Delusions With Murder: A Rilynne Evans Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

things.  Rilynne was a little curious as to how such a clumsy man could be so great at handling forensics.  She had also never seen a man flat out refuse to enter a woman’s bedroom before.  He was an attractive man, and she couldn’t help but think he surely had spent some time in a few women’s rooms.  It reminded her almost of a vampire who couldn’t enter a house without being invited. 
    She had found in the past, though, that people will often act certain ways in front of people they are just meeting, which is nothing like the way they are normally.  That was a concept she had never understood.  But she couldn’t say much about it, for she was always hiding a part of herself from the rest of the world.
    *     *     *
    Rilynne had just fallen asleep when her phone rang.  “We need you to come in,” said a deep, scratchy voice on the line.  She didn’t even need to ask Detective Wilcome what had happened.
    She wondered if she would see Nicole on her way out of the building, like she often did, but she didn’t.  Her car wasn’t even on the street outside where she had left it the night before.  She must have already been called out to the scene.  It had been three weeks to the day since the last victim was found.  That meant the perpetrator had taken his next victim, and they only had seven days to find him.
    The station house was buzzing with voices when she walked through the door.  It seemed that every officer in the precinct had been called in, and every other case had been pushed aside for the time being.  Rilynne pushed her way back towards the elevator and road it up to the homicide office on the third floor.  Detective Wilcome, looking grimmer than ever before, was standing at the head of the table in the conference room, waiting for the last few people to arrive.  Despite it being only four-thirty in the morning, everyone looked fully awake and as troubled as Detective Wilcome. 
    “Just after three this morning, a woman called to report her neighbor’s door was wide open, and he appeared to not be home.  When officers arrived at the apartment building, they found this-” he held up an evidence bag containing a small black piece of paper “-tucked under the doorknocker.  Other than the door being left ajar, there are no signs of a struggle at the scene.  Our crime scene investigators are at the apartment now, but as of their last report, this scene appears to be clean like the others.”  He taped a photo to a new white board that had been brought into the room, and stared at it for a few minutes before talking again.  The victim appeared to be in his early twenties, with a fair complexion and brunette hair that reached his shoulders.  There was something about him that struck Rilynne as familiar, though she couldn’t place him.  “The victim’s name is Derek Hartley, he’s twenty three years old, divorced with no children, and a third year law student.  He was last seen leaving Lander’s Bar with his girlfriend at one thirty this morning.  We are working on tracking her down right now, but it would appear she wasn’t in the apartment at the time of abduction.  Based on the past victims, we have less than six hours before the right leg is removed.  And if the pattern holds, we have less than seven days to find him before he’s killed.” 
    He plopped down in his chair and loosened his tie.  The only sound that could be heard in the packed room was the gentle squeak of the ceiling fan.  No one seemed to want to talk, or even move.  They were no closer today than they were twelve months ago at finding the Pirate Killer, and they all knew it. 
    “Matthews, Evans, I want you to take the scene.  I want every moment of the victim’s life broken down.  See if he has anything in common with any of the other victims.  Our best hope of catching this bastard is to find out how he’s choosing them.  Here is the address,” he said while handing Rilynne a torn