The Night Killer

along with Izzy.
    “What you need,” said Liam, “is a place that is a little harder to get into, kind of like that cave where Larken and Bruce were found. He’ll expect it to be hard and hidden, or somebody would have found it by now. It should also be one that is easy at first, but has a place where we can hide—if that turns out to be the plan.”
    “King Cave. It fits the bill,” said Mike. “It’s not in Rendell County, but it’s just over the county line. Slim entrance. Starts easy and gets harder. It’s got a nice little cavern that would be good to salt.”
    “Okay, can you draw a map?” said Diane.
    “Sure,” said Mike.
    Diane extended her arm to hand him the pen. That was when she noticed the sparkle on her sweater sleeve. The stuff gets everywhere, she thought to herself.
    Neva let Korey in when he knocked.
    “Hey, Dr. F,” he said. “What’s going on in the Dark Side?”
    Diane told him what she needed. “It has to look real—just like the other pages. I’m hoping there are blank pages in some of the older diaries that you can remove and use. You’ll have to take it apart and rebind it, and it needs to be done in a couple of hours. Neva will help with the drawing. So will Mike.”
    Korey looked at her. “The diaries that belong with the arrowheads?” he said. “You’re changing them?”
    Desecration, to a conservator, thought Diane.
    “I know what I’m asking, Korey. I need you to do it and not ask questions and not tell anyone,” said Diane. “It’s a matter of life and death.”
    “Someone in Archives said that they can’t find Andie. Is that what this is about?” he asked.
    Tears blurred Diane’s eyes and threatened to overflow.
    “I can’t say, Korey. Please do this,” she said.
    Korey frowned. “Sure, Dr. F. I can do it so it would take an expert to discover it.”
    “Thank you, Korey,” said Diane.
    Mike and Neva went with Korey to Conservation. When the door closed, Diane heard the ping of the computer.
    Another message had come in.

Chapter 54
    Diane shook as she called up the message. Get control of yourself, damn it. She had to calm down.
    “Do you know where they’re coming from?” she asked David, a little too sharply.
    “Internet café,” he said. “The first one.”
    “Where?” said Diane.
    “Rockwood,” he said, but she barely heard him as the video started.
    The image again was of Andie. She was sitting in what appeared to be the same location as before. Her forearms were bound to the arms of the chair with duct tape. Her shirt was off. From the waist up she was dressed in only her red-stained bra. She squirmed in her seat. She had a note in her hand.
    She shook and tears rolled down her cheeks as she read. Starting and stopping, looking at her tormentor, sobbing.
    “ ‘I’m still having too much fun to stop right now, so be patient. Andie was a sweet little thing in her T-shirt. She said it’s something called the Vitruvian Man . What is that? Is that stupid or what? Don’t forget the diary. I’ll be tired of her little titties and cunt soon, and after that I want my diary, or—well, you know.’ ”
    Andie sobbed after she finished.
    “He’s a dead man,” said Liam, curling his lip and gripping the back of the chair. “If it’s the last thing I do, he’s dead.”
    Then he fell into the silence that the rest were in—Diane, Izzy, Jin, and David.
    “He hasn’t been raping her,” said David. “Her jeans are on. I doubt he would let her partially re-dress. He would want to see her. This is show.”
    Liam turned on David. “How the hell do you know, damn it? How the fucking hell do you know?”
    Diane could almost see the frustration pouring over him. She felt it too. Fear and frustration.
    But David was bent over, staring closely at the still image of the stopped video. “Because,” he said, “everything is exactly the same as the last video, except for the T-shirt. He’s staging this. I’m willing to bet he’s already made the messages Diane will be receiving, and he’s moving from one Internet café to another, sending them to Diane.”
    David stood up and turned to Liam. “If we are to save her, we have to do what it takes, even if that means to chill. We don’t have time for self-indulgence.”
    Liam looked at him for a moment before he nodded. “You’re right. I know that. I know that,” he whispered almost to himself.
    “Jin,” said David, “help me with the acoustic program while I trace this last