The Crucifix Killer - Chris Carter [107]
‘Too smart for what?’
‘You said these wigs are made to order?’
‘Correct.’
‘But I bet if you walk into a wigmaker they would have one or two on display, like a showcase. Our killer wouldn’t be stupid enough to order a wig and leave behind a paper trail. He would simply take whatever the wigmaker had on display, pay cash for it and that would be that. Remember, the killer isn’t buying the wig for its looks, so any one would do.’ Hunter got up and walked over to the coffee machine. ‘There’s one more thing.’
‘What’s that?’
‘The internet,’ Hunter said.
Garcia frowned.
‘The internet can help us and hinder us at the same time,’ Hunter explained. ‘Maybe a few years ago it would’ve been a case of us checking the wigmakers and with just a little luck we would’ve come across something that could lead us to our killer, but today . . .’ He poured himself a cup of coffee. ‘Today the killer could order it over the internet from any country in the world and the wig would be with him in less than a week. He could’ve bought it from Japan or Australia or directly from Eastern Europe.’ He paused, another thought entering his mind. ‘And then we have eBay, where the killer could’ve bought it from a private owner and no one would ever know. This guy is too smart to leave a paper trail behind.’
Garcia had to admit Hunter had a point. Any half-clever person could buy almost anything over the internet these days and leave such a minuscule trail it would be almost impossible to trace it. It’s just a case of knowing where to shop.
‘We might get lucky, he might’ve taken us for granted and ordered a wig from a shop,’ Garcia said positively.
‘Maybe. I’m not discarding any possibilities. We’ll check with all wigmakers just in case.’
‘I just wanted to get at least one step closer to him before he adds another photograph to that damn board,’ Garcia said, pointing to the corkboard and drawing Hunter’s attention to it.
Hunter stood motionless for a while, his eyes fixed on the photographs.
‘Are you OK?’ Garcia asked after a minute of silence. ‘You’re not blinking.’
Hunter lifted his hand asking Garcia to wait a second. ‘We’re missing something there,’ he finally said.
Garcia turned and faced the board. All the pictures were there. Nothing had been moved, he was sure of it.
‘What are we missing?’
‘Another victim.’
Forty-Eight
‘What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean, we’re missing a victim? They are all there, seven from the first killing spree and two since he started killing again.’ Garcia’s eyes moved from the photograph board to Hunter.
‘We have a victim he didn’t mark, no double-crucifix on the back of the neck, no phone call to me. We have a victim he didn’t kill.’
‘A victim he didn’t kill? Are you high? That doesn’t even make sense.’
‘Of course it does. He didn’t kill him as he’s done with all his other victims . . . he got him killed.’
‘Are you listening to yourself, crazy man? Who didn’t he kill?’
Hunter’s gaze fell on Garcia. ‘Mike Farloe.’
‘Mike Farloe?’ Garcia looked mystified.
‘The real killer framed him as the Crucifix Killer, remember? I’ve even mentioned it before, over the phone when the killer called me right after we found the faceless woman, but for some reason it didn’t click.’
‘I remember you saying it, yes. I was standing right next to you.’
‘Framing him makes Mike Farloe a victim.’
‘By default,’ Garcia accepted it.
‘That doesn’t matter, he’s still a victim.’ Hunter walked back to his desk and started shuffling through pieces of paper. ‘OK, what do we know about our killer?’
‘Nothing,’ Garcia replied with a half chuckle.
‘That’s not true. We know he’s very methodical, intelligent, pragmatic and he chooses his victims very, very carefully.’
‘OK,’ Garcia said still unsure.
‘The killer didn’t just pick Mike Farloe out of the blue. Just like his victims, the subject had to fit a specific profile. The difference here is that the subject had to fit the profile of a killer. To be precise, the profile of a sadistic, religious serial killer.’
Garcia started to pick up