy when you get here.”
They hung up.
Two seconds later, the phone was ringing again, but this time it was the phone in her office, not her cell. She picked up. “Dawson.”
“Detective Dawson, this is Melanie Householder from Delaware. You remember me?”
“Of course,” said Dawson. Householder’s partner Kaveney had been an unfortunate victim of Slater’s.
“Well, listen, we’ve got some bodies up here, that you might be interested in. It’s not Slater’s m.o. exactly, but it’s got some similarities. We thought you’d want to know, that maybe you’d want to come and see what we’ve got?”
* * *
No one had batted an eyelash about letting Liam into the morgue here in Delaware, even though he was a civilian. He was pleased about that, because he liked being included, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about seeing dead bodies. From the dead body in the car to the bodies in the freezer, Liam had been seeing his share of dead women lately, and he couldn’t say he enjoyed it.
So, Liam was staying back, letting Dawson take the lead. He was just here to stay in the loop, not to do any actual detective work. He peered over her shoulder.
They were standing around a metal slab and there was a body on it, currently covered in a sheet.
The man who worked here was eating a sandwich, a few feet away. “You ready?”
“Yeah,” said Dawson.
“Hold on.” The man set the sandwich down.
How did he eat in here? Liam grimaced.
The man was next to them now, and he peeled the sheet away. “Householder, you probably know everything by this point.”
Householder nodded. “Yes, but it’s good to have you here to field any questions.”
“So, this is a gunshot wound?” said Dawson. “That’s the cause of death?”
“Yes, point blank, right in the head,” said Householder. “Whoever did this was standing right in front of her. Must have pulled out the gun and opened fire.”
“Any helpful ballistics on the bullets?”
“Probably from a Glock,” said Householder. “Maybe even police issue.”
“Which fits with our boy,” said Dawson. “God, the number of guns he’s taken from me personally…” She made a face.
“But, um, that’s not how Finn kills,” spoke up Liam.
Householder turned to him. “Right, we know, and we would never have connected this to him if it weren’t for the quotes.”
“And those were taped to their necks,” said Dawson.
“Yes,” said Householder. “One says, ‘Joe was never as a big a deal as he thought he was.’”
Liam’s heart stopped. “That’s from Bosom Friends.”
“That’s from the chapter that was just posted,” said Dawson, turning to him.
“I don’t know what that means,” said Householder. “But from the sounds of it, it’s connected to Slater?”
“Most definitely,” said Dawson. “But why did he do this? And there’s no sign of the bodies being violated?”
“No,” said Householder. “He didn’t rape the corpses. Maybe he didn’t have time. We don’t know. There is a possible sign of struggle at the site, as if maybe there was someone else there, and he might have dragged another body off. So, that might mean the body count here is three instead of two. The other victim might be dumped later, after he violates her. But even so, it doesn’t fit his profile.”
“It’s bewildering,” said Dawson.
“I guess we know why he hasn’t been doing anything in Virginia lately,” said Liam. “He’s been here instead.”
“Well, you can have him back,” said Householder. “We’re happy to be rid of him.”
“Maybe if he’s still here, we can find him,” said Dawson. “We need to look into the list of properties we got from Tilden, see what’s close. If we can put something together, would you send out some officers to investigate?”
“I’m fairly sure that wouldn’t be a problem,” said Householder. “After what he did to Kaveney, there’s not a man or woman on the force here that doesn’t want to nail his balls to the wall.”
“Let’s hope we can do that,”
said Dawson.
* * *
“I saw it,” said Liam into the phone. He was in the parking lot outside the morgue in Delaware. He and Dawson were planning to go and regroup when he’d gotten a ping notifying him that there was a new chapter posted on Bosom Friends. He’d set up push notifications on it after Hernandez had explained it was possible. Almost immediately, Hernandez had called him.
“Have you read it?” said Hernandez.
“I just got the notification,” said Liam. “I haven’t had time to read it.”
“It’s short,” said Hernandez. “Look at it.”
Dawson was getting into the car. “What notification?”
