Double Cross

Chapter 102

LATE THAT NIGHT, as if to underscore everything that had happened so far, I got a direct reply from DCAK that seemed to say, Ready or not, here I come-right in your face!

I was home, doing online research. On account of the Michael and Tyler Bell connection, I was particularly curious about sibling relationships in serial-murder cases. I’d found out about Danny and Larry Ranes, who had gone on separate sprees in the ’60s and ’70s. And there was a case in Rochester, the identical-twin Spahalski brothers. One twin had confessed to two murders and was suspected in at least two others, while his brother was serving time for a single, much earlier, homicide.

Other than blood relation, neither instance showed any additional level of connection-no hookup to my role with the Bell brothers. And most of what I found involved two or more family members partnering for concurrent work.

There was also the ongoing mystery about the woman in Baltimore. Who the hell was she? And what had happened to her after the car chase? Did DCAK have an accomplice? And possibly a mentor in Kyle Craig?

I logged on to my department e-mail to send around some of what I’d learned.

When it opened, I found a new message waiting for me. Not a nice one either.

What do I want, Detective Cross? That’s it? Frankly, I’m surprised you have to ask. But let me spell it out for you as clearly as I can.

I WANT you to pay for what you did to my brother. That’s reasonable, don’t you think?

I WANT you to think about how you never really tried to understand him before you killed him. Just like you don’t understand me, and never will.

I WANT to show you that you’re not nearly as good at this game as you think you are. None of you forensic shrinks ever are. Or the profilers, who are such incredible frauds, as even you probably know.

And I WANT you to understand one more thing: this is never going to be on any terms but mine.

That’s how it will end. The way I want it to, when I decide.

Any more questions?

– T.B… or not T.B.?

The first thing I did was forward the message to Anjali Patel with a request for a fast turnaround, which she said wouldn’t be a problem, despite the hour. She was working on nothing but DCAK.

Then I called Bree and read her the note twice.

“So, do you buy it?” she asked after I finished. “The payback thing?”

“No, not really. You?”

“Why should we? Everything else he’s done is a lie. And what about the way he signed it?”

That kept coming up, the way we didn’t really know which parts of DCAK were Tyler Bell and which parts were some kind of theater. Who was Tyler Bell? Specifically, who had he been before all this started, or at least before we got into the loop?

“I’d sure like to see that cabin of his,” I said, my mind latching on to the idea as I said the words out loud. “Snoop around.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but there’s no way, is there? We’ve got this case slamming right now. But I agree with you-I’d like to look around that cabin.”

“We could leave Friday,” I said. “Be back by Sunday.”

Bree didn’t answer. I think she felt I might be joking at first. Then she laughed. “Are you going to tell me this is how we get a weekend away together?”