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“And the loft apartment with air and the river with water,” Faith said. “That leaves fire.”
Michael grinned. "So the next murder will take place somewhere with fire. Or having to do with fire. A firehouse, maybe?"
Faith shook her head. “That’s pushing it too far. There will be firefighters at a firehouse, and they will have security cameras watching the area. Besides, firefighters try tostopfire. If anything, a firehouse would be associated with water.”
“Okay, so where—”
The door opened before Michael could finish his question. Detective Hilary poked his head into the room, his face lined with worry. “Guys, we have something.”
A chill ran through Faith. “Another body.”
“Not yet.”
“Notyet?”Michael said.
“Come with me.”
Hilary ducked out of the room. The two agents shared a brief look with each other then rushed to follow him.
Hilary led them to the bullpen. A group of officers were crowded around Hilary’s desk watching something. Hilary leaned over the computer and rewound the footage whileexplaining, “We have a woman who was kidnapped less than fifteen minutes ago from an office building in downtown.”
“Downtown?” Michael said. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. The security camera captured this footage.”
He backed up, and Faith leaned over the desk. The footage was a brief clip of the building's lobby. The camera didn't capture the entire lobby, but in the upper right corner of the video, Faith could see a masked attacker waiting for the elevator. The elevator opened, and a tall young woman with long, jet-black hair stepped out.
The attacker lifted something that looked like a club or sap and swung it at the woman. The weapon collided with the side of her head, and she dropped to the ground. Faith’s lips thinned grimly as the attacker stooped and dragged her toward a side door and off the camera.
The attacker was masked, making it impossible to identify him, but itwasa him. “You were right,” Michael said. “The killer’s a man.”
"You were right, too," she replied. "She has jet-black hair."
“He didn’t kill her there, though,” Hilary said. “We have officers on scene now, and no body.”
“That’s good news,” Faith said. “He’s taking her somewhere else.”
“But where and why? And are you sure it’s our guy?”
Faith’s lips thinned more. It could be an unrelated crime. It could have nothing to do with their alchemist.
But there was no doubt that the young woman in the video needed help. Faith didn’t have anywhere else to look, and if she could help this young woman, then she would.
“Sure enough that I think we need to find her ASAP,” Faith said. “And I know where he’s going to take her.”
***
The killer breathed deeply and gripped the wheel of the van tightly. When he released the breath, he relaxed his hands, but his heart continued to pound. He felt a transient pain in his chest and whimpered with fear.
Come on. I’m so close. I’mso damned close!
This whole thing was a clusterfuck. He had been so scared that he’d made a lot of stupid mistakes. He drove around for a while with no idea where he was going to go, then, for some reason, he just decided to pull into the parking lot of the first building he saw.
In downtown.
At an office building.
On a major boulevard.
