Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

River had to agree with Tony, but she wished it could be different for Nathan's sake.

"Before I leave," Arnie said, "I want to talk to you about this." He tapped the box.

"I'm not crazy about this plan either," Tony said. "But we agreed that this was our best option. We have to make certain this ends now. Without any evidence, I can't come up with a better plan. This may be our only way. At least now we have control, and we're better off than we were just waiting around for something terrible to happen."

"I hate to agree, but I do. I just wanted to check with you one more time."

"I'm convinced it will work," River said. "I'm confident everything will work out just the way we planned it."

"All right," Arnie said. "But be careful and stick to our arrangement."

"Trust me, we will," Tony said.

After promising Arnie they'd send him a profile and that they'd also email him everything they had on Shelly and Ted, Arnie left to go back to the station.

He'd only been gone a few minutes when someone else opened the door. A young woman stuck her head inside and asked, "Is River Ryland here?"

"I'm River."

The woman came inside holding a vase full of white lilies and baby's breath. She set it down on River's desk and smiled. "Have a good day," she said. Then she left.

"What in the world?" River said. She stood up and removed the card from the flower arrangement. When she read it, she looked over at Tony. "Can you guess who this is from?"

"Not a clue. It wasn't me." River walked over and handed him the card. Tony's face flushed and he looked angry. "Sorry for your upcoming loss?" he read. "This makes me furious."

"I know, but he's just reminding us he's around." River smiled at him. "I'm not afraid of him anymore, Tony. God is teaching me that no matter what, I can rest in Him. I've been memorizing Psalm 91. It ends with this: ‘Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With lone life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.'" She put her hand on Tony's arm. "This guy may think my life is in his hands, but it isn't. I believe God will deliver me. There are things I want to do. I need to be here for my mother ... and you. I'm not worried. The only person who should be afraid is the Strangler's accomplice. He's almost done."

Tony nodded. "I'm so proud of you," he said, his voice husky. "You've changed so much. Now you're the one reminding me that I need to trust God."

"You showed me how."

Tony smiled at her. "Should I call the flower shop? See what they can tell us?"

"No. We can do it later if we need to. Besides, you know as well as I do that he paid cash, and he went to a shop without cameras. He's too smart to have done anything else."

"All right. We'll let the police follow up if they need to."

"Let's get back to work," River said, walking back to her desk.

"I'll start working on that profile," Tony said. "I think we agree that this is an organized killer. White, probably in his late twenties or early thirties since he has the strength to overpower all of his victims. I'm going to say he probably dresses well and has a good job. He's reasonably attractive since he was able to get close to all the victims. He doesn't feel ashamed of his looks. He kills mostly women but will kill a man if he feels drawn to do it. I think Ted was convenient. He was walking along a rather isolated road, and the killer saw an opportunity."

River looked up from what she was doing. Her training was always there, always working. Always whispering in her ear. There was really no way to turn it off. "So, his compulsion isn't sexually based, which is unusual. He's obsessed with something else. He entered an apartment to kill." She met Tony's gaze. "That's the murder the police need to focus on. The one that will lead police to the killer. I think that victim was someone he knew. He departed from his usual MO to murder her."

"I agree," Tony said. "He's clearly a psychopath. Has no compassion. Hasn't shown any remorse toward his victims."

"His comfort zone is rather extensive," River added. "My guess is that he has some kind of job that causes him to travel in Missouri, but not too far from St. Louis. I'd say he used his job to get into the apartment to kill the woman Arnie told us about, but I think he's too sophisticated to wear a uniform. I think he'd feel it's below him."

Tony's eyes widened. "Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono. They posed as off-duty police officers. That would fit this guy's MO."

"It would also explain how he could get close to people," River said. "And why Shelly pulled off to the side of the road."

She and Tony stared at each other for a few seconds before River said, "I'm sure Arnie knows this is just guesswork, but I think it could be pretty accurate. But what about the flowers? We don't see them as a sign of remorse?"

"No, not in this situation. Do you?"

River shook her head. "I don't think so. The only person holding the flowers was Shelly. Ted was lying on top of them, and they were on the floor of the other woman's apartment. Lying in an alley next to another body. I think they mean something different."

"Then could Shelly be the murder that means the most?"

River sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I'm not certain, but I think the police should look at Shelly and the woman in the apartment first." She turned her head to look at Tony. "Why was the apartment such a mess? Did he tear it up out of anger, or did she fight back?"

