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humans are as complex as they are troubled. For some, violence stimulates the brain’s reward centers or eases the pain of a hidden darkness.”
“Not that women aren’t capable of such crimes even if they are statistically less likely to be violent, but transporting a body this far would require immense strength. I’ve dragged a body a few feet before, and it was incredibly exhausting.” “Very funny. Like a serial killer, huh?” Emanuel said, joking.
Ha if only he knew
Won’t this…hobby mess with your concerts? The holidays are coming up.” My body stiffened in my seat as my head snapped up. I stared at Emanuel, my gaze locked on his as the car rolled to a stop at a red traffic light. “You know who I am?” I asked, taken aback.
Both my parents were still alive, and even if they were to die, I feared I might not be able to shed a tear for them.
“Name one profession that was once highly respected but is now a joke,” he huffed. “FBI agent,” Heather replied from behind the towering stacks of document boxes on her desk. “President,” Liam said
Lmao
“If you ask me, whoever chopped this bastard up should get a free pass from us.” “An eye for an eye,” Martin agreed, folding his arms across his chest.
“Good. I hope it was slow and painful. May God bless whoever granted me this little bit of closure. It might be all I can cling to during the endless nights of torturous pain.”
Liam held up a hand to tell him to be quiet. His eyes scanned the handwriting again and again and again. The curves, the way the letters were shaped. It was unmistakable. His heart raced as the implications began to sink in. There was no doubt. Not even the slightest. The handwriting on this map belonged to Leah Nachtnebel.
That was stupid of her to actually write on it. EDIT Haha never mind she's a genius
Larsen scrutinized the papers in his hands. Liam thought he detected a brief twitch in the muscles around Larsen’s eyes before he placed the documents on the desk and looked up.
His killings are driven by what he believes to be great symbolism. Unlike Greg Harris, the Train Track Killer is a highly intelligent individual who plans his murders in genius detail.
In some ways, he feared me as much as he needed me—the only combination that could keep a man like him in check.
“When the Italians and Irish were still running things, there was a code of honor,” he continued. “Women and children were not to be touched. The filth from Mexico and Russia that are ruling the trade now are a disgrace to humankind.”
People pretend it’s the lack of humanity that is responsible for the atrocities we’re capable of when, in fact, humanity is the root of it.”
My daughter showed me some fucking YouTube videos of a guy insisting Harris was killed by a serial killer who killed serial killers.
Larsen had served several tours in Iraq. Sometimes after a killing, he felt guilt, but most of the time, he didn’t. The rush of adrenaline was like a drug.
Going back, this line makes a lot more sense now
How was this possible? I hadn’t made a sound. Could he feel my presence? Two killers alone on the devil’s playground?
A trap maybe
Larsen had done it again—twisted and turned the truth to make Liam sound like a lunatic.
“There’s something disturbing about watching you embrace poop, pumpkin.” Liam teased her, his eyes bright with affection. She teased him back. “I’ll always think of you when I hold it. Promise.”
“Is there anything about him you’re not telling me?” His mom froze, her hand flying to her lips. “What did Aunt Jane tell you?” “What…what do you mean? What could she have possibly told me about Dad that’s freaking you out like this?”
I just realized this is a lose end, but perhaps not since there's two more books in this series.
There was a heavy silence. “I agree with you. This case has never made sense to me.” Liam froze. This was the first time somebody else had expressed concern with the whole damn case.
“I guess even mental illness is better when you’re rich.” “This is America, Agent Richter. Everything is better when you’re rich.
Richter and I locked gazes. He didn’t smile; he just stared at me long enough for it to convey a message. This encounter was no coincidence. He was here for me.
“Is that a burner phone you got there?” he added, looking for a reaction. “Is that what they call them?” “Pretty much. Mostly used by innocent elderly who aren’t so tech-savvy or, well, criminals. Which one are you, Ms. Nachtnebel? You don’t look that old to me, if I may say so.”
If the world had more men like him, maybe monsters like myself wouldn’t be necessary.
“If you get the slightest chance, put a bullet in his head, you hear me?” A deafening silence settled on Liam’s shoulder like an iron curtain. Larsen had never asked something like that. Had he even heard it right? “Sir?” “I meant it the way you think I did,” Larsen confirmed, not even blinking. There was something raw in Larsen’s voice. Something Liam couldn’t place.
He wasn't the embodiment of the law, merely its enforcer.
“The ink on his divorce papers dried five years ago, but in the past three weeks, he hasn’t managed to make time for a single visit to his children, who live, like, five minutes away.” “Maybe they’re on vacation with the mother.” “They’re not. I stopped by their school and saw them on the school’s playground. Something weird is going on.”
“All right, then we can do this right here, outside, in front of everyone. I’ll be sure to flash my badge a few more times so the whole world can see it. If I angle it right, the sun reflects off it like a disco ball. How’s that for the campus rumor mill?”
