Read He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not for Free Online Page A

described me.”
    A few weak laughs sounded around the table.
    “It’s a generic description, true,” Pierce said. “But you can use that to help prioritize suspects as you conduct your interviews. Don’t rely on the description entirely. Eye witness accounts are notoriously inaccurate.”
    He pointed to each picture, naming the victims and briefly describing the details of each murder.
    “How often does he kill? Is there a pattern?” Riley asked.
    “That’s the one thing that’s consistent with this killer,” Pierce said. “Every summer he abducts two women, usually in two separate attacks. Again, the Branson/Stockton case is an exception since he took two women at the same time. We can only assume he saw an opportunity and took it. Or he might have learned from that first attempt and realized it was too difficult to control two victims at once, so he didn’t repeat that mistake.”
    “You said he kills two women every summer,” a detective called from the corner. “Is there a specific time frame between kills?”
    Pierce shared an uncomfortable glance with one of the other agents before answering. “It varies. The first year he killed his victims three months apart. The time frame changes every year.”
    Logan sat forward in his chair. “Exactly how does it vary?”
    “The time between kills gets shorter.”
    “How much time passed between kills last summer?” Logan prodded.
    Pierce cleared his throat. Logan knew from the haunted look in the agent’s eyes that he wasn’t going to like his answer.
    “Three weeks.”
    “I ’ve answered all of your questions,” Pierce said, as he and Logan walked through the squad room to the recessed elevator lobby in the middle of the back wall. “Now it’s my turn to ask you a question.”
    Logan nodded at several uniformed officers coming in for the night shift. “Ask away.”
    “When can I interview Ms. Stockton?”
    A ripple of irritation shot through Logan. He wasn’t sure why. “I spoke to her this morning. She doesn’t want to discuss the case with anyone.” He stopped in front of the pair of elevators and pressed the “down” button.
    “She might change her mind if you tell her the FBI wants to speak to her.”
    For some reason, the other man’s persistence was irritating. Logan frowned and punched the button again. “I don’t think that will matter.”
    “Perhaps. But sometimes witnesses feel more comfortable speaking to the Feds, especially if they’ve lost faith in their local authorities. No offense intended, but from what I saw of the investigation the last chief ran, it wasn’t exactly comprehensive.”
    Logan grudgingly admitted to himself that the agent was right, as they stepped into the elevator. The case wasn’t handled well and Amanda obviously agreed, based on the way she’d acted this morning. She didn’t trust the police to keep her safe and he couldn’t blame her. Still, if anyone was going to interview her, he wanted to be the one asking the questions.
    “I’ll ask Ms. Stockton to speak to you. Fair enough?”
    “Fair enough. I’d also like to read through the complete case file as soon as possible.”
    “You’ll have full access to anything you want. We’ll make copies of everything for you to take back to the Jacksonville field office.”
    Pierce shook his head. “I’m not leaving. I’m staying here until this case is resolved or the killer moves on to another city and strikes again.”
    Logan smiled, genuinely relieved. “I was hoping you’d say that. Where are you staying?”
    “We drove straight here. I’ll grab whatever motel room I can find tonight and be more discriminating tomorrow when I’ve got more time to look.”
    They exited the elevator and strode through the lobby of city hall. The police station took up the entire second floor. City hall took up the first floor and an annex next-door.
    “We’re not exactly Miami,” Logan said. “But we still have a tourist season. The few motels we