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The papers were folded…cheap printouts that would behanded out at a funeral. They were programs or whatever the handouts at funeralswere properly called. There were eighteen of them taped up there. The faces ofthe dead looked down on her, most in color but some in black and white.
The raising of the dead, she thought.Clever.
Oh, but it pissed her off, too. He’d gone through withthe murder very quickly but had taken the time to do this…to really rub hernose in it.
Angry, she stormed over to the filing cabinets. As shereached for the handle to the top drawer, she nearly stopped herself. She couldvery well be contaminating evidence. The killer’s prints could be on thehandles.
But in that moment, she was just too angry to care. Maybeif hadn’t spent ten years away from the job, her instincts and dedication to theprocess would have served her better, she supposed.
Morgan pulled open the top drawer of the filing cabinetand began to rummage around the contents. It was filled with documents relatingto the funeral home and its business. Apparently, Seabry had been quitesuccessful. Morgan then tried the second drawer, browsing the documents for afew minutes before she came across a thick folder. She looked inside and sawprintouts just like the ones on the ceiling. Leonard Seabry had apparently kepta copy of every program from each service his funeral home held.
And the killer had gone through them, taping some up onthe ceiling.
“Tape,” she said.
She closed the drawers and looked back up at theprintouts. From what she could see, it was clear, one-sided scotch tape. They’dpick up fingerprints flawlessly. Of course, if he’d been wearing gloves, itwouldn’t matter.
There was a knock at the door. She looked to the doorwayand saw one of the officers standing there. “Agent Cross? I thought you’d wantto know that the doorbell company just called with the log-in information toget to the security footage.”
“What?”
“The doorbell…it’s equipped with a camera. We can get tothe footage now.”
“Oh, thanks.” Her brain seemed to be working overtime.Sure, it had only been ten years, but ten years ago, it wasn’t all that commonfor people to have electronic doorbells with built-in security cameras.
With one last look up at the printouts, Morgan headedback out into the hallway. She realized that she was hesitant to revisit the bodybecause she felt it was solely her fault. Maybe if she’d just gone after Samsonfor a while longer in the mines, she would have found him. Maybe she would havestopped him. After all, as it turned out, Derik’s injury wasn’t all thatserious.
But there’s no way you could have known that, she told herself. She was trying to summon up thehumility to ask how she might start looking at the security footage when herphone rang. She took it out at once, hoping it might be Derik calling to lether know the hospital was releasing him.
“This is Cross,” she answered.
“Cross, it’s Mueller. Where are you?”
“I’m at the address you gave me. Leonard Seabry is verymuch dead. And there’s no doubt that this was the eleventh victim…part ofSamson’s quest. There are—”
“Cross, I’m going to relieve you.”
She heard him and she knew what he meant, but she stillcouldn’t stop herself from saying: “What?”
“I’m taking you off this case. And while I’d love to layall the blame at your feet, I think it comes down to our team here. We weredesperate, and we thought you were the best bet at stopping this guy. But I don’tthink you’re ready. And damn it, I should have known that from the start.”
“Yeah, you should have known that. You’re right. But rightnow, I’m standing in the living room of a man who has been dead for less thantwo hours. I’ve got a killer rubbing my face in it. And he’s also in a hurryand scared because I nearly nabbed him this morning. It’s the closest I’ve everbeen, even from ten years back when I was originally after him. If you take meoff of this now—”
“There’s no if, Cross. I’m taking you off. Now, we cantalk about you coming back in on a full-time basis in a few weeks. You have toget acclimated to normal life first.”
“You’re serious about this?”
“I am.”
The rage that built up in her was unlike any she’d everfelt before. She felt used and unwanted. She felt as if she’d been manipulated.There was so much she wanted to say. But none of it would be productive. Itwould only make things worse.
“Cross? Are you there?”
Instead of responding, Morgan let some of the anger out.She raised her hand over her head and slammed the phone down onto LeonardSeabry’s hardwood floor. It shattered upon impact, and Morgan was making herway to the front door before all of the little pieces were done skittering andclattering along the hardwood.
With her heart slamming and the rage still pushing herforward, Morgan knew she couldn’t stop. She’d risk being arrested or evenkilled if that’s what it took to bring this bastard in. One thing she did know,though, was that she needed to get away from the Seabry residence as fast aspossible. Mueller knew that’s where she was so the farther away she could getright away, the better.
She got back into the bureau sedan and instantly cranked it,shifting into reverse. She figured she’d go back to the hospital and tell Derikwhat had happened. Whether or not she would tell him that she intended to keeplooking for Samson despite being yanked from the case, she wasn’t sure.
