Silence. “Walsh? Now I wonder where you got hold of that name.”
“Perhaps you’re not as clever as you thought you were. Joe is a very competent law-enforcement officer and terrific at searching databases. Why would you think that you might not have managed to let something slip along your very ugly career?”
“Because I’m not that careless.”
“But you do compartmentalize, and you evidently felt very comfortable with the Walsh identity. Was it because you were so adept at fading in and out when you were taking all those children’s lives?”
Silence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Do you want me to reel off the names and numbers of your kills? It started with little Donna Prahern in Sacramento, didn’t it? No accident. None of them were accidents.”
“Why, I have no idea of what you’re accusing me.” He paused. “And I have no intention of listening to your raving about crimes that have nothing to do with me. That’s not why I called.”
“Why did you call?”
“I’m very irritated that you interfered with me. You had no right. I believe you have to be punished. You should have hung up on Nalchek when he phoned, begging you to help him.”
“It’s what I do. Identify and then find a way to put monsters like you in a prison or gas chamber.” Her tone hardened. “And I’ll do that, Walsh. No one deserves it more.”
“So dedicated,” he said softly. “Do I detect a touch of possessiveness? Let’s put it to the test. You were very bitter when I took the reconstruction of that sweet little girl, weren’t you? How badly do you want her back?”
She didn’t answer for an instant. “Are you offering?”
“I might be. How much do you want her?”
“Money?”
“Now I’m sure you know that’s not in the cards. You’d have to earn her.”
“And for all I know, you’ve already destroyed my reconstruction.”
“True.” He added, “But as it happens, I haven’t gotten around to it yet. You still might have a chance. Why don’t you come and get her?”
“When you’ve just said you want to punish me? I know what that means to you.”
“Yes, but you left your cozy little cottage and came out to the Golden State to try to retrieve that skull. That tells me what it means to you.”
“What it means is what it will always mean. A way to catch the filth who was coward enough to kill a little girl and hide her body in the ground.”
“Are you trying to make me angry?” His voice was amused. “There’s nothing cowardly about killing in any form. Society totally rejects the idea of murder, they even seek to put to death those who have the courage to go their own way in spite of their stupid rules. To be clever and skilled enough to take a life and walk away a free man makes me far more remarkable than you and that detective, who are trying to find and punish me.”
“You actually believe that?”
“Of course.”
“And the act of killing is only a challenge no matter who the victim? A helpless child, an old man?”
“You sound so revolted. As you say, it’s the challenge of the kill itself. I do appreciate the ending of a young life because it’s regarded with such horror. But just the act itself immediately puts me in the crosshairs of do-gooders like you and Nalchek. If I make a mistake, you could bring me down. It’s me against the system.” He paused. “But I much prefer that it be me against you and Joe Quinn. So much more interesting. So why don’t you come and see if you can take this reconstruction away from me?”