Double Cross

what —”
    “Yes,”
Bree said. “We’re done, Brady. For the moment, anyway. We’re leaving.”
    As we turned to go, Thompson spoke again, more conciliatory than before. “Detectives? You obviously think my little posting is real or you wouldn’t be here. Will you just tell me if it has something to do with the iconography?” This guy was a true fan, a real freak. He couldn’t help himself, could he?
    Bree couldn’t help herself either. With the door halfway open and a small crowd of office workers gathered behind her, she turned to face Braden Thompson.
    “I can’t comment on that, sir. Not at this time. But let me reassure you that we won’t mention your Web site, SerialTimes.net, anywhere outside this office unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
    Bree smiled at Braden Thompson, then lowered her voice. “Keep on living, fucker.”

Chapter 53

    PISSED OFF AT THE WORLD in general, and at Braden Thompson in particular, the three of us showed up at the Daly Building. We didn’t get very far before Superintendent Davies headed us off. “Over here,” he barked, then turned and walked back to his office. “The three of you,
now
.”
    We looked at one another, not liking the vibe.
    “Why do I feel like I’m about to get detention and miss football practice?” Sampson muttered.
    “Yeah,” Bree said, “and cheerleading practice too. Oh, wait, I wasn’t ever a cheerleader.”
    Bree and I wiped the smirks off our faces before we went in.
    “Can you explain
this
?” Davies flipped a newspaper around on his desk.
    There was a story above the fold in the
Post
’s metro section, “Audience Killer Copycat Theory Surfaces.”
    I wasn’t surprised by the headline so much as reminded about how fast these stories can spread and get out to the press.
    Bree answered for the group. “We just learned about it this morning ourselves. Even right now we’re coming from —”
    “Don’t give me a lot of explanations, Detective Stone. In my book, that’s only a step up from an excuse. Just do something about it.” He twisted his neck a few times, as if he were trying to undo the pain we’d put there.
    “Excuse me, sir,” Bree said. “This isn’t the kind of information we can control. Not once it’s been —”
    Davies cut her off again. “I don’t need a lesson in damage control. I need you to take care of the mess. This is Major Case Squad. Your superiors aren’t a safety net. You need to respond to the problems
before
I ask you to respond to them. Do you understand me?”
    “Of course I understand you,” Bree said. “I don’t need a lesson in damage control either. Apparently, neither does DCAK.”
    Suddenly, Davies smiled, and it was totally unexpected. “You see why I like her?” he asked Sampson and me.
    Yeah, I was pretty sure that I did.

Chapter 54

    THERE WAS NO NEW PART for DCAK to play today, no gruesome murder planned. So the killer was just being himself. He decided to go online again before dinner, couldn’t resist hearing about himself. And he wasn’t disappointed.
    The message boards on the Internet were full of chatter about DCAK! True, much of it was tabloid or fantasy stuff, but that didn’t matter. The point was,
they were talking
.
    SerialTimes didn’t have anything new. Neither did Sicknet or SKcentral. That made sense. His fans were waiting for his next move.
    Finally he clicked into a couple of the chats. It was good to be among “his people” at the end of a long day. He even used a first name here, as a “gift” to them. Not that anyone would know that he did, but the contact felt more personal. Besides, he was into dropping clues.
    In his honor, of course.

    AARON_AARON: What’s up, DCAK lovers?
    GINSOAKED: Copycat, duh. Where you been?
    AARON_AARON: No shit, duh. What else? Anybody? Anything?
    REDRUM5: Been quiet. Busy weekend. He deserves some rest, right? Any day now, bet. Watch his smoke!!!!
    DCAK-FAN: How do you know so much?
    REDRUM5: I don’t. Just a theory of mine. Just my opinion. Okay with you?
    AARON_AARON: Maybe he’s been busy already today.
    DCAK-FAN: Busy, like what?

    The killer sipped the white wine he’d poured for himself, a nice chardonnay. He deserved it. He didn’t like to brag, but then again, that’s not what this was. More like stepping into the light. Or having a curtain call after a brilliant performance.

    AARON_AARON: Okay, what if he copycatted himself? Think about it for a sec.
    GINSOAKED: You mean, like, he did the