The truth was anyone walking down that street could be the next victim. Hunter and Garcia had no way of knowing.
The man with the thick mustache moved right, stepping out of the way.
Inside Hunter’s office, the world stopped moving.
Standing in a direct line with the camera, about ten feet away, Hunter and Garcia finally saw who the killer was talking about.
‘Jesus Christ!’ Garcia’s voice croaked.
‘Anna,’ Hunter whispered, also recognizing Garcia’s wife. His gaze shot toward his partner as a thousand butterflies came alive inside his stomach.
For a moment Garcia seemed unable to move, to speak, to blink. And then he exploded.
‘You motherfucker . . . I swear to God . . . if you touch her . . . if you come close to her, I’m going to find you, and I’m going to
Garcia was now shaking. Adrenaline fueling every inch of his body.
The caller laughed once again. ‘She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’
‘Fuck you, you sick freak. You have no idea what I will do to you if . . .’ Garcia reached for his cellphone.
‘Let me tell you how this is going to work, Detective,’ the caller cut in, predicting Garcia’s next move. ‘If you call her now to ask her where she is. If I see her reaching for her phone and turning around to look at me, I promise you you’ll never see her alive again. The two previous victims will look like Christmas morning compared to what I’ll do to her. And you know I mean it. Trust me. You can’t get here fast enough.’
Garcia’s desperate stare moved from his phone to the monitor on his desk and then to Hunter.
Hunter lifted his right hand, signaling Garcia not to dial. ‘Do you know where she is?’ he mouthed the words. ‘Did Anna tell you where she was going today?’
Garcia shook his head. ‘I didn’t even know she was going out,’ he mouthed back.
‘Do you know what intrigues me?’ the caller proceeded. ‘Both of you keep saying that you’ll find me. That you will catch me. Detective Hunter said that last time we talked. Do you remember it?’
No reply.
‘Do you remember it, Detective Hunter?’
‘Yes.’
‘But the truth is that you aren’t even close to getting to me, are you?’
Silence.
‘Meanwhile, as you can see,
‘It’s not a threat, you sack o’ shit.’ Garcia’s voice was still trembling with rage. ‘It’s a
If you touch her, nothing else matters. Not even the law will matter. There isn’t a hole under a rock on this earth that will be safe for you to hide in. Do you understand what I’m saying?’
‘I do,’ the caller said, as calm as a priest in a confessionary. ‘Would it make a difference if I took your wife’s friend instead?’
Hunter and Garcia tensed once again.
The caller didn’t wait for an answer. ‘But of course it would. Then it wouldn’t be personal, and your reaction wouldn’t have been the same, isn’t that right, Detective Garcia? As you said, when it’s someone close to us, nothing else matters. We will even forget who we are. Maybe even become a monster in the process.’ The caller let out a heavy breath, and for the first time his voice got a little harsher. ‘You know, most people believe that we, as humans, always have a choice, no matter what situation we find ourselves in. Well, I’d like to contest that theory. I’d like to suggest that we don’t
my choice
Hunter looked deep in thought for a split second. ‘Yes,’ he replied.
‘You should be proud, Detective Garcia, you did well. I like your reaction. A reaction of a man who cares.’ The caller chuckled. ‘Well, I guess my work here is done. But we’ll be talking again soon –
The line went dead.
The images disappeared from their computer screens.
The website went offline.
‘Call Anna,’ he said. ‘Find out where she is. Tell her to find a busy place, like a coffee shop, and stay there until we get there.’
Garcia looked at Hunter as if he were from outer space. ‘Are you kidding? You heard what he said, right? If he saw Anna reaching for her phone . . .’ He wasn’t able to finish the sentence.
‘He’s not going to do anything, Carlos,’ Hunter said. ‘It was a bluff. He wanted to get a reaction.’
‘What?’
‘It was a bluff. Trust me. There were signs all throughout his telephone conversation with you. I’ll explain in the car. Right now you need to get Anna on the phone and find out where she is so we can get to her.’ Hunter had already grabbed his jacket. ‘Let’s move.’ He dashed for the door. ‘Call her.’
‘Woah, hold the fuck on, Robert,’ Garcia said in an unsteady voice, lifting his hands. ‘We’ve been partners for over five years. There’s no one alive I trust more than you, you know that, but we’re talking about the sickest, most sadistic and psychopathic killer this department has ever faced, and at this precise moment he’s following my
not
‘How so?’
