The Executioner

Seventy

A muffled, single click sound from Hunter’s computer announced the arrival of a new email. This time, Mike Brindle had sent them the blood test results from the photographs they found on the fireplace. Hunter read it first before handing the printout to his partner.

‘The killer used the same blood on both pictures?’ Garcia sounded unsure.

Hunter nodded and rubbed his eyes.

‘Doesn’t that do away with your theory that the killer uses the blood of the previous victim to mark his next one?’

‘Not at all.’ Hunter went back to his seat and reached for his mouse. Click, scroll, click.

Garcia waited a few seconds but got nothing. ‘Do you wanna elaborate on that?’

‘Those weren’t the real victims; they were pictures of the victims. Suppose the killer kills a victim and goes away with just enough blood to be able to number his next one. He’s not counting on the number washing off or somehow disappearing and having to redraw it.’ He pressed a few keys on his keyboard. ‘So when the killer finds himself in a situation where he has to use photographs to reclaim victims one and two, he’s fresh out of victims’ blood.’

Garcia considered this. ‘So he adapts and has to use the same blood to mark both photos.’

Hunter stopped dead and faced Garcia. ‘He didn’t use their blood,’ he murmured.

‘What?’

‘The killer was at a crime scene when he left both pictures on the mantelpiece.’

‘Yeah, so?’

‘So he could’ve used Amanda’s blood. She was right there and he wouldn’t even have needed that much to draw two small numbers on the back of the photos. Why didn’t he use her blood?’

Garcia shook his head slowly.

‘He also could’ve used Father Fabian’s blood,’ Hunter carried on. ‘He obviously had some with him to draw the number four on Amanda’s back. He wouldn’t have needed any more than a small dab for each number.’

Garcia chewed on his bottom lip as he thought about it. ‘Maybe he drew the numbers on the back of the pictures before getting to the house in Malibu,’ he suggested.

‘OK, so why not use Father Fabian’s blood? As I said, he had some with him since the Seven Saints murder.’

‘Maybe he had some blood left from the previous victims.’

‘According to the test results, it’s not Amanda’s blood, it’s not Father Fabian’s blood and it’s not the same blood as the one the killer used on the priest, the pregnant woman’s.’

‘So if your assumptions are correct and the killer really is using the blood of a previous victim to mark his next one, the blood used on the pictures wouldn’t have come from victims two, three or four.’

‘That’s right.’

Garcia leaned against his desk. His eyes studied Hunter for a brief moment. ‘I can see from the look on your face that you don’t believe the blood belongs to the first victim either.’

‘I think the killer keeps only a small amount of victim’s blood so he can number the next one. After that, my guess is that he disposes of what he has left.’

Garcia pinched his chin, his brow creased with worry. ‘If your theory is right, why is he doing it? Why is the killer using the blood of a previous victim to mark the next one?’

Hunter’s eyes widened and he felt his pulse race. ‘He’s linking them together.’

‘The killer’s linking them?’

Hunter nodded. ‘By using their blood on each other, he’s linking victims one and two together, victims two and three and victims three and four. Maybe they were all connected, we don’t know yet. But the killer’s telling us that there is a connection.’

Garcia paused for an instant as a new thought entered his mind. ‘OK, then I’ve got two questions for you. If your theory is correct, then whose blood did the killer use to number the first victim, since there was no previous one? And if you don’t think the killer used the blood of any of the victims to write the number on the back of those two photographs, where do you think the blood came from?’

Hunter stopped by the window and watched the hectic traffic outside for a moment. ‘Maybe the answer to both questions is the same.’

Garcia’s left eyebrow lifted in expectation.

‘The killer used his own blood.’