Liam opened the door to the car and got inside, too. He put the phone on speaker. “I’m with Dawson, Hernandez.”
“Hi, Haysle,” said Hernandez.
“Hey, Ricky,” she said. “We get a new chapter on Bosom Friends?”
“If you can call it that,” said Hernandez. “Pull it up, Liam.”
Liam did, clicking on the link in his notification.
The chapter filled the screen. It was only a few sentences long.
This story was never art, anyway. It was tainted, because I was using it for other purposes. But now, it’s been violated, and I can’t bear to even look at it again. This all ends soon.
“I think it’s fair to say that you’re right, and he didn’t write that last chapter,” said Hernandez. “Now, he’s abandoning the fic.”
“Is he?” said Dawson. “He says it all ends soon. Maybe he’s working on a final chapter.”
“I don’t think he means the fic ends,” said Liam. “I think he means something else.” He brightened. “Maybe he’s going to turn himself in.”
“He wouldn’t,” said Dawson.
Liam slumped. “Probably not.”
“I think he’s upset that someone else wrote that other chapter,” said Hernandez.
“Oh, he’s upset all right,” said Dawson. “The people he killed here in Delaware, they had quotes from that chapter taped to their necks.”
“Seriously?” said Hernandez.
“Yeah, and he just shot them. He didn’t go through his ritual at all,” said Liam.
“It’s like he’s coming apart,” said Dawson.
“Were they just random people he killed?” Hernandez asked.
“They don’t have them identified yet,” said Dawson. “They were both women, and there was a possible third victim who he may have dragged off somewhere. We’re planning on going through that list of properties to see if there’s somewhere nearby we should look.”
“Okay, well, I guess you guys need to do that,” said Hernandez. “I might not be able to do anything else from here on out. If he’s not posting the fic, then what do you need me for? That’s my expertise.”
“We don’t know that he’s going to stop posting the fic,” said Dawson. “Hey, here’s a question for you. You didn’t seem to think that the person who posted that chapter was a hacker.”
“Oh, no way,” said Hernandez. “Not a random hacker just doing it for fun.”
“And if it’s not an armchair detective, what does that leave us?” said Dawson.
“I don’t know,” said Hernandez.
“Well, can I run something by you?” said Dawson. “We’ve always assumed that the different characters in Slater’s fics were all inventions of him, but what if someone else has been helping him all along? What if, when LolaRose says MiaGem is co-writing This Love, there really is a MiaGem? Would that person have access to all the sock puppet accounts that Slater was running?”
“Well, the accounts are just usernames and passwords,” said Hernandez. “Assuming he had help, then they could both have the ability to log in as any of the users. I know we did talk about the fact that it seems too much for one guy to have done.”
“So, what if this is MiaGem?” said Dawson. “What if the other person posted that chapter?”
“Well, then why is he losing his shit?” said Hernandez.
“They’re having a fight,” said Dawson. “I think it happened because Liam and I found the bodies and put the spotlight on Quentin Worth. He didn’t like anyone knowing about him, and he decided he wanted to shut it down, so he ruined the fanfic that Slater was posting.”
“Wait, what?” said Hernandez. “Who’s Quentin Worth?”
“Destiny’s brother,” said Liam. “Dawson’s got a whole evolving theory going on.”
“I knew you guys were trying to talk to Destiny’s dad, but I didn’t know about a brother,” said Hernandez.
“We think the dad is dead,” said Dawson.
“Dawson thinks that,” said Liam.
“You don’t agree?” said Hernandez.
“I don’t know what I think,” said Liam.
“Well,” said Dawson, “once we get Slater, if the two of them are fighting, I bet it takes him two seconds to roll over on Worth. I bet we nail them both.” She grinned.
“Once we get him, huh?” said Liam wryly.
“We’re close,” said Dawson. “I can feel it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Dawson had circled three properties, all in Delaware.
“What about this one?” said Liam.
“That’s not close,” she said. “That’s all the way down in Bethany Beach.”
“Well, it looks like it might be near the beach—a vacation home,” said Liam. “It fits with his habits, I think.”
