Simon Says_. Walk (Kate Morgan #6)(40)
Author: Dale Mayer

 

“Okay.” Kate let out a disgruntled sigh. “He bled out somewhere else and was obviously in no condition at that point in time to get back to the hotel on his own. Not sure how much blood is in the human body or how much you need to function,” she continued, thinking out loud, “but I’ll take a guess and say he didn’t have enough.”

 

“No, he sure didn’t. Death was not instantaneous, and he would have bled quite a while, and, in a way,” he added, “I think that was deliberate by the killer.”

 

She winced. “Quite likely, considering the torture this guy’s doing. On the other hand, Patricia Blinker, who was tormented and then supposedly would be safe, after delivering her torturer’s message, was then stabbed to death anyway. The killer did that murder efficiently.”

 

At that, Smidge nodded. “I don’t get into the psychology of the whys and the motivations by which anybody might be killing these people, but probably Patricia was a loose end, an afterthought. Dead people don’t talk.”

 

“And yet”—she smiled at Smidge, pointing to the body next to him—“apparently, you speak the language of the dead pretty well.” He gave her a beaming smile, and she realized how few compliments he likely got.

 

“That I do,” Smidge confirmed, “but can’t say it’s what I want to do.”

 

“Nope, got that too,” she agreed. “However, we have two victims so far, and the only connection to them that we’ve found to date is Simon.”

 

Smidge frowned at Kate. “Simon?”

 

She nodded. “Simon St. Laurent.”

 

His eyebrows shot up. “Oh, that’s an interesting twist.”

 

“Why is that?”

 

“He’s your partner, isn’t he?”

 

“Well …” She stopped, flustered.

 

Rodney joined in this conversation now, a grin bursting free. “It’s a relatively new association, but yes.”

 

“That sounds … awkward,” Smidge noted, smiling too.

 

“Yeah, it is,” she muttered, not liking the direction of the conversation. “We don’t know the connection between Simon and the killer either.”

 

“No, never do at first.” Smidge nodded. “These killers start executing their plans, and that leaves you playing catch up.”

 

“Yep, exactly.” She looked down at the victim and gave a headshake. “Somebody befriended this Luca guy at a pool hall. Then decided, either before or after, that he would be a perfect victim for this killer’s cause. It didn’t matter who he was. Luca just fit the profile, and that was it.” She shrugged.

 

“It’s all it ever takes,” Smidge replied. “You can’t feel guilty about it.” She looked over at him, startled. “You think I don’t see that you’re wondering if it’s got something to do with you, whether Luca was targeted because of you?” Smidge tilted his head. “These assholes? They’ll target whoever. It probably ups their joy to know that you are involved. Maybe it makes it a little bit more of a challenge,” he suggested, “but don’t go getting sucked into that you’re to blame mentality.”

 

Rodney reached out and clipped Kate gently on the shoulder. “I hadn’t considered that, but Smidge’s got a point.”

 

“Let’s hope we’re at the end of whatever plans the killer’s got going.” She sighed. “I still don’t quite understand how somebody gets this proficient without practice.”

 

Smidge shook his head. “He doesn’t. You don’t know which ones were the practice.”

 

She studied his face for a moment, and something occurred to her. Some previous murders came before these deaths. Even a clue could help. “Have you seen anything like this before?”

 

“Sure.” Smidge gave her a faint nod. “So far we don’t have a whole lot that’s terribly distinctive. We’ve got heavily utilized feet, as if the victim walked barefoot over rough terrain for an extended period, or maybe even a belt was used to whip the feet. Don’t know. We’ve got some torture, and we’ve got some stabbings.” He frowned. “I see stabbings on a regular basis. The feet, however? That’s a whole new element.”

 

“Right. I’m hoping it’s a new element and that you don’t have twelve other murders similar to this in your history.” She eyed Smidge intently.

 

He shook his head. “Not that comes to mind—but, now that you’ve mentioned it, I will consider that.”

 

“Good, because I’m pretty sure that this killer is a whole lot different than a first-timer. We also have some graffiti over at one of Simon’s job sites.” Kate turned to face Rodney, realizing that she hadn’t kept him in the loop. She held out her cell phone, revealing the last text and the related photo that she had gotten from Simon.

 

Rodney checked out the photograph and frowned. “So you and Simon think, from this graffiti, that the killer’s confessing to four murders, and so far we’ve only got two bodies?”

 

She nodded. “That’s what makes the most sense to me, yes,” She turned to Smidge, holding out her phone for him to see the graffiti too. “So we could potentially be looking for two more victims.”

 

He nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind, but remember. I only handle this morgue.”

 

She winced and nodded. “And, of course, that adds to the challenge.”

 

“I’ll take a look though, through my old files,” he promised, muttering to himself, his focus heading off to a corner where his computer was. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

 

She grinned at him. “Much appreciated.”

 

“And it’d be much appreciated if you don’t bring me quite so much work,” He raised an eyebrow pointedly. “Especially SKs.”

 

Serial Killers. She nodded. “Got it.”

 

As they walked out, Rodney asked, “He really doesn’t think that you can do anything about curtailing our murder cases before they even happen, does he?”

 

“No, I think he wants us to solve this as fast as we can, so that this particular killer doesn’t get more victims.”

 

“As if we’re not trying to do that already,” he grumbled in exasperation, looking back at the morgue.

 

“And Smidge knows that. It’s one more push from another professional to say, Hey, are you doing your job? I’m doing mine. Let’s speed this up.”