‘OK, one possibility we’re facing is that the killer picks his victims at random from the general public, right? Well, if that really is the case, Anna isn’t a random pick. She’s your wife, and he knows it. There’s no random factor there, which, in that case, would be a detachment from his MO. If he’s after his victims for some other reason, like revenge or something else, again, I can’t see how Anna would fit.’
Garcia scratched his chin.
‘He went after Anna for one reason, and one reason only.’
‘Because she’s my wife.’
‘Exactly. He did it to get under our skin. To prove a point. Not to satisfy whatever agenda he has.’
‘And what point would that be? That he can get to anyone he wants? That he can hurt us?’
‘That too,’ Hunter agreed. ‘And to stamp his superiority. To remind us who is in control of this game.
Garcia knew Hunter wasn’t being critical of his actions. ‘I wasn’t bullshitting, Robert. If he touches Anna, I will find him, I will make him suffer, and then I will kill him. I don’t care what happens to me.’
‘I understand. And I don’t blame you. But when you told him that if he ever harmed Anna, nothing else would matter, not even the law, not even the fact that you were a cop. When you told him that you would hunt him down until you find him, and that you would kill him, no matter what, no matter how long it took . . . it didn’t scare him. It
him.’
‘What?’
‘It pleased him,’ Hunter repeated. ‘He even congratulated you, remember? His words were –
‘Because he’s a fucking psycho?’ Garcia was still feeding on his emotions.
‘No. It was because you gave him his little victory.’
‘Victory? What the hell are you talking about, Robert?’
Hunter’s eyes peeked at his watch again. ‘As I said, he had no real interest in Anna. He only went after her to get under our skin and to prove a point. And he knew he could do that without the need to touch her. Your reaction told him that he’d more than accomplished his task. You gave him more than a small victory, Carlos. You equated yourself with him when you told him that you would act just like him.’
‘What?’
Hunter shook his head. ‘I don’t remember his exact words. We can play the recording back later, but he said that when a threat or harm comes to someone close to us, nothing else matters.
Garcia said nothing.
‘One of the last things he said before disconnecting,’ Hunter continued. ‘Was that his work there was done . . . as in
Garcia nodded. ‘I remember that. He said that sometimes choices are made for us by others, and there’s nothing we can do about it. He gave Anna as an example.’
‘No, not nothing,’ Hunter countered. ‘He said that we can
‘I’m not sure,’ Hunter replied. ‘Right now we can only speculate. But in the past, every time he called us, he was always calm, never excited, never angry, never remorseful . . . never nothing. His tone of voice never gave anything away . . . no emotion. But not today.’
Garcia had been too angry and scared for Anna’s life to notice.
‘Today, for the first time, anger crept into his tone when he talked about people not always having a choice. He said that anger and emotional pain were good things. It proved that we, as humans, are still alive inside. That we still care for something. He used Anna and your love for her to prove that.’
Silence.
‘He wasn’t talking about me and my anger,’ Garcia finally said. ‘Or my reaction to what I would do if Anna was ever harmed. He was talking about him and his anger. He was talking about his reaction.’
Hunter nodded and looked at his watch for the third time. ‘Carlos, look, I understand that I’m asking you to trust me with your wife’s life, and that is asking a hell of a lot, but if you still don’t want to trust me, trust yourself. Forget about everything I think I picked up throughout your conversation with the killer. Take a step back and do what
choice
Anna stopped walking and looked at Patricia over the rim of her sunglasses.
‘What?’ Patricia said. The smile was still there, just a little bit more pronounced now. ‘Everyone knows he’s hot. And I know he isn’t hitched ’cos you told me.’
Patricia had met Hunter only once before, two months ago, during Anna’s birthday party. Hunter hadn’t stayed long. But after he left, Patricia had been one of three friends who’d asked Anna who the quiet good-looking guy was.
Someone riding a black and red Harley-Davidson motorbike turned the corner and decided to park it just a few yards ahead of them. For a moment no one could hear anything over the double-barrel exhaust noise.
When he finally switched his engine off, Anna faced Patricia again. ‘I thought you were seeing someone.’
They began walking again.
‘I was, but not anymore. Hence the request.’ She smiled again.
Anna gave her
Patricia followed.
‘Now,’ she said, catching Anna’s attention again. ‘Carlos’ partner, Robert, isn’t it?’
‘Are we still talking about this?’
‘Yes, we are. He’s not seeing anyone, is he?’
‘No, I don’t think so.’
A renewed, suggestive smile from Patricia.
‘I can introduce you to him if you want,’ Anna finally said. ‘But don’t get your hopes up.’
Patricia looked hurt.
‘Oh no, it’s not you. Nothing to do with you. I know you could charm any man alive. I’ve seen it.’