Текст книги "Fair Game"
Автор книги: Patricia Briggs
Соавторы: Patricia Briggs
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Special Agent Craig Goldstein, said a slender man in his fifties. On assignment to the Boston Violent Crimes Unit because I have a background with this serial killer.
Charles nodded to the FBI agents. Fishers background he knew, because hed done background checks on all of the Boston VCU. Goldstein hed find out more about.
Jim Pierce, said the only man in the room who was smiling. He aimed it at Charles. Homeland Security. They send me out to gather information.
Hed had a pretty good idea whom theyd send in from Homeland Security because they had only eight people specializing in preternatural matters, and he had files on them all.
Political climber, he told Anna silently, returning Pierces smile. Pierces face became a lot less happy and he pushed his chair back a few inches.On his way to public office. Do you think I should work on my smile?
Anna glanced back at him and frowned.Behave, said his mate, seriously enough. But he read her amusement in the little upturn of her lips.
Dr Steven Singh, said the second Homeland agent.
An old-fashioned patriot, Charles informed Anna after exchanging martial arts-style nods with the doctor.Hes on record as personally classifying the fae and werewolves as domestic terrorists. Charles tended to agree with him.Neither is here because they desire to help catch a serial killer. Pierce wont have anything to add. Singh is smart enough that he might be of use, even though he doesnt care about the crime.
The Cantrip agents were more interesting. He didnt know as much about Cantrip, as it was an even newer agency than Homeland Security, having come into being when the werewolves outed themselves. Though funded and authorized by the government, their role was to collect and share information about nonhuman and altered human groups and individuals, which left them a lot of leeway. They had two main offices, one on either coast, and otherwise seemed to travel around the country to concern themselves mostly in criminal cases that involved fae, werewolves, or anything else that looked odd to them.
His father tended to dismiss the Cantrip agents as harmless, since they had no authority to arrest or detain anyone. Charles was less sanguine, as they were one of the government agencies required to go armed at all times and they carried guns with silver bullets. He had files on a lot of their people, but had decided to see who they sent before refreshing his memory.
The older of the two Cantrip agents tried (and failed) to meet his eyes, then stared rather intently at Anna, which caused Charless hackles to rise and Brother Wolf didnt like him much, either.
Patrick Morris, he said. Cantrip, special agent.
Formerly of the FBI, said Ms. Fisher with a cool disapproval that said anyone who chose to leave the FBI was a fool.
Les Heuter, said the younger man, and abruptly became more interesting.
Heuter is a poster child for Cantrip, Charles told Anna.His father is a senator from Texas. If someone from Cantrip is interviewed in the press, three times out of four it is Heuter. Which was one of the reasons, Charles thought, that people tended not to take Cantrip more seriously.
He should have recognized Heuter right away, but he looked different in person, not as stalwart, impressive, or pretty, but more earnest and likable. He smelled eager, like a hunting dog waiting for the scent. Charles wondered if it was the werewolves or the serial killer that caused the young mans adrenaline rush.
He had a good poker face, though. Charles doubted any of the humans in the room would detect how excited Les Heuter was to be here. Charles had never been human, but he decided it must be like walking around with earplugs and nose plugs in all the time.
Goldstein looked around.People, lets get the ball rolling. He looked at Charles. The man who set this meeting up tells me that three werewolves werent likely to be victims by happenstance. According to him, there just arent that many werewolves out and about. He speculated that three victims has to mean that our killer is targeting werewolves and suggested we lay out all the victims from the beginning for you, Mr Smith, and see what you think before I start asking questions. In that light, Ill tell you what we know about this one, and would appreciate anything you can give us.
Charles folded his arms and leaned against the wall, his attention on Anna, telegraphing as loudly as body language could that Anna was in charge.
This was Annas job if Charles had to deal with them, theyd likely run scared and start shooting werewolves themselves.
Whodid set this up? asked Heuter abruptly.
Goldstein turned to look at the younger man and said blandly,I have no idea. The man who called me didnt identify himself beyond that, just suggested I take notes and his advice. As most of it seemed common sense, I did so.
Bran, thought Anna.
