Quicksilver - Amanda Quick [62]
“You are thinking that perhaps the killer may be in the crowd?”
“If he is involved with the Institute, as you believe, then yes, it is very likely that he will attend,” Virginia said. “Of course, there will probably be over a hundred people there. That makes for a very large pool of suspects.”
“Yes, but we know a little more about him now. And I think there is every possibility that the killer will be drawn to you in the crowd.”
“What makes you believe that?”
“You were the intended subject of his grand experiment, whatever it is, and you got away. You ruined his plans. He wanted you before, but now he will be obsessed with you.”
“You sound very sure of your analysis of his thinking.”
Owen looked out the window into the night. “It is what I do, Virginia. It is the way I hunt. I saw the killer’s obsessive nature in the energy he left at the scenes of the murders. He is driven by a force that is as strong as physical passion. In fact, the compulsion is a form of sexual desire.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Owen turned back to her. “When he returns to the scenes of the murders, he no doubt tells himself that he is merely studying the evidence of his successful experiments. But the truth is that the scenes of death arouse him in a sexual manner. He is thrilled by what he has accomplished.”
“Thrilled by the act of murder?”
“The death scenes fill him with a ravishing sense of his own power. I suspect that in the past he has felt quite the opposite. Weak and powerless. Unimportant. But now he has found a way to make himself feel strong and powerful. He has become addicted to the sensation. He will continue to kill until he is stopped.”
She shuddered. “And all the while he will tell himself that he is actually conducting some sort of scientific experiment.”
“Yes. You say you plan to attend the reception at the Institute?”
“Certainly. The receptions are good for business. Leybrook gives them regularly. My colleagues and competitors will all be present.”
“I will escort you.”
She blinked. “Are you serious?”
“When it comes to the hunt, I am always serious.”
She pursed her lips. “I really don’t think that is a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“I am planning to attend with a friend.”
He felt his insides tighten. “A male friend?”
“No, a female friend. She owns a bookshop.”
“She is single also?”
“Yes.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Owen, please, think about this for a moment. It is one thing to tell people that I am allowing you to conduct some tests and experiments on me. But if you appear with me at the reception, people may begin to suspect that our relationship is of an entirely different nature.”
“An intimate nature, do you mean?” he asked without inflection.
Her mouth opened and closed, and then opened again. She waved her hands in a warding-off gesture.
“There was only the one incident,” she said quickly. “I am fully aware that our interlude the other night was the result of the effects of the intense energy that we encountered at the scene of the murder. It affected our nerves.”
He should have seen this coming, he thought, but once again he was blindsided by her failure to acknowledge the bond between them. Blindsided and more than a little annoyed.
“Is that all it was to you?” he asked. “Therapy for a mutual case of shattered nerves?”
“I realize that you never intended the evening to end the way it did,” she said. She was very earnest. “It was my fault. I’m the one who invited you in for a glass of brandy.”
Anger crackled through him.
“And now you do not want your friends and associates to see me with you in a social setting?”
“Damnation, sir, do not put words in my mouth. I am attempting to make it plain that I do not hold you responsible for what occurred between us. As a matter of fact, it is your reputation that concerns me.”
He stared at her, nonplused. “What the devil are you talking about?”
“It is common