Jennifer Lynn Barnes - The Naturals стр 37.

The UNSUB dyed the latest victims hair red. I didnt bother asking if I was right about that, knowing in my gut that I was. Thats above and beyond victim selection. Its not just an MO anymore. Its part of the UNSUBs signature.

Briggs crossed his arms over his chest. Im not talking with you about this.

And yet, he didnt leave the roomand he didnt stop listening.

Did the UNSUB dye her hair before or after he killed her?

Briggs didnt say a word. He was playing this by the bookbut he didnt tell me to stop talking, either.

Dyeing the victims hair before the kill could be an attempt to create a more ideal target, one who claims to be psychic and has red hair. But dyeing her hair afterward I paused, just long enough to see that Briggs was listening, really listening, to every word. Dyeing her hair after shes already dead is a message.

And what message is that? Agent Briggs asked sharply, like he was dismissing my words out of hand, when both of us knew that he was not.

A message for you: hair color matters. The UNSUB wants you to know that theres a connection between the cases. He doesnt trust you to come to that conclusion on your own, so hes helping you get there.

Briggs was silent for three or four loaded seconds.

We cant do this, Cassie. I understand your interest in the case. I understand your wanting to help, but whatever you think youre doing, it ends now.

I started to object and he held up a hand, silencing me.

Ill tell Locke to let you start working on cold cases. Youre obviously ready. But if you so much as sniff in the direction of this case again, there will be consequences, and I can guarantee that you will find them unpleasant. He leaned forward, his posture unconsciously mimicking the roaring bears. Have I made myself clear?

I didnt respond. If he was looking for a promise that Id stay out of this, he was going to be disappointed.

I already have a Natural profiler in this program. Briggs looked me straight in the eye, his lips set in a thin, forbidding line. Id prefer to have two, but not at the risk of my job.

There it was: the ultimate threat. If I pushed this, Briggs could send me home. Back to Nonna and the aunts and the uncles and the constant awareness that I would never be like them, like anyone outside of these walls.

Youve made yourself clear, I said.

Briggs closed his briefcase. Give it a couple of years, Cassie. They wont keep you out of the field forever.

He waited for my reply, but I said nothing. He stood up and walked to the door.

If hes dyeing their hair, the rules are changing, I called after him, not bothering to turn around to see if hed stopped to listen or not. And that means that before things get better, theyre going to get a whole lot worse.

YOU

A smile on your face, you pick up the scissors. The girl on the floor screams, the duct tape stretching tight across her face, but you ignore her. Shes not the real prize here, just a means to an end.

You grab her by the hair and jerk her head back. She struggles, and you tighten your grip and slam her head into the wall.

Be still, you whisper. You let her hair fall back down and then lift a single lock of it up .

You raise the scissors. You cut the hair .

And then you cut her .

CHAPTER 25

For a second, I thought Id imagined the footsteps, but then I saw the hint of a shadow underneath the door.

Theres someone out there .

Whoever it was just stood there. I crept toward the door, my hair stuck to my forehead with sweat and my heartbeat thudding in my ears.

I opened the door.

Not going for a swim tonight?

It took a second for Michaels features to come together in the darkness, but I recognized his voice immediately.

I dont feel like swimming. I lowered my voice, but not as much as I would have if my roommates nasal passages hadnt been threatening to deafen me within the year.

I got you something. Michael took a step forward, until his face was mere inches from mine. Slowly, he held up an inch-thick file.

I looked at him, then at the file, then back at him.

You didnt, I said.

Oh yes, he replied. I did.

How? Already, my fingers were itching to snatch the file from his hand.

Briggs took Sloanes computer. He didnt take mine.

I thought about Briggss warning, his threat to send me home. And then, slowly, I closed my fingers around the file. You copied the files onto your laptop.

Michael smiled. Youre welcome.

Miss me? Agent Locke didnt wait for me to answer her question. Sit.

I sat. So did Dean.

Here. Agent Locke held out a thick legal file, the accordion bottom stretched to capacity and then some.

Whats this? I asked.

Briggs thinks youre ready to take the next step, Cassie. Locke paused. Is he right?

A cold case? The file was fadedand much, much heavier than the one tucked under my mattress.

A string of unsolved murders from the nineties, Locke told us. Home invasion; one bullet to the head, execution-style. The rest of the file contains all of the similar unsolved homicides that have taken place in that area since.