Page 81 of Kiss Me Honey Hone

“Neither do I.” Kenny set his glass aside. “But this is different. Frank’s roses were a signature, a macabre calling card to taunt the police, to mark his control over his victims even after death. This isn’t the same.”

Aaron peered up at him. “How is it different? It feels the same.”

“It’s not a calling card. Or about leaving a message. The rose is a tactic. It disarms his victims. As a gesture meant to lower their defences, to get them to let him close. A psychological tool. A rose is associated with romance, intimacy, trust. Even safety. In that moment, these girls would have thought,this isn’t a threat.And that’s what he wanted.”

Aaron glanced at the other images. “And the kiss?”

“That’s different too.” Kenny took on a clinical tone. “It’s not about romance or sex. Those things are far from this killer’s mind. The kiss is a manipulation, a false connection. It’s the ultimate invasion of personal space. He’s forcing proximity and control under the guise of tenderness. It gives him anopening, a way to dominate them psychologically before he kills.”

“Why target young, attractive, blond girls and itnotbe about sex?”

“Perhaps it is, but not in the way we’re thinking. Maybe he has anaversionto sex and these girls represent the reason for that.”

“But the files? Why’d he take the files?”

“I’m working on that.”

“You’re not buying a vigilante theory?”

“Not completely. There’ll be something else. I just have to look harder.”

Aaron picked up the photograph of Carly slumped at her desk, life drained, and he twisted it one way, then the other. He squinted, eyes closing in. “Is that a lip balm?” He pointed to the desk.

Kenny drifted in closer. “Looks like it. Why?”

Aaron stared a little longer. Then shook his head. “Nah. Nothing.” He sipped his wine.

“No. Go on. Tell me. That’s a gut hunch on something. What?”

“I don’t know. It’s stupid. I mean, every girl has lip balm, right?”

“Maybe.”

Aaron dipped closer to the picture, then chuckled. It was ridiculous. “Who even notices shit like that?”

“Someone who’s looking. What does it mean to you?”

“We sell it in the shop.”

“Okay…”

“Told you, it’s nothing.”

“No, you have a gut feeling. Don’t ignore them.Whydid you notice it?”

“Cause it’s cheap shit. Never seen it sold anywhere else.”

“So she buys her lip balm from a student shop?”

“Doesn’t sound likely, does it? Bird like her probably gets proper stuff. Clinique or some shit. Or at leastBootsown brand.”

“Exactly. So…”

Aaron sighed, wracking his brain. “There’s this bloke… comes into the uni shop all the time and buys a bunch of those lip balms. Little tubes of them. It pisses me off cause I have to restock the box each time.”

“That’s unusual, but not suspicious.”

“Yeah, but the weird thing? He ain’t got no lips.”

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