“The original profile for the Bayou Butcher missed a few key elements.” Cadence stood in the front of the conference room. The room was filled with cops, marshals, and even the ME. The homicide captain sat in the back corner, his arms crossed over his chest.
Anthony also stood in the back, near Lauren. She’d taken a seat in the last row, and he kept close to her. She seemed too fragile. Every time he glimpsed the cut on her cheek, he wanted to empty his weapon into Walker’s heart.
“I don’t believe Jon Walker was working alone when he committed his crimes.”
The silence in the room was thick and heavy.
“When Walker held DA Chandler, he said he watched the murder of the DA’s sister years before.”
Several heads turned toward Lauren. Her shoulders tensed.
“Jennifer Chandler died twenty years ago,” Cadence continued. Her partner stood by her side, his eyes on her. “If Walker was there at the time of her death, he would have been only sixteen years old.”
So young.
“By his own words, Walker watched Jennifer die, so that means someone else—”
“Pardon me, ma’am,” Paul said as he rose to his feet. “Maybe the guy just fuckin’ slipped up when he was talking. Maybe he killed her and then stood back and watched her die.” He shook his head. “With respect, I worked those Bayou Butcher cases five years ago. There was never a sign anyone else killed those women.”
“Not those women, no,” she agreed.
Anthony noticed Kyle had tensed when the detective rose.
“I believe those kills were all his. I also believe someone else might have witnessed them. Just as Walker witnessed Jennifer’s death.”
Lauren must be hating having her sister’s death mentioned again and again…Anthony wanted to reach out to her. Pull her into his arms. But she’d never wanted their involvement seen by others.
Screw what she wanted. I can’t let her hurt.
He stepped closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder.
She glanced back at him.
“You okay?” he whispered.
Her lips were pressed together, as if she was trying to hide the tremble. She gave a quick nod.
“One watched, one killed. I believe that is the way they’ve been working for years. Walker did kill seven women, the women he was convicted of five years ago. But I also believe there are more victims out there—more bodies—victims who were the prey of his partner.”
There wasn’t silence in the packed room anymore. There was shock. Paul slowly slid back into his seat.
“A team?” a uniformed cop asked. “I thought those crazy guys killed on their own.”
“It’s believed that sociopaths have a hard time forming attachments, so sociopathic serial killers do often kill on their own.” Cadence paused. “Serial killing pairs aren’t common, but they do happen.”
“All sociopaths aren’t serial killers,” Kyle said as he raised a brow and studied the group. “And all serial killers aren’t sociopaths. Serial killers strike for dozens of damn reasons.”
Yes, they did. Anthony had worked on enough cases to realize that. Sometimes, there was no understanding their savagery.
Kyle stepped forward, fully facing the group. “Some serial killing teams are couples. Husband-and-wife teams. One member of the team will act as bait—usually the wife. She goes out and draws the prey in. Then she might stand back and watch as the husband rapes and murders his victims.”
“That was the case with Jonas and Candy Kramer,” Cadence said, her face somber. “Their plan was to get a group of sex slaves. Candy would approach the victims, get them to come into the van, and…” She shook her head. “Well, the idea was that their slaves would be disposable, so those poor girls didn’t survive long.”
Fuck. Anthony remembered that case. It still turned his stomach.
“Are we looking for a couple here?” Matt asked as he tilted his head. The marshal had met Anthony at the precinct door, his frustration with the swamp search clear in the hard lines on his face. Jim was out there, still searching. They weren’t giving up. Marshals never did.
Cadence shook her head. “I don’t believe we’re looking at a man and a woman. From what I can gather, Stacy was the only long-term girlfriend in Walker’s life. She was trying to get away from him, not help him.”
“So he killed her,” Kyle finished.
“It’s not a romantic pairing,” Cadence continued as her gaze slid around the room. “I think it’s an alpha pairing.”
From the back of the room, Anthony saw Paul tilt his head in confusion. “What’s an alpha pairing?”
“When they began the killings, I believe Walker and his partner were both teens. The partner would have been a few years older. At the time, he was the dominant one, no doubt the one to push for the murder in the first place. He killed, and Walker watched.”
Lauren’s fingers had clenched in her lap.
“Over time, I believe Walker came into his own. He grew confident at the kill scenes, he wanted to kill. So he started his own crimes. Both men continued killing—one would kill, one would watch. Again and again.”
“She makes it sound like a competition,” the ME muttered a few feet from Anthony.
Cadence’s head jerked up. It seemed she had some damn strong hearing. “In a way, Dr. Wright, that’s exactly what it became. Walker’s killings became more brutal over time. Not just because of an escalation, but because he had someone to impress.”
This was a fucking mess.
“He stopped killing just in remote locations. He went right into the house of the Peterson family. He was taking risks because the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.”
Murder was a reward in Walker’s sick world.
“Walker started as the submissive part of the team. He watched, he might have even lured in the prey. He didn’t kill. All that changed with the death of coed Beth Loxley. He was competing with his partner then, not just standing back and watching. After that, with each of his kills, Walker stepped closer to being an alpha in his own right. Not just one strong killer, but two.” Her gaze darted to the board behind her that showed all the faces of Walker’s victims. “They’re an alpha team, and that is the most dangerous serial killing team I know.”
She went to the board and flipped it over.
More photographs stared back. Missing persons reports. Anthony counted at least nineteen of them. “What the hell is that?” he demanded, raising his voice over the cops’ murmurs as they absorbed all of the pictures. Too many pictures. Lauren remained silent in front of him.
“These are women who’ve gone missing in surrounding counties. Some of them are believed to be runaways, but the others…the others are presumed dead.” Cadence paused as she waited for the noise to quiet. “I actually think they’re all dead.”
Shit.
Agent McKenzie’s hands had clenched into fists.
Cadence walked toward the first picture. “Walker’s partner was smart. He knew if he killed in different counties, it would be harder for the police to make connections between the crimes, especially when people didn’t even realize that crimes were happening.”
There were so many photographs. Nineteen of them.
Matt maneuvered close to Anthony. “Is this for real? You think Cadence is right on this?”
“Cadence doesn’t bullshit.”
Lauren flinched beneath his hand.
“How the hell do you know those are his victims?” Paul was back on his feet. The guy seemed to have real trouble staying in his chair. “Look, ma’am, we’re not some dumbass cops down here, okay? If we had another serial working here all this time—”
“I told you, the killer was smart. He crossed county lines, so there was no reason for the authorities to connect the dots on these cases.” Her fingers were touching the first picture. “Especially since he kept varying the age of his victim.”