Dawson considered. “Okay, true. We’ll check that one. We’ll probably have to go there ourselves, I think. It’ll be out of the local department’s jurisdiction. But I’ll go ahead and send everything over to Householder.”
“Sounds good,” said Liam.
They were in Dawson’s hotel room. It was getting late, though, and she wanted to go right away, so it didn’t seem likely that they’d be getting much sleep that night.
Liam had to admit that Dawson’s excitement was infectious. He was starting to get a feeling, too, a sort of keyed up anticipatory feeling, almost like the night before a forecast snow storm. He wasn’t sure if he was excited or if he was dreading it.
“We haven’t eaten,” said Dawson. “Are you hungry?”
“I don’t want to hold us up,” said Liam.
“Let’s do a drive-through,” said Dawson. “I’m going to tell Householder that we’re heading to this property, and that she and her crews should hit these other two. We’ll go and get some fast food and eat on the way. Sound okay to you?”
“Sure,” he said. “I’m fine with that.”
She smiled. “Well, let’s get going then.” She went over to get her coat from where it was draped over a chair near the door to the room.
“I’m going to get my coat from my room,” he said. “I’ll meet you at the elevator?”
“Sure,” she said.
Seconds later, they were in the elevator together, watching the numbers count down to the first floor.
Finally, they reached the lobby.
The elevator door slid open, and they went out.
Instead of going through the lobby, they went out a side door. There was an ash tray outside the door and a small amount of snow on the ground, dirty and melting, making a puddle on the sidewalk.
Dawson stepped over the stream of water from the melted snow, but Liam stepped on it, and then left wet footprints across the parking lot as they headed for Dawson’s car.
She’d parked over here, because it was close to this side door, but there were no other cars parking on this side of the hotel. Most of the cars seemed clustered in the front, facing the lobby.
The car was spattered with whiteness from salt that had been on the road, and with some dirt on the tires and the sides.
“I didn’t bother locking it,” Dawson said. “I knew we’d be right back out.”
“Great,” said Liam, heading for the passenger door.
Dawson slid into her side and Liam followed suit.
He reached back for h
is seatbelt, and he felt something at the back of his neck.
A prick of pain.
His hand went to it, and he turned.
The first thing he saw was Finn’s grin.
Finn was in the backseat, holding a needle and a syringe. He had just stabbed Liam in the neck with it.
Liam blinked, the world going fuzzy at the edges. He tried to make noise, tried to scream.
And then there was a loud noise—a gunshot.
It was Dawson. She’d shot Finn.
Liam saw the blood spattering the window in the back, heard Finn’s cry of pain.
But somehow Dawson was slumping into the steering wheel. She collapsed against the horn, and it let out a loud bleat.
“Motherfucker, Haysle,” said Finn, reaching up to yank her off the horn.
Liam couldn’t move. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. He slumped down, gazing at Finn.
And then everything went dark.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
When Liam woke up, he was tied and gagged and lying on a bed.
It was dark, but he could feel someone next to him, and this person was struggling, jostling him.
“Dawson,” he tried to say around his gag.
The person next to him made a muffled sound that sounded like a very strong, “No.”
Then, from the darkness, far away, another muffled noise.
The voice next to him was a female voice, high-pitched.
Dawson’s voice was deep, because she’d gone through male puberty when she’d been given testosterone. The far-away noise, that might be Dawson’s voice, but the voice next to him, that was…
Liam couldn’t see anything.
He squirmed away from the person beside him and fell off the bed for his trouble.
He landed on the floor, jarring his elbow, and pain radiated up through his body. He grunted.
The door opened, but it didn’t let in any light. Liam could only barely make out a figure coming in through the door.
He tried to scoot backward, away from the figure.
But then the light came on and Liam saw that it was Finn.
They were in a bedroom with two queen beds. There was a picture on the wall of a little boy building a sandcastle. Behind Finn, Liam could see an open doorway that led to a bathroom. The bedspreads on the bed depicted shells and sand dollars.
The Temptation of Silence Page 16