Serial Read Free Page B

wall. The news spewed tersely from a pale-faced reporter, the intersection of Montana and US 54 pictured prominently behind him, before the whole scene flickered to the side entrance and the placid face of Adrian Sifuentes, the department’s PR guy.
    Captain Garcia strode by and swept Isaac up by his arm, pulling him away from the crowd before he could hear what was being announced. The captain stayed quiet until they were in his office, the door slammed shut behind them. His eyes glimmered.
    “The Ripper struck again,” Garcia said as he dropped into his chair, not bothering to wave Isaac to a seat. “That crazy son of a bitch must be pissed to dump a body so close to us, not thirteen fucking blocks from here.”
    Isaac sat and shook his head. “That’s not his MO, Cap. You sure it was him?”
    Garcia shrugged. “While the preliminaries aren’t in, the girl had her tongue split like a fucking snake, same as always. Pretty little thing too.” The captain yanked the top drawer of his desk open and pulled out a bottle of Pepto. After a big swig, he slammed it onto the desk, pink bubbles welling up at the opening. “He strung her up by her entrails, right the fuck over the highway for the whole world to see.”
    Isaac sighed and leaned back in his seat. “Mendes on it?”
    “Yeah, yeah, but I didn’t bring you in here to put you back on the case. I need you to bust ass on our latest malcontent. He’s stirring the Ripper up something fierce.”
    “What makes you think that?”
    “Because the sick fuck shoved a toothpick through the girl’s nipple, that’s why. If that’s not a message, Grant, I don’t know what the hell is.”
    Isaac nodded, his face whitewashed with neutrality. The killer inside smiled. It was that, and so much more. “He’s also never dropped two bodies this close together, so maybe you’re right.” Isaac sighed. “I’m on it, but the new guy isn’t as brazen as he seems. Minus the defensive wounds on the first, I believe there’s a measure of premeditation involved. He isn’t just hacking folks up for the fun of it. There’s more to it—a rhythm, a pattern of some kind that isn’t apparent, especially with the toothpicks.”
    “I don’t care what you have to do to figure it out. Just make it quick. I’ve got the chief’s approval to burn overtime and open up assets to you, as needed, but he’s going to want results for the money he’s spending. Shut this toothpick motherfucker down so we can focus on the Ripper. We can’t afford a serial killer pissing match, with all that’s going on in Juarez right now. The feds are just looking for an excuse to cut in and screw us out of our funding.”
    Isaac stood and waved a hand. “I understand.” He made no promises as he headed for the door, but he had all the motivation he needed to rid the city of this new serial killer. The feds were a bull Isaac had no interest in provoking.
    On his way back to his office, he passed the breakroom. A different gaggle of officers was on display, but the news was the same. Isaac smothered his smile as Detective James Chapman called for his attention.
    “You see this shit, man?”
    Isaac leaned inside the room and glanced at the TV, nodding, doing his best to mimic the other detective’s distressed look.
    …brutal and barbaric, the unidentified victim left to hang by her neck in a noose made of her own intestines. The po…
    “He’s fucking up. We’ll get him,” Isaac told the other detective as he walked away.
    He laughed inside as he shut the door to his office, drowning out the angry comments of his fellow officers and the drone of the news report. Brutal and barbaric. The words echoed in his head. Karen had hardly been a masterpiece, but Isaac was content with the results. He’d made no mistakes. Better yet, her death had brought the news back full circle to where it belonged. There was no mention of the toothpick killer, only the Desert Ripper, as it should be.
    Garcia had been