Page 16 of Girl, Unmasked
‘Yes he was, but our guy isn’t.He’s planned this for a while, because you don’t just wake up one day and decide to peel a woman’s skin off.’
‘These eyes.What about them?’Ripley asked.
‘We had an enucleator back in Florida last year.Remember her?’
‘How could I forget?’
‘It’s hard to say without seeing it in the flesh, but popping out an eyeball isn’t so hard.You go in from the side with something thin and curved, like a spoon, slide it between the eye and the orbital socket and then lever it forward.The optic nerve and muscles will tear pretty easily.’
‘Grim.’
‘Yeah it is.It means our guy’s got an iron stomach.Most people can’t even touch their eyeball without squirming, but our killer did it without blinking.’Ella caught herself.‘Sorry.Didn’t mean that.’
Ripley came to the end of her casefile.She closed it and placed it down.‘Possible medical training.Butcher, mortician, surgeon, vet.’
‘All of the above.I’m in two minds whether this guy thinks of himself as an outsider artist or whether he’s just a sadist who gets off on slicing up women.As for the angel angle, it’s too early to tell.We need to know who Sophie Draper was in life, and maybe that will help explain how she ended up like this.’
‘Yeah, and where did her real eyes go?’
‘Good question.’
They fell into silence and Ella stared at the clouds beyond the glass that had suddenly thickened into a grey wall.She thought about Sophie Draper, the girl whose life she was about to violate in order to get close to her in death, and felt a welcome pang of dread.Dread meant empathy, and maintaining empathy after seeing so many dead bodies was a net positive in this game.
‘So,’ Ripley said eventually, ‘how'd it go with Creed?’
Ella tensed.She'd been waiting for this question.‘That was two weeks ago.’
'Yeah, and I didn't hear any news that he was dead, so I'm guessing you didn't shoot him.'
‘No.’
‘What happened?’
Ella took a breath.‘He denied everything.Said he had no idea about the murders, no knowledge of any accomplice.’
'And?'
'Part of me believed him.'
Ripley laughed.‘Probably best not to trust a man who killed four people.He’s not even a pretty boy, so there’s no need to believe his crap.Unless he got a prison makeover?’
‘Definitely not.He looks like garbage on fire.’
‘Well then.The evidence speaks for itself.’
‘Does it?I’m not sure it does.What do I actually have that ties Creed to any of those murders?All I know is that someone at his trial stole my cell phone and hair brush, and then the murders started right after.It doesn’t mean Creed was involved.He claimed not to even know me before I stood up and testified that day, so how could he plan for someone to steal my stuff in advance?I was only at the trial for a day.’
‘Dark, you really think a psycho like Creedwouldn’tresearch you?That guy had 18 months to dwell on his failures before going to trial, and they definitely get internet access in prison.Even the most braindead offenders research their captors, believe me.’
Ella eyeballed the drinks machine in the corner.She’d foregone the champagne back at HQ, but the vodka stash in here was now looking at her seductively.‘He did say something kind of weird though.’
‘What?’
‘He asked if I’d ever been to his farm.’
Ripley looked off into the clouds, then back at her partner.‘Did we go to his farm?’
‘The cops did after we caught him, but not me and you personally.’