Probably, agreed Charles.Or Adam Hauptman.
Anna met Heuters gaze and shrugged. I know who set up our end. I have no idea who set up yours.
Goldstein had taken out his laptop and hooked it up to the video system in the room. He cleared his throat.Agent Fisher, would you secure the door, please? Some of these images are graphic and I would rather not startle some poor maid.
The door was locked and Goldstein took his glasses off and cleaned them as Agent Fisher turned off the lights. When he put the glasses back on, he donned with them the mantle of authority; the faint air of weakness, of age and harmlessness, vanished. For just an instant, Agent Goldstein was a man who hunted other men, then the aura of weakness returned like another man might don a confortable old shirt.
We call our UNSUB He paused. Thats FBI-speak for unknown subject, which seems a little more professional and less hysterical than killer and more grown-up than bad guy. This UNSUB is known as the Big Game Hunter, because for the first two decades all the kills took place during the traditional hunting season. The first kill we know of was in 1975, though, given the sophistication of the killings, it is likely that he killed earlier than that. He looked at Anna, who must have changed expression, and said, Yes. We are absolutely certain this killer is a man.
He hit a button and two pictures came up on the big TV screen, side by side. The first was a school photo of a teenage Asian girl Chinese, Charles thought. She was smiling gamely at the photographer and there was a bright orange headband in her hair. The second photo was very grainy and showed a naked body, head shrouded in shadows and a white sheet or blanket flung over her hips.
Karen Yun-Hao was fourteen. She was abducted from her bedroom on
Charles let the mans voice drift; hed remember what Agent Goldstein said later if he needed to. For now he concentrated on the faces, looking for clues, for people he had known, for victims who were pack.
The first year their killer took four girls, each a week apart. Asian and young, none over sixteen or under twelve. He kept them and raped and tortured them until he was ready to take the next victim. The FBI thought he killed one victim just before he took the next though there was some possible overlap. As soon as hunting season was over, he stopped. The first year was Vermont, the second was Maine, where he stayed for a few years, then Michigan, Texas, and Oklahoma.
Organized, thought Brother Wolf, ratcheting up for the chase. A good hunter took only what he needed when he needed it, and their prey was a good hunter. The killers victims changed gradually through the years, Asian girls and women and then, in Texas, a teenaged boy who was also Asian. The boy was the first victim who was sodomized, but after him they all were, male and female alike. The next year after that his prey was split two and two, women and boys.Then only boys. After that he added a black teenaged girl.
Its like hes searching for the perfect meal, said Anna softly and got an appalled glance from Dr Singh that Charles didnt think she saw; her attention was fixed on the screen. He started in seventy-five. Maybe he was a Vietnam vet?
The Asian victims, yes, said the senior FBI agent, looking even more frail than before. They werent all Vietnamese, or even mostly. But some people cant see the difference, or dont care. The police already had that theory before the first time the FBI was brought into it in the early eighties. The UNSUB wouldnt be the only one to come out of that mess with a need to kill.
These are the times that try mens souls, quoted Anna in a soft voice, and Charles knew she was remembering another veteran warrior.
It took more than five years for the FBI to get involved? asked Heuter.
Goldstein gave the Cantrip agent a patient look.Nearer to ten. First, it took a while for the police to figure out they had a serial killer, communication being what it was. Second, the FBI is not in charge of serialkiller cases. We are support staff, not primary. He hit a button and a new photo came up.
Heres where we came in, the FBI it was before my time. I first hit this case as a rookie in 2000. In 1984, the Big Game Hunter was back in Maine. This is the first victim that year, Melissa Snow, age eighteen.
Charles recognized her and she hadnt been eighteen. The next victim was a black boy, a stranger. He didnt know the third victim, another Asian girl. This one was ten.
Brother Wolf decided, looking at the delicate joyful face, that they would find the killer and destroy him. Children should be protected. Charles agreed, and the ghosts of the unjustly executed who haunted him withdrew further.
Those were the only three victims that we found that year, and after this year the number of bodies we found started to vary. In 1986 and 87, we found three bodies. In 1989, there were two. In 1990, three bodies again, and so on until 2000, when several things changed, but Ill get there ina minute. We dont think that hes changed how he kills. That one week interval between the first victim and the next seems pretty set. So we think he began putting the bodies in less accessible places.
