The In Death Collection Books 16-20 - J. D. Robb [217]
Before Mira’s assistant could repeat the fact that the doctor had only a scant ten minutes free, Mira was stepping out, gesturing Eve inside.
“I’m glad you found the time to come in. I’ve read all the available data.”
“I have more,” Eve told her.
“I need something cold. Cool enough in here,” Mira said as she went to the minifridge. “But just knowing what it’s like outside makes me feel hot. Mind over matter.”
She took out a container of juice, poured two glasses. “I know you live on caffeine, in one form or another, but this is better for you.”
“Thanks. The two vics are distinct types. Very distinct.”
“Yes.” Mira sat.
“The first, a recovering junkie LC, busted down to street level. A lifer, with no friends, family, or support group, though it appears her own choice. He wasn’t concerned about who she was, but what she was. A street whore, working the dingier section of Chinatown. But the second was a who and what.”
“Tell me about the second.”
“A single woman, living alone in a nice neighborhood. A woman who’d raised her family and kept close ties with them. Active in her community, friendly, well-liked by everyone. More well-liked than I think he understood, because he doesn’t get that.”
“He has no strong feelings for anyone, but himself, so he doesn’t relate to those who do. Doesn’t understand the circle.” Mira nodded. “It was her situation—living alone, age, neighborhood, and the fact that she would be found quickly. That’s what drew him to her.”
“But it was a mistake, because she had impact on everyone she was associated with. People liked her, loved her, and they’re not just willing to cooperate with the police, they’re eager to. She isn’t going to be forgotten like Wooton, not ever. Everyone I’ve spoken to had something specific to say about her, something personal and positive. It’s like what I imagine people would say about you when you . . .” She caught herself, coughed, but it was too late. “Jesus, that sounded creepy. I meant—”
“It didn’t.” Mira cocked her head and quite simply beamed. “What a nice thing to hear. Why do you say it?”
She wished to hell and back she hadn’t, but she was stuck now. “It’s just”—she downed the juice like medicine, in one huge gulp—“I—ah—interviewed Gregg’s daughter-in-law earlier, and it reminded me, that’s all, of the way your daughter talked about you. There was this real bright . . . connection. A total bond. And I got that same sort of thing from the guy at her market, the people she worked with, everybody. She left her mark. So do you. It’s that he wasn’t considering, the way people would rally for her. Stand for her.”
“You’re right. He’d have expected the event itself to be the big story. Meaning he’d be the story. She, beyond her convenience for him, was incidental. Though the first victim made her living through sex, and the second was sexually brutalized, the killings aren’t a sexual act but a rage against sex. Against women. And this act makes him powerful, and makes them nothing.”
“He stalked Gregg,” Eve said and led Mira through it.
“He’s very careful. Meticulous in his way despite the fact that both killings were messy. His preparation is precise, as his imitations are. Each time he succeeds, he proves not only that he’s more powerful, more important than the women he kills, but more than the men he emulates. He doesn’t have to stick with a pattern—or so he tells himself because, of course, there is a pattern. He believes himself capable of any sort of murder, and the getting away with it. The outwitting you—the female he’s chosen, deliberately chosen, to play against. He beats you, a woman, and proves you’re less than him every time he leaves you a note.”
“The notes, they’re not his voice. It doesn’t fit with everything else you’re saying. They’re broad and jokey. He’s not.”
“Another disguise,” Mira agreed. “Another persona.”
“He’s making himself sound different in them, the way he made himself sound different to the people he