Haha well done
Some straight-A students like you might worry about their side gig as a prostitute in a state where it’s illegal. One trip to jail and all this—” Liam gestured at the campus “—is gone, my friend.” “Oh yeah?” Emanuel pulled out his phone and held it up. “Some FBI agents might worry about using blackmail in the age of smartphones.” His phone’s display showed an active recording button. Then he slipped the phone back into his pocket. Liam grinned. Clever little shithead.
Lol
a realization struck him like a lightning bolt. The shock hit him like a jolt of electricity, causing his body to tense and freeze in disbelief. Idiot! Fool! Amateur! The woman in red!
So why in the world would Liam throw out the little bit of dignity he had left and pick up? Because she gave him Josie, and for that alone, a part of him would love her until the day she died.
“See what you’re doing to this poor girl?” he said. Liam’s mom shrugged. “I’m making a strong woman out of her. The world needs those, believe me.”
“The doctors said that by focusing pressure on your stomach wound instead of the side wound, you saved your own life,” Larsen said. A hazy memory of the silhouette shifting his hands to his stomach flickered in Liam’s mind.
his eyes landed on a single red rose in a clear vase on a small table next to the door. It stood out in stark contrast to the white wall, like a drop of red blood on a white canvas. “Who put that there?”
Don’t tell him you’re FBI. He watched a few too many X-Files episodes and thinks the FBI is in on it.” “In on what?” Murray’s thin lips curled into a grin. “Everything.” Liam rolled his eyes and gazed at the farmland next to the highway. “Great.”
she walked straight up to me and handed me the knife. Then she said, ‘I stabbed a boy.’ Just like that. Like it was the most natural thing in the world.”
What if the woman in red, Leah Nachtnebel, not only knew Harris but, given her violent past, was the one who…
Finally getting closer
And yet the way she avoided his gaze, as if feeling crushed under immense guilt, Liam knew she wasn’t telling the truth.
Something had happened that night after he’d passed out, and whatever—or to be more precise, whoever—it was had known exactly what to say to Anna to keep her from talking.
Liam pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture of Leah from her concert website, holding it up in front of her “—could you just take a look at this woman and let me know if—” His voice broke off the moment he saw Anna’s eyes widen in shock. She stood still, staring at the picture of Leah.
Liam couldn’t stand the thought of a world where individuals like Leah Nachtnebel operated behind the scenes without repercussions. His entire life had been dedicated to upholding justice and the law. Without order, chaos reigned. Leah’s mere existence challenged everything he believed in.
“Are you here to arrest me, or is Larsen unaware of this visit?” “I see you’ve done your research on my superiors.” “Something along those lines.”
What I can’t comprehend, no matter how hard I try, is what you said to Anna to make her side with a murderer.”
Heck I'd side with her too. She took the life of the psycho who traumatized her, killed her grandmother, and attempted to kill her again
Don’t talk to anybody about this anymore until you meet with me. And—” he exhaled deeply “—and bring Tony.”
You aint gonna have him killed are you?
“In my memories and my nightmares, and I pray to God it won’t be the last thing I think about when I draw my final breath.” Larsen pursed his lips, glanced at the sky, then shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Tony—” his voice sounded pained “—but it actually will be.” With practiced ease, he lifted a gloved hand, drew his gun, and shot Tony in the head.
Omg nooo ! I knew this was happening but I hoped they could escape it.
Liam immediately understood Larsen’s plot. Larsen would use Tony’s gun to kill Liam, and then place the gun he’d used to kill Tony in Liam’s hand. This would make it appear as though the two agents had engaged in a shootout most likely initiated by the mentally unstable Agent Richter.
My purpose here holds more value than the combined lives of all three of us.
“However, you’re mistaken about one thing, Agent Richter. The boy I stabbed when I was a little girl, he wasn’t Harris.” A fleeting silence intensified the already-charged air. “It was me,” Larsen suddenly said, pulling down his suit shirt and tie to expose a large scar on his neck.
Whaaaatt! I did not see that one coming
“I was determined to end his life and expose him for who he truly was, but then Agent Larsen pleaded for just a minute of my time, to show me his work. And what he revealed was intriguing.” “Killing serial killers?” I nodded. “At that time, he hadn’t managed to kill anyone yet, but his preparations were detailed enough that, with outside help, it seemed like it could be a successful operation.”
“The ticket,” he interjected, stepping forward. “You signed it on purpose, knowing you could later point out your unique handwriting. Then you placed the same handwriting on the map, hoping I would connect it to the ticket after you instructed Larsen to plant it.” Liam let out a humorless laugh. “You even told me it was you. From the start. The canvas…like a drop of red blood on a white canvas—it’s incredibly difficult to hide in plain sight. You told me that over and over again.