In the next years group of victims, Charles recognized two of the three. He also noted that the crime scene photos were of better quality a sign of the FBI bringing in a better photographer, he thought, or just a combination of the advance of technology and the way time degraded color film.
Goldstein commented,In 1984, two of the victims matched our UNSUBs previous victim choice. From 1985 on out, there are no apparent patterns to the victims. Men and women, young and old. Hes still kidnapping, raping, and torturing them for a week before going after the next victim. He took his time, showingthem each victims face. Charles noticed that Goldstein never had to consult his notes for the names, and that when he did go to his notes, it was usually to confirm something hed just said. The next year he started in September.
Charles knew three of the victims in 1985 and all of the bodies found in 1986.
Stop him, he told Anna, deciding that the killers victimology was no coincidence.This is important. Go back to that first year, the one the FBI joined in the hunt.
Wait, Anna said, glancing down at her notes. Can you go back to the victims in 1984?
The fae came out about that time, Charles told Anna.Melissa Snow was fae and as close to eighteen as my father is. She wasnt out then, I dont think, but she was fae.
Maybe it was an accident? Anna thought as Melissas face, shining and happy in a family-type snapshot, appeared on the monitor next to her gray and lifeless face.The fae arent exactly everywhere, but it is reasonable that he picked one up by mistake.
She wasnt a half-breed, he told her.If someone picked her up thinking they were getting a teenaged human, theyd never have been able to keep her. She wasnt powerful, but she could defend herself better than a human would have.
Can I tell them that?
Absolutely. Then have them go to the next year. Some fae have no bodies when they die. That could be why there is no fourth victim.
Goldstein watched Anna with sharp eyes.Was she a werewolf?
No, Anna said. Fae. And then she told the feds what Charles had told her.
Fae. Singh frowned. How do you know?
Im one of the monsters, Dr Singh, Anna said without a pause. We tend to know each other. It wasnt quite a lie. The question is, how would the what did you call him? The Big Game Hunter? How would he know what she was? If he attacked her thinking she was human, shed have escaped.
I knew the agent who worked this case, said Goldstein. Melissa had parents and two siblings who were ten and seven at the time. He talked to them. She was eighteen years old.
No parents, Charles told Anna.Or maybe they were fae as well. Or she could have taken her appearance from a dead girl. Hard to say. But I knew her
not well, but well enough to say that she was not eighteen.
Could the victim have been the real Melissa Snow and the fae took her identity after she died?
Anna was just covering all the bases, but it was a good question. When had he met Melissa? Years tended to blend into one another
I knew her during Prohibition, she was working at a speakeasy in Michigan Detroit, I think but long before the eighties.
She was fae, Anna said. If she had parents and siblings, I suspect they were also fae. They know how to blend with society, Agent Goldstein. Apparent age has very little to do with reality when youre dealing with the fae.
The other two? Goldstein asked, though he didnt sound convinced.
Im not an expert on fae, Anna said. Its just chance that I recognized Melissa. But there are fae among the victims every year from here on out.
Goldstein asked,Every year?
That would account for the lack of bodies, Charles told her.Some of the fae just fade away when they die. If the fae lost his glamour, the other fae would make sure the body never came to light.
That Ive seen.
There was a growing tightness in Goldsteins shoulders, and an eagerness in his scent that told Brother Wolf that Goldstein was thinking, adding this to all of the bits and pieces he knew about the killer, trying to see how this changed the big picture.
Charles considered the repercussions of a serial killer who hunted fae. Surely the Gray Lords would have noticed that someone was killing their people? But they were not Bran, who protected and loved his wolves. If a fae who was not powerful and kept his head down for safety died, would the Gray Lords who ruled the fae even notice? And if they did notice, would they do anything?
Could the killer be a fae? That was from Pat, the Cantrip agent. If hes been killing since 1975 and he was human, hed be using a wheelchair by now.
