“I’d like your full analysis as soon as possible.” Buxton switched his attention to Wade. “Your thoughts?”
“If Guerrera was trying to get him to drop his other plans and come after her, it didn’t work,” Wade said. “She’s challenged his masculinity, which I believe is fragile to the extreme. He’ll feel the need to seek retribution.” He flicked a glance her way. “I predict he’ll move up his deadline from his last message. He’ll take out another victim and publicly taunt us. He may repeat his crime a few more times just to prove he can. Then he’ll target Guerrera as the finale in whatever plan he has in mind.”
“What about the Vikings poster?” Buxton asked. “I’m looking for anything that can point us to this unsub’s identity.”
“Could mean a lot of things,” Wade said. “Might be from Minnesota, could be a pro-football fan, or maybe he thinks he’s Erik the Red reincarnated.” He blew out a sigh. “Not enough data to be sure.”
Thoughts of the poster brought the shed back to her mind. “He was fascinated by the scars on my back,” she said. “He added his own marks on top of them. Then he gave the other two girls matching burns. All in the shape of a triangle.” She glanced at Wade, desperate for an answer to the question she had carried with her in silence for eleven years. “Why?”
Wade grimaced. “In a very literal sense, he was branding you, marking you as his property. He covered another man’s stamp of possession with his own.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “As for the other victims, he’s either made that his signature now or he wanted to make them surrogates for you.”
“He bestowed his mark on you,” Kent corrected. “Like when he said he would grant you a question. These are characteristic word choices that may help us identify him when we develop a pool of suspects.”
She considered Kent’s observations about how the Cipher phrased things. “What about his comment that it began and will end with me? Does that mean I was his first?”
Wade answered without hesitation. “He may have had ideations for years before that, but I’m fairly certain you were the first one he acted out on. We need to figure out what it was about you that sparked him to take it from fantasy to reality.” He paused, stroking his jaw. “He’s now also removed all doubt that he knew you from somewhere before he abducted you. He admitted he’d been watching you.”
“I agree,” Kent said. “All signs point to an ongoing obsession that has strengthened since he found you again.”
She imagined the Cipher seeing her for the first time in years when he watched the viral video of the Warrior Girl taking down a would-be rapist in the park. Had he gotten angry? Excited? Jealous? Did he think she was “asking for it” by jogging alone in a wooded park?
“Based on what we know about his victims, he preys on teenage girls with an unstable home life who are on their own,” she said, taking a stab at profiling. “Girls who should be punished.”
“He’s making judgments.” Kent’s blond brows drew together. “Rendering verdicts and carrying out sentences.”
“Like a judge,” Wade said. “Or a wrathful god.”
Breck had strolled over from her workstation to join them. “Do you think he’s some sort of religious nut?”
“Maybe,” Wade said, appearing to turn the idea over in his mind. “But not in any kind of traditional sense. He doesn’t indicate he’s doing his lord’s bidding. This guy doesn’t answer to a higher power. In his mind, he is the higher power.”
“It goes back to his behavior,” Kent said. “Everything he does is freighted with meaning. He chose the girl in DC so we would be sure to make the connection with Guerrera. He wanted her pulled into the case, so he orchestrated the scene to make that happen.”
“He gave up something of great value in order to execute his plan.” Wade gestured to Nina. “He left her necklace behind, a prize he has kept for more than a decade.”
“A trophy,” she said.
Wade gave her a curt nod. “He would never relinquish such a cherished item unless he still possesses something of greater significance, or he plans to replace it with something else of even higher value.”
Her mouth went dry. The Cipher wanted her at his mercy again. He had made that abundantly clear. She had not considered that his willingness to give up his trophy demonstrated how confident he was that he would succeed.
“Me.” Nina offered the only logical conclusion. “He plans to replace it with me.”
Chapter 17
Hermosa Vista Apartments
Springfield, Virginia
Nina trudged up the last flight of stairs to find Bianca sitting on the top step, chewing her nails. “What’s wrong, Bee?”
“Saw that YouTube video,” Bianca said. “We’ve decided to take it on.”
She sighed. “Who is ‘we’ and what are ‘we’ taking on?”
“Me and my GWU team,” Bianca said. “We’re going to solve the Cipher’s clue.”
She should have anticipated this. The Cipher wasn’t just tormenting her—he was doing the same to everyone he sucked into his deadly game. Now her young neighbor felt the need to take action.
“Thanks,” Nina said, offering her a weary smile, “but we’ve got this.”
Bianca looked less than impressed. “Whatever your feeb dweebs are doing, we can do better.”
This was not the first time Nina had heard Bianca’s disdain of all things she perceived to be bureaucratic and governmental.
“I’m asking you to stay out of this, Bee.” She twisted her key in the doorknob, then unlocked the double dead bolt. Stepping over the threshold, she deactivated the alarm before passing through the tiny foyer inside. She went straight for the refrigerator, pulled out two bottles of chilled water, and handed one to Bianca. “I don’t want you to take any time away from your studies.”
“I can multitask, no problem. Besides, this is important.”
“Which is why the FBI is dedicating a tremendous amount of resources to the problem. You may be awesome with computers, but our team of computer forensic and cyber specialists aren’t ‘feeb dweebs.’ Let them do their jobs.”
Bianca showed every sign of launching into a debate, but the door chime cut her off before she could start.
Nina padded to the foyer and peered through the peephole. She let out a groan before opening the door to Jaime, the building superintendent.
“Hola, bonita,” Jaime said by way of greeting.
She’d been fending off the super’s advances since she’d moved in, but Jaime hadn’t gotten the message. Probably never would.
“What’s up?”
“Need to check the seals on your windows. I got a bunch of complaints from tenants about their electric bills. I might need to recaulk the whole building, but I got to show the landlord that at least half the casings are leaking air.”
She had to give him credit. His pretexts were getting more creative. At least she wasn’t alone this time. She stood aside. “Come in.”
He sidled past her, shoulders slumping when he spotted Bianca, who gave him a finger wave.