Dead Hunt

to fix it,’’ said Iris.
‘‘We can hold them hostage,’’ said Joey.
‘‘I don’t want to hear from you,’’ said Iris. ‘‘If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be in this mess. The FBI won’t deal with hostage takers. We have to think of something else. We’ll put them in one of the upstairs rooms.’’

Chapter 51
    It was Iris who took them up to the rooms. She had Kingsley’s gun with her and from the way she held it, Diane believed she knew how to use it.
    Diane supposed Iris wasn’t trusting anyone but herself to do anything right. She and Kingsley had definitely ruffled her feathers, and they had done a fairly decent job of starting a schism between Iris and the other two. Diane tried to think of some way to widen it as she was climbing the stairs. Perhaps that was why Iris was taking them up instead of allowing the others to do it. Iris was afraid that Diane and Kingsley might make some progress.
    The upper floor was as elegant as the rest of the house. Diane told her so. The wide hallway had several seating areas and a library at the end in an alcove.
    ‘‘Lily, Rose, and I decorated the house and grounds. Mother had such poor taste. You should have seen it. Of course, she’s the woman who slept with my father after he sold me. That’s how we got little Joey.’’ Iris sounded bitter. ‘‘He also gave her a fur coat to make up for her loss.’’
    ‘‘I’m sorry that happened to you,’’ said Diane.
    ‘‘So am I,’’ said Kingsley. ‘‘I can’t think of anything more terrible.’’
They stood there in the big elegant hallway near a pair of large double doors, Diane and Kingsley almost huddled together and Iris holding the gun on them.
‘‘One of my father’s clients was here looking for his quota of nubile young things and he caught sight of Rose. We had just turned fifteen. He offered my father a million dollars for her. Father agreed; after all, he had two more. Rose was terrified. Mother cried but did nothing. I offered to go in her place. Father didn’t care; he couldn’t tell us apart anyway.
‘‘Now you know my story. Profiler Kingsley, you are going in this room. Open the door.’’
‘‘Let us stay together,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You can see we’re a pretty pathetic pair, and he needs care.’’
‘‘Don’t try to poor-mouth yourselves. I know what you are capable of,’’ she said. ‘‘Open the door.’’
Kingsley opened the door. The room had a huge four-poster bed, plush maroon carpets with a maroon and gold brocade bed set and matching curtains. It was a little too ornate for Diane’s taste, but it was better than the building out back.
‘‘Nice prison,’’ said Kingsley. He walked in and Iris locked the door behind him with the key she held in her hand.
‘‘You will be down here,’’ she said to Diane.
Diane started down the hallway, trying to formulate a plan. Kingsley was out of the way and it was just the two of them. Iris was strong, but so was she.
‘‘Don’t try anything,’’ said Iris. ‘‘I won’t mind shooting you. I can read your mind even from behind.’’
‘‘I wouldn’t dream of trying anything,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You have a logical mind about you. I was hoping you would see that killing law enforcement officers puts you in a whole different ball game from the men you killed.’’
‘‘I’m aware of that. Hardly seems fair to the rest of the population, does it?’’ she said.
‘‘Iris, look,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Kingsley tells me that most people who are tagged as serial killers escalate in violence against their victims. You didn’t. He says you are different. You are not one of these people...’’
‘‘Are you trying to save me? How do you know I’m not escalating?’’
‘‘Because neither Bacon, Redding, Carthwright, or O’Riley was killed as violently as that GreeneHeinrich person,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Their deaths were terrible enough, and maybe Bacon’s was as violent, but the others weren’t.’’
Diane watched Iris carefully as she spoke. Iris was clearly shocked.
‘‘You know about all of those?’’ she whispered.
‘‘There may be more, but those are all we’ve found so far,’’ said Diane.
‘‘How?’’ she said hoarsely. ‘‘How could you know about Simon Greene? He’s the man my father sold me to. No one knows about him.’’
‘‘You aren’t the only one Greene abused,’’ said Diane. ‘‘He’s notorious.’’
Iris was quiet. Diane was