Page 55 of Killer Knows Best

SPECIAL AGENT JACK STONE

The second Fallon’s finger lands on that infinity symbol, my stomach drops. It’s a mirror image of what we’ve seen carved into each of the victims. The darn thing is staring at us so blatantly it feels as if it’s taunting us.

How could we have missed this?

“That’s the same mark,” Fallon says it low but still cutting through the noise.

Nikki leans in to inspect it better. “Looks like we’ve got some grief counseling with a homicidal calling card on the side. That’s as good as a murder symbol at this point.”

“It’s not a murder symbol and you know it,” Fallon corrects.

“It is now,” Nikki says, pulling her purse strap higher onto her shoulder. “This is no coincidence.” She picks the book up and squints at it. “It’s sitting under her name as if it’s her logo.” She flips the book over and, sure enough, the same logo sits under the author’s name on the back, this time bigger to match the large bold font.

My pulse picks up as the sound of the band fades into the background. In less than ten seconds, my mind runs througheverything we know about Phillis Hazelwood and her so-called book of grief.

“I have no doubt the woman’s pain is real,” I say. “But grief can make you do some crazy things.”

“Like murder?” Fallon says, still staring down at the infinity symbol in front of us as if she were in a trance.

Phillis Hazelwood. I shake my head as her name circles my mind like vultures over a corpse.

“This is a smoking gun,” I say. “We need to speak to her again.”

“Good thinking,” Nikki says, taking another sip of her drink. “I’ll go with you. We can stop off at the diner for lunch first.” She looks at Fallon. “I think your mom could use a hug after that debacle with Sandy.”

“My mother is fine,” she says dryly. Fallon isn’t a hugger. Bea, I’m not too sure about.

“I’m not thinking about tomorrow,” I tell them sternly. “I’m thinking about tonight. We need to talk to Phillis again. ASAP,” I say, not even bothering to hide the urgency in my voice.

Fallon nods my way. “Phillis’ entire speech was cryptic tonight. Like she was speaking in some weird code. I didn’t get a good feeling about it.” She looks at Nikki. “Let’s just say a self-help guru she is not. The woman was darn right creepy.”

Nikki taps her phone, pulling up her notes. “Have you guys looked deeper into her past? Her daughter died, right?”

“Yes,” Fallon says. “And her friend, Brenda? Her husband passed away, too. That’s how they met. In fact, I went over some passages in Delaney’s journal this afternoon and honed in on the stuff she wrote about her work at the library. She said she looked up to both of those women as if they were her mother.”

“Interesting,” I say as something comes back to me. “When we first met them, they made it sound as if they hardly knewDelaney. Why would she write that stuff in her journal if it wasn’t true?”

“She wouldn’t,” Nikki says. “A journal is a girl’s one safe place. I speak from experience.” She keeps tapping at her phone. “Baxter, if you’re ever in the mood for a juicy read, I keep my journal under my mattress, too.”

“I might be interested,” I say.

“You’re not invited,” she counters, still staring intently at her phone. “Here it is,” she says, pausing for a beat. “Madeline Hazelwood, Phillis’ daughter, died in what was ruled an accident. She was hiking in the Rockies, slipped on some loose gravel, and fell. It was a twenty-foot drop. Apparently, there was no one else with her, so they took Phillis’ word that it was just a tragic accident.”

“You think Phillis did this?” Fallon sounds slightly affronted. “What kind of mother would kill her own kid?”

“Mine,” I offer without hesitation. “I lock up my gun at night.”

“Good move,” Fallon says, shooting me a warning look as if I’d better do something about that woman. She’s not wrong.

Fallon turns and stares at the bottles lined up on the wall in front of us. “You know, I read something in Delaney’s journal tonight that struck me as odd. She wrote that Phillis said we’ll live in love and light forever and ever in days that know no end. That we are infinite beings that never truly die. Delaney said she liked the sound of that. That she liked the sound of living forever in a place far better than this one. But it was the wordinfinitethat kept spinning in my mind. That symbol is definitely Phillis’ calling card.” Fallon shakes her head. “But why kill hookers? Is this connected to her daughter somehow? Was she a hooker?”

Nikki shrugs, her eyes still glued to her screen. “She died at twenty-nine. She could have been anything. We don’t have thedetails yet of her life leading up to the accident. But we’ll get them. According to this picture, she looks pretty clean-cut.”

“High-end escort?” I offer and we wince at the screen as if trying to picture it. She still doesn’t look the part, but you never know.

Fallon’s eyes narrow as she leans in close. “It doesn’t sit right. If Madeline was so clean-cut, why would Phillis turn her grief toward killing sex workers? What’s the connection?”

“I don’t have the answer.” I glance back at the infinity symbol stamped on the cover of the book.It’s not just about grief. This is broader with something darker lying underneath. Something that might just be masked by an infinity symbol.

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