Agent Fisher frowned.I know an eighty-year-old man who could take you with one arm tied behind his back, Pat. And if this guy was eighteen at the end of the Vietnam War, hed be a lot younger than eighty. But most serial killers dont last this long. They devolve or start making mistakes.
The Green River Killer hunted for over twenty years, offered Pat. And when they finally found him, he was a churchgoing married man with two kids and a stable job hed had for over thirty years.
Goldstein hadnt been listening; hed been staring at Anna without really looking at her. Thinking.
I dont think hes fae, he said. Not our original killer. Why else would he have waited until the fae came out to start killing them?
Not our original killer, thought Charles to himself.
I dont know all of the fae personally, said Anna dryly. Maybe theyve been fae all along.
Goldstein shook his head, and Charles agreed with him when he said,No. This is an escalation of the type of prey the killer hunts.
Hes on the scent, said Brother Wolf, watching the older FBI agent with interest.
Hunting the enemy, said Singh unexpectedly. Say hes a Vietnam vet. He goes home and sees Vietnamese or Asian, which is close enough for him on his territory. So he goes hunting, just like he did in the war. He switches to boys. Maybe its because he likes sex with boys better but lets say that it is because he finds them tougher, better hunting. And then he finds the fae and decides they are more worthy opponents. And, like his original victims, in his eyes they are invaders.
Hes good and hes smart if hes killed this many fae, said Anna. They tend to be harder to kill than humans. Too bad he didnt pick the wrong one; wed never find the pieces of his body. I wonder how he managed that.
Hes killed werewolves, said Heuter, unexpectedly. Charles had quit paying attention to the Cantrip spokesperson, dismissing him. Arent they harder to kill than the fae?
Anna shrugged.I dont run around killing fae, myself. But anything as old as some of them are have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Melissa Snow died before you were born, said Pat. How did you know she was fae? It wasnt what he said, but rather the aggression in his voice, that caused Brother Wolf to take notice that the tenor of the meeting had changed.
Family photos, Anna shot back, curling her lip. Or maybe Im older than I look. Does it matter?
You are twenty-five, said Heuter. Got your photo on my phone and sent it to home base. They got a hit about two minutes ago. Anna Latham from Chicago, mother deceased, fathers a hotshot lawyer.
So how doeshe know? murmured Singh, ignoring the Cantrip agents attack on Anna. How does he know they arent human? If theyd been out, someone would have noticed he was killing fae.
A werewolf could scent the fae, most of the time.
Maybe he had some way of watching while his potential victims touched iron. My Scottish grandmother swore that there were herbal salves you could rub on your eyes to see the fairies, continued Singh, who didnt look as though he could possibly have a Scottish grandmother, though Charles could hardly talk because Charles didnt look very Welsh, either.
Turning your clothes inside out or wearing cold iron is supposed to work, too, said Fisher, whod been pretty quiet up to this point. Charles rather thought that she was making sure that the Cantrip agents didnt take control of the meeting again, as shed spoken just as Heuter opened his mouth to say something else.
You said original killer, said Anna to Goldstein, and Charles had to fight to hide his smile. Hed thought shed missed it, but she was just waiting for the right time to spring it on them. You dont think were still dealing with the same man?
Right, Goldstein agreed, completely ignoring the Cantrip agents and Singh to focus on the murders. We noticed some differences in the UNSUBs killings starting about 1995 that seemed to indicate hed acquired a partner. Then in 2000 the killings took place over six weeks. Though we 2000 is the first year I caught this case only found five bodies, the timeline indicated that there might be six victims. As there were six the next year, and every year thereafter his killing window has been six weeks instead of four, were pretty sure that there were six victims in 2000 as well.
If the MO didnt match, how did you know they were still the Big Game Hunters victims and not some other killers? Singh asked. He was caught up in the hunt for their killer even thoughhis hunt had started with an entirely different prey: the werewolves. Brother Wolf agreed with Charless assessment of Singh: smart and distractible if something more interesting than his current prey ran in front of him.
Goldstein reached into his briefcase and pulled out
a bright yellow ear tag. The kind ranchers staple to their livestock. He tags his kills. In seventy-five he used hunting tags for deer, stolen from a hunting supply store. In eighty-two, he switched to this. The current batch can be purchased on the Internet in bags of twenty-five for a buck each.
