FATAL FORTY-EIGHT: A Kate Huntington Mystery (The Kate Huntington Mysteries Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page A

contracted with her to help you all with the profiling.”
    Judith, bless her heart, had come down heavily on the word contracted . She had just given Kate official status as a consultant for the Baltimore County Police Department.
    SA Wallace huffed. “We hardly need a civilian’s help.”
    Kate squashed the urge to tell this agent that she was already an experienced psychologist when the young woman was still in high school. Maybe even middle school. Suddenly Kate felt old.
    “With the time factor involved,” SSA Cornelius said, “we can use all the help we can get.” His voice was a pleasant baritone. It reminded Kate of her first husband’s.
    “Where’s Canfield?” Judith asked, pushing aside Kate’s thoughts of Eddie Huntington.
    “He went directly to Sally’s apartment building, to help with the canvassing. Rob Franklin’s helping too, as well as some of the agency’s staff.”
    Judith nodded, but SA Wallace bristled. “More amateurs?”
    “Hardly,” Kate said. “They’re experienced private detectives.” She opted not to mention that Rob was a lawyer. She wasn’t inclined to give this woman more ammunition.
    Wallace turned to her partner and opened her mouth.
    Judith intervened. “These folks are friends of Ms. Ford. They are going to look for her with or without our blessing. Better that they do so under our direction, rather than getting in the way.”
    Wallace’s mouth was set in a thin line but she didn’t say anything.
    “My partner will be out in the field.” SSA Cornelius held out his hand in an after-you gesture. “Ms. Huntington. Everything’s set up in the conference room down the hall.”
    Kate smiled up at him. “Please, call me Kate.”
    He smiled back. “I’m Tim. After you.” He gestured again toward the door.
    Eyes narrowed, SA Wallace shoved past Kate and left Judith’s office ahead of her.
     
    Tim Cornelius had finished filling Kate in on the details of their profile. She sat back in her chair. “Victims posed, eyes closed, hands together on their stomachs. Doesn’t that indicate remorse?”
    Tim smiled at her. “Very good, Kate.”
    Warmth crept up her cheeks, one part pleasure, one part embarrassment. “Judith Anderson may have overstated my credentials a bit. The only profiling expertise I’ve got comes from watching Criminal Minds .”
    Tim chuckled. “That show is surprisingly accurate, about some things at least. Yes, that indicates the killer has some remorse, but the question is why?”
    “The torture and sexual assault were all done after they were dead, correct?”
    “Yes.”
    “All the more reason to think this guy was abused as a child. Trauma recovery is my area of expertise, by the way. He may be re-enacting the torture he suffered as a child.”
    Tim nodded, a slight smile on his face–a teacher, pleased with a promising student. Then his face sobered. “Afraid that doesn’t help us find him, though. I probably don’t have to tell you how many abused kids there are out there, do I?”
    Kate shook her head. She knew the statistics all too well. Fifteen percent of boys and over twenty percent of girls sexually abused by age eighteen. Almost that many were physically abused, and many–way too many–suffered both forms of abuse.
    “This would be particularly bad abuse,” she said. “The authorities probably would have been involved.”
    “Still doesn’t narrow things down much. This guy could’ve grown up in any state in the union, or in another country.”
    “Hmm, he re-enacts the abuse he suffered, but postmortem. And he holds them for forty-eight hours first. Maybe he wants to see if anybody cares about them, because he felt nobody cared about what was happening to him.”
    “That would fit with the notes,” Tim said.
    “I assume you looked for crimes in the past with similar MO’s. Serial killers don’t usually start with killing.”
    “Of course, back ten years. Nothing all that similar.”
    “Maybe you should go back