The Killing League

41.

Mack

“Welcome back,” Mack said to Adelia as she entered the house. He smiled at her.

“What’s that big grin for?” she said, acting with some bravado but he saw right through it. As big and bold as she acted, even Adelia sometimes appeared to him like an innocent youth. A youth who just had a great weekend of romance with her husband now going back to his military job in a far off land.

“No reason,” he said. “You and Oscar have a nice weekend?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You hinting at something, Mr. Mack?”

He raised his hands. “I would never, ever chuckle at the power of love.”

Janice walked over and she and Adelia hugged. They immediately started talking like long lost friends. Once again, Mack thanked his lucky stars that he had found someone as kind and warm as Adelia. Janice loved the woman.

He retreated to his office, shut and locked the door. He had a small fridge next to his desk. He reached inside and twisted the cap off a bottle of beer. He put his feet on the desk and stared at the wall.

It was his work. What he always came back to. He loved Janice, loved taking care of her. But he loved catching bad guys. And not just any bad guys. The worst of the worst. Other than Janice, it was what he lived for.

He took a long pull from the beer.

He looked at his map. He had color coded push pins to represent murders he thought belonged to one killer. Each killer had his or her own color. The killer in Fort Walton Beach, in his opinion, a woman, had purple.

That one intrigued him. Partly because he lived close enough where he could drive over and do some investigative work on his own. And partly because female serial killers were so rare. It was an area of profiling that needed more data.

The reason she was so successful was the same reason killers who preyed on prostitutes got away with it: the people involved in sex for sale were anonymous. Fake names. Disguises. Contrived personas.

It was the perfect hunting ground.

Mack finished his beer and grabbed a second.

Something had to break. Or he would be adding another victim push pin, and soon.