His prey were things to him, thought Charles.Livestock.
Or he was trying to turn them into things, said Anna.Lets keep going through the victims and see if we notice anything more that we can help you with.
Goldstein continued his slide show. As forensics had developed, the killers methods of dealing with the bodies changed. Instead of leaving them to be found in some out-of-the-way place, he put them in water. Rivers, lakes, swamps and here, in Boston, the Atlantic, trusting the water to wash away his sins, which were many.
There have been several changes besides his choice and number of victims, said Goldstein. 1991 had several. The torture was more ritualized, and he seemed to place more importance on it. The killings also started to move back a month. From 1975 until 1990, all of the murders happened in November. In 1991, he moved to October. And each year after that, he moved back a month until 1995, when he started killing the first of June where he is now.
If youll give me a list with photos of the victims, said Anna, when Goldstein was through, Ill do my best to see if we cant sort the fae out of the rest. I believe that the first werewolf victims were the ones here in Boston, but Ill be able to tell you that for sure after I make a few calls.
Charles was fairly sure the wolves killed this year were the only ones, but it wouldnt hurt to be certain. Besides, with a list of the victims, he could send them out to a couple of fae he knew who might be able to come up with more information on the fae victims, maybe ID a few more.
All right, agreed Goldstein. We can do that.
Anna frowned, one hand rubbing lightly on her chin as she stared at the collage of photos of the current years victims five so far. The last one was a school photo of a little boy. One more victim to go before the Big Game Hunter moved on until next year.
Im not an expert on the fae, Anna said. But I know wolves. For a normal man, or even a pair of normal men, to take on a werewolf thats pretty ambitious. Predators usually pick victims that arent likely to leave them dead.
Heuter frowned.He didnt seem to have much trouble with these. Three wolves, right? And no one saw a thing. I dont think its as hard as you say. Otherwise someone would have noticed.
Anna tipped her head back, meeting Charless eyes.Were here to advise. To give them information. Should we show them?
Charles moved from behind her to the end of the heavy conference table where no one was sitting. He glanced under it to make sure it wasnt anchored to the floor, then lifted it to his chest height while making sure it stayed level so none of Goldsteins expensive electronics fell off. He set it down.
Just killing us, Anna said. Thats tough, but its not impossible. But holding a werewolf while you torture him
Magic? asked Singh. The Homeland Security agent had totally forgotten that his first intention had been to find out more about the werewolves. Charles found that he liked him and he hadnt expected to.
Anna shrugged.That or extremely good planning. Its not just strength we metabolize very quickly. Drugging or incapacitating one of us for long without killing us is extremely difficult.
Holy water, said Pat the former FBI and now Cantrip agent.
Anna didnt roll her eyes but she let Charles feel her exasperation. I could drink it every day for a week and do it while living in the Sistine Chapel.
Silver? That was Heuter, again.
Are there black marks where theyve been restrained? Anna asked. Silver burns us like fire or acid.
They didnt answer her question. Charles had noticed that from the 1990s victims on, the photos of the now-dead people were from the neck down, and sometimes there were no crime scene photos at all. He was pretty certain that the lack wasnt an oversight.
And how, Anna continued, did he know they were werewolves? Only one of them, the local wolf, had come out publicly.
There was some more discussion, but Charles let Brother Wolf assimilate it while he observed the room. Agent Fisher was watching Anna with the same look that Asil got when he found a rose that he wanted for his greenhouse, sort of greedy and satisfied.
Were not going to have to talk our way into helping with this case, he told Anna.Agent Fisher wants us for her very own.
Brother Wolf brought his attention back to the room, where the other Homeland Security agent, Jim Pierce, was speaking.What if the killerwas a werewolf?
Anna shook her head.Then you wouldnt be finding tagged bodies; youd be finding body parts.
Werewolves eat people? asked Heuter, coming alert like a hound. That killing in Minnesota that was werewolves?
