“Tell me.”
It was Tate’s turn to sigh, which he did, heavily, then he said, “Wood found her bike about ten minutes after you two left, before the cops got there. It was tossed into the trees. I found her clothes thrown not too far from the bike. He moved around a lot in those woods but trail wasn’t hard to follow, footprints, depressed grass, broken twigs. They sent two officers and we followed the trail. Found her, called the ambulance. Left her with the paramedics, I followed more trail. He took a different route to get back, came out at the clearing. Lost the trail at the road, he had a car.”
This wasn’t enough information. It was, on one hand. It wasn’t on the other.
“I don’t get it,” I said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“I don’t either,” Tate replied.
“It’s not the same. Is this someone else?” I asked.
“Don’t know. Could be two things,” Tate answered and said no more.
“Those are?” I prompted.
Tate hesitated for long moments before going on. “Copycat who got started then figured out he doesn’t have a taste for it or doesn’t know the full MO or our boy is…” he trailed off.
“Tate,” I whispered.
“You wanna hear this shit?” he asked.
“No,” I answered. “But I have to.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“And I’m thinkin’ it’s better you keep not knowin’, Ace.”
I looked at him. “I don’t know why I have to know but I have to know.”
“Babe –”
“Tate, he’s hurting women, two of them I know. Please, honey, I have to know.”
Tate was silent for several beats then he asked, “Do you know what drawin’ down the sun means?”
“No,” I answered.
“Sunbathing nude. Shambles and Sunny are naturists.”
“Oh,” I mumbled. “So?”
“I think our boy is local. I think this was an incident of opportunity. He’s got a problem with women who show skin, don’t follow convention. He sees Sunny in the nude, whatever fucked up shit in his head that drives him kicks in but he knows Sunny ain’t like all the rest. He can’t follow through. He follows his impulses but he can’t take it to climax.”
“He stabbed her five times,” I reminded Tate.
“Stabbed Tonia sixteen times and raped her with that knife,” Tate told me.
I sucked in breath then on the exhale breathed, “Sixteen? Really?”
“Yeah, babe,” Tate said softly. “Also took all her hair he could get with that knife. Only cut Sunny’s. Like he bunched it in his hand and sheared it off in one slice. But he didn’t take it all.”
“What does that mean?”
“The whole show is fucked, all over the place. Part of it is an effort at humiliation. Takin’ the hair, leavin’ ‘em naked and exposed. Part of it is sexual. All the victims had semen on them. Not in them, on them.”
“Oh God,” I whispered torn between sick disgust and horror.
“Yeah, fucked up shit. It’s brutal but every single one of them is left positioned the same. On their side, knees to their chest, hands tucked under their cheek. Gentle, almost respectful. Remorse. Remorse after he uses that knife instead of his dick and gets off on it. Remorse after he jacks off on them during or after.”
“Sunny?” I whispered.
“Didn’t violate her or come on her. Another change, he left a blanket with her. My guess, it was hers. She’d crawled, blood trail shows she got about fifteen feet, took the blanket with her but then she lost consciousness. The blanket, at least, offered some protection from exposure.”
I closed my eyes. “Thank God.”
“So we got DNA from the semen, we just got no matches. And that’s all we got. It’s like this guy doesn’t exist. Now we got boot prints and maybe more DNA on the blanket. They find somethin’, they’ll know if it’s the same guy.”
“You think he’s local?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know anything about him?”
“Profilers think he’s able to assimilate. He’s one of us.”
I turned my head and stared at Tate, whispering, “What?”
“Not one victim, outside of Sunny, showed signs of struggle. We don’t know how he got them we just know he didn’t kidnap them, it wasn’t violent. He either knew them or he doesn’t pose a threat. He comes off as friendly. He might even be attractive. A good flirt. Turn a woman’s eye. Thinks she’s gonna get her some, not havin’ any clue.”
“So why did he struggle with Sunny?”
“He doesn’t act on instinct. He hunts. She was not planned. The urge hit him and he acted. Maybe she didn’t know him so she fought him. Shambles and Sunny picked that place because it’s off the beaten track. Not a lot of people come around there unless they live up the way. Even if they did, they’d have to be lookin’, the clearing is far enough from the road. He probably surprised her.”
“They didn’t question her,” I told him something he knew.
“She’s been out. They will soon’s they can.”