“Really? That’s awesome! So all is forgiven?” Annie got a little nosier.
“Yes, everything is forgiven. He made a mistake. A whopping giant mistake. Lord, he couldn’t possibly have made a bigger ass of himself if he had tried.” Kate laughed, she had to laugh at it now because what other way could you respond?
“Damn straight.” Annie chimed in agreement.
“But things are wonderful now, I love him so much Annie. And we are closer than ever, I told him everything. About mom and dad, my past, everything.” Kate closed her eyes dreamily, picturing Derrick’s handsome face before her.
“Really? Holy crap, Kate, that’s huge! I am so proud of you! This is the real deal then, wow. Just wow.” Annie was so surprised since Kate had never told that to anyone. The two sisters were the only ones who were privy to the truths of the past and Kate had never trusted anyone enough before to tell them about it. Annie could tell even in her sister’s voice that she wasn’t the same Kate who had been her sister a few weeks ago. Kate had changed, she had grown and maybe the reason that forced it to happen was horrible but Annie couldn’t help and be proud of her sister anyway.
~~~~
Detective Liz Snow had come straight from dropping Kate off at her apartment back to the precinct to delve right into her research. The moment she walked through the doors to the back of the precinct where the detectives’ desks were, she spotted her partner slouched over his papers and reading through a file intently.
“Mike! I’ve got something on the Jackson case.” Liz called out to her partner, Detective Mike McCraig talking about Kate Jackson’s investigation. He looked up at her and nodded in acknowledgment, putting his papers down. She pulled up a chair from an empty desk to the side of his desk and plopped down, spreading Clara McConnelly’s file out in front of him.
“Remember Clara McConnelly? Well, I think we are right, I think it’s the same perpetrator as in the Jackson case. Look at these photographs that he took of them after the attack, same bruise patterns and everything. They even are around the same age and height, same hair color. He has a type.” She was excited in her explanation.
“Jeez, clearly. I found six other matching cases in the FBI database that I think we can pin to him too but they are all murders. I think Jackson is our only living victim here, which means that she is the key to all of this. Why did he let her live?” Mike batted the question around with Liz.
“I don’t think he meant to, I mean she lost a lot of blood. I think he assumed she would die. But then why hasn’t he come back to finish the job. I mean, he came in her apartment and left more photographs but he hasn’t just tried to clean up his mess and kill her, so there is something more here.” Liz said, thinking about the case. She was sure that there was something different about Kate versus the other victims, but she couldn’t pinpoint what that was. She knew that Kate was the answer to solving this.
“I figured out something while you were gone, look at this.” Mike opened up several files that were all from the other six cases and sprawled them out across his desk.
“Jenna Attwater, sold cosmetics in a retail store. Nikki Herrera, realtor. Hayden Posen, sold advertising for a magazine. And the rest, look, sales. All of them were in some type of sales and all of these women were murdered after Clara McConnelly, a college student.” Mike explained. Liz nodded, her brain kicking into overdrive and pinning pieces together.
“So, we are seeing a progression, you think? Clara was a peer, he went to the same university as her and then got into business and has worked sales jobs since then which is where he finds and targets his victims.” Liz thought aloud.
“I mean, it isn’t definite but it’s a hell of a lot more than we had this morning.” Mike said.
“Does the file say where Clara went to college?” Mike asked Liz, nodding to the file she was flipping through.
“Uhm, yeah, hold on. Yeah, right here, NYU, New York University in New York City. Not much to go on there, it’s a pretty big campus with thousands upon thousands of students each year.” Liz sighed.
“NYU. NYU. God, why does that sound familiar to me?” Mike tapped his pencil against the desk absentmindedly as he tried to remember why that school was ringing some sort of bell for him.
“Oh, I almost forgot, look what the hell happened today.” Liz switched topics as she pulled the evidence bag out of her pocket that held the third photograph Kate had received from The Photographer today. She handed it to her partner.