"Hard to say, but my guess would be that she fought back. I think he enjoys the killing. If he goes to all the trouble to get close to them, I'm thinking he doesn't want to fight them. He just wants them to die. I doubt that he'll try killing inside anymore. It doesn't fit with his personality."

"Except that there might be other victims we don't know about." River straightened up. "This is what makes profiling so complicated. We can only work with what we have. So now, back to the flowers. What do they mean?"

"Okay, so we don't believe they're given out of remorse since we don't see any of the other usual signs. They must have something to do with what incited his urge to kill. Maybe a mother figure?"

"Maybe his mother was religious?"

Tony crossed his hands behind his head. "I don't know. That doesn't feel right. Why not leave a Bible verse or a crucifix? Maybe the mother loved dogwood flowers?"

"Yeah, maybe," River said. "It means something, but we don't have enough information to be certain why it's important to him. All we know is that he always leaves a sprig of silk dogwood flowers behind when he kills." She frowned and tapped her fingers on her desk, trying to pull information from her years of training. "Okay, let's brainstorm for a moment. Dogwood trees bloom in the spring and summer. They take five to seven years to bloom. There are several colors, including red, pink, and what our guy chose—white. Like I said earlier, the flower symbolizes quite a few things. Life, rebirth, joy, beauty, purity, innocence, resilience, strength, beauty, faithfulness, and hope." She frowned. "They seem to be his signature. Or part of it anyway. But what's his trigger?"

"I don't know. So far, almost everyone we know about was killed in the winter." Tony shook his head. "Kind of reminds me of our snowman killer."

"I can't believe we could encounter two killers in a row who only kill in winter," River said.

"I don't think we can assume anything about that since we don't know how many victims there actually are. It's entirely possible he doesn't stick to winter. In fact, maybe he only uses the silk flowers in winter. He might use the real thing in the spring and early summer."

"That's true," River said slowly. "So, let's take out the winter theme since we can't be certain. Of all the symbolism associated with the dogwood, I think rebirth and purity are the most powerful. So, is he trying to make certain people are reborn? Or does this relate to his childhood in some way? We know that most serial killers had messed up childhoods."

"I agree that he's trying to say something with the dogwood." Tony sighed. "Didn't we write a profile a few years ago where the killer left flowers behind? What was that?"

River thought for a moment. "You're right," she said as soon as she remembered what Tony referred to. "It was the guy who left lilies." Her gaze drifted to the arrangement of lilies on her desk. She got up, got a napkin from the credenza, and moved the flowers over to a spot on the floor next to the printer. She was pretty sure the only fingerprints that would be found on the vase belonged to the people who worked for the flower shop. "Sorry," she told Tony, "but I don't want to look at them."

"I understand," he said. "And I agree."

"Okay, back to the guy who left lilies. We thought they symbolized death, but we found out later that his abusive mother's name was Lily."

Tony burst out laughing. "I'm sorry. I know this isn't funny, but are you saying that this killer's mother's name is Dogwood?"

"No. ... You're ridiculous, you know that?"

"Well, at least I'm not saying some woman's name is Dogwood."

"Anyway..." River tried to ignore him and concentrate on the flowers. "I think all we can say at this point is that the dogwood tree has something to do with his past and leave it at that."

"There are so many possibilities. Maybe his parents made whips out of the tree branches. Maybe his mother grew dogwood trees and spent more time with them than she did with him." He shrugged. "We'll just tell Arnie to look for a connection. If there was just one other sign that this killer feels remorse, I'd go with that. But he leaves the body on display, which means he's proud of what he's done. The eyes are open. The hands not crossed. I just can't make that jump."

"I agree," River said. "So, you'll write that up and send it to Arnie while I send our information on Ted and Shelly to the detective?"

Tony nodded. "I'm working on it now."

River started compiling photos of April's podcast episodes with her notes about Ted and Shelly. Then she sent everything to the detective in charge while Tony concentrated on the profile for Arnie. River didn't like putting together a profile so quickly. It made her feel as if they were missing something, but Arnie needed it now, so there wasn't much they could do about it. She kept running the flower connection through her mind. She knew she should let go of it, but it wasn't easy. Was the killer getting ready to strike again? It would take some effort, but she had to put that case on the back burner and concentrate on finding out what happened to April. Was it the same person who killed Kevin and threatened Nathan? Or were they dealing with someone else? They had to discover the truth quickly. Before someone else paid with their lives.