Anna snorted and lied like a politician.Look. Becoming a werewolf doesnt make you a serial killer and it doesnt make you a superhero, either. Whoever you were, thats who you are. If a bad guy gets Changed, hes still a bad guy. However, we police our own and were pretty good at it. Mostly were just ordinary peoplewho turn into a wolf during the full moon and go out and hunt rabbits.
Being Changed turned everyone into killers. Werewolves werent timber wolves or red wolves who hunted only when they were hungry. Werewolves were killers and the ones who couldnt control it sometimes took a lot of people with them before they died.
No one looking at his mates earnest freckled face would ever hear the lie unless they were a werewolf, too. His da would be proud.
4
Anna followed Charles out of the hotel, trying to figure out what had happened with him and why so she could decide how to proceed.
Charles led the way out of the hotel and turned in the direction of the condo where they were staying. Charles, the Aspen Creek Pack, and the packs corporation had condos all over the place. The one in Boston belonged to the corporation. It made travel more discreet, no hotel charges, no strangers coming in to clean every day.
Wait a minute, she said.
Charles turned back. The expression on his face was exactly the same as the one hed had when they left their house yesterday, heading for the airport so he could fly them to Seattle, where they had caught the commercial flight. But he felt so different.
When Charles had chosen to frighten all those poor people at the airport so shed win her bet, shed thought shed detected mischief in his eyes. But it had been so long since hed laughed or teased her with his sneaky sense of humor that shed been afraid to hope. After all, theyhad been patting him down pretty thoroughly, something that could have ticked him off enough to growl, and the timingcould have been accidental.
And even the meeting
it had been necessary, if the feds were to believe she was the one with the information, for him to feed it to her. And the best way to do that was for him to open the bond between them. Bran didnt want the feds scared of werewolves, and Charles, especially the past few months, was really scary.
If he were just doing it for businesss sake, he would have closed their link down when they left the hotel, but he hadnt. And hed touched her.
Bran, it seemed, had indeed found a cure or at least a bandage for his son.
What? Charles asked. Evidently shed been staring at him too long. He reached up and tucked a flyaway piece of her hair behind her ear.
She wanted to grab his hand and hold it to her, wanted to climb into his arms and feel them close around her. But she was afraid if she drew his attention to it, hed close her off again. So she kept her hands to herself and bounced up and down on the balls of her feet a couple of times instead. She needed to keep him off his game, keep him thinking about other things and she had just the thing to do it with.
Lets go exploring. She pulled the city map shed taken from the hotels lobby this morning out of her pocket and opened it up.
I know Boston, said Charles, with a slightly pained look around to see if anyone had noticed the map. It was bright orange and highly unlikely to evade even the most casual glance.
But I dont, she told him, enjoying the expression on his face. Being mated to a wolf two hundred years her elder meant that she seldom got to see him disconcerted. And sinceI want to do the exploring
He would take her to interesting places, she knew. Tomorrow that would be good, and doubtless shed enjoy it more than anything she found herself. But today she wanted to be more
spontaneous.
If you run around with that bright orange map in your hand, Charles told her, everyone will think youre a tourist.
When was the last time you were a tourist? she asked archly.
He just looked at her. Charles, she had to agree, was not tourist material.
Right, Anna told him. Buck up. You might even enjoy it.
You might as well have hapless victim tattooed across your forehead, he muttered.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him across the street to Kings Chapel and the oldest graveyard in Boston according to her map.
Two hours later, she was vying for food in the North Market building of Faneuil Hall Marketplace with what felt like four hundred tourist groups while Charles waited nearby with his back against the wall. The three feet of empty space around him was probably the only space open in the whole place but that was Charles; people just didnt crowd him. Smart people.
Since most of the tourists in front of the booth where shed chosen to grab lunch came all the way to Annas waist, she was pretty sure she was in no danger, but you couldnt tell it by the focused attention her mate aimed at the children.
If you cant tell that Im looking at something on you that is precisely on level with the little ones heads his voice in her head had a rough purr then you need your eyes checked.
Her jaw dropped. Was he flirting with her? Anna turned her head to meet his gaze, which dropped immediately to her rear end. She jerked her head back before he saw her smirk or her red cheeks. Hehad been checking out the crowd. Shed seen him do it, seen him take a good long look at each of the kids.