Page 34 of Girl, Unmasked
But here in the real world, it was a different story.According to everyone they’d spoken to, Sophie Draper had no enemies.No obvious links between Cain's literary hit list and the very real woman currently on a slab.
If this unsub had killed Sophie Draper because she’d rejected his book, then there had to be a link between the two somewhere.
'Dammit,' Ella ground out between her teeth.'No Sophie.No last names, no addresses.Of course it can't be that simple.'
'Maybe the answers are in the missing pages?'Ripley said.
She scrubbed a hand over her face.'Lab's gonna be on them for a while.Gotta give them time to do their thing.'
As if summoned Ella’s the frustration, Detective Blythe chose that moment to appear in the doorway.Ella turned, and hope battled with dread as she clocked the sheaf of papers in his hands.
'Tell me you've got something,' she said.'Anything.'
Blythe held up his haul like a hunter with a deer’s head.‘Missing pages.Photographed for your pleasure.’He slapped them down on the table and Ripley practically dove for them.‘Our tech guy’s gone through Sophie Draper’s emails, too.’
‘And?’
‘Turned the poor kid’s eyes square, but he came up empty.No record ofHalo of Bloodbeing submitted electronically.Not a peep.Guess our boy submitted it old school.’
Snail mail.Useless.
'Fantastic.We've got a literal murder manual in our hands and no way to trace it back to the sicko who wrote it.'
‘But that’s insane,’ Ripley said.‘Why would he submit it and leave off his contact details?’
‘Maybe he didn't,’ Ripley chimed in.‘Maybe getting published wasn't the point.’
Ella thought about it, and her and Ripley’s shared mind burned brightly one more time.‘Do you think?’
‘Why else?Even if Sophie had liked this manuscript and wanted to commission it, she could never have found this guy.
‘What d’you mean?’Blythe asked.
She had to be right.There was no other answer.Even if Sophie knew the author in real life, he’d still have put his contact details on his manuscript somewhere.
Therefore, the manuscript had to be nothing more than an omen.
‘He sent this manuscript to Sophie to warn her she was going to die.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ella had been on the phone with Rick Vernon outside the precinct.He'd wanted an update on the investigation, which she only saw as an interruption.Edis rarely asked for updates, but she guessed that was something she'd have to get used to.
She went back up to her office, where Ripley had hopefully finished with the photographed copies of the new manuscript pages.When she got in, Ripley was still on page one.
‘You’re loving that book, aren’t you?’
‘No, it sucks, and yes I’ve read these new pages twice over.’
‘Any details in there?Anything we can latch onto?’
Ripley shook her head.‘It's mostly just descriptions.Really graphic descriptions of what Cain did to the victim.’
Ella pulled the pages over and skimmed through them herself.If she was going to catch this freak, she needed to know everything about him, right down to his preferred style of prose.
Ripley continued, 'It takes place in the victim's apartment.Cain picked the lock on the door and waited for her to come home.When she did, he attacked her with a bat to the skull.'
‘It tracks.That’s exactly what we found with the real victim.He’s following this script to the letter.’
