Fatal burn by Lisa Jackson

Author:Lisa Jackson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Thrillers & Mystery, Crime, Crime & mystery, Fiction
ISBN: 9780340938164
Publisher: London : Hodder, 2007, c2006.
Published: 2010-04-17T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Anthony Paterno drummed his fingers and stared at the notes he'd taken. Five pages of his thoughts were spread across the top of his desk in the Santa Lucia Police Department and he was trying to connect the dots, however frail, between them. The door to his office was ajar and he heard the noises he'd grown accustomed to: the ringing phones, buzz of conversations, kerchunk of printers and occasional burst of laughter over the steady rattle of the overworked and failing air-conditioning system.

The squat brick building was nearly eighty years old, and though it had suffered through several renovations, none had really improved it, Paterno thought with an eye to aesthetics. Function over form, that was the motto of whomever had designed the ugly stucco wings that sprang from either side of the original edifice.

The climate ran hot in this section of the wine country, which was decidedly inland from San Francisco, the place he'd called home for years. No views of the bay nor the Pacific Ocean, just rolling hills covered with vineyards between clusters of towns that catered to tourists. Pretty country. But warmer than he liked. Adjusting his internal thermometer had taken some time, and he found himself constantly relying on air-conditioning in his car as well as in his apartment and the office. This summer had been the worst, hotter than it had been in nearly three years, the heat never letting up, the temperature, even at night, rarely dipping below eighty.

Water reservoir levels were dwindling, brownouts from the overuse of energy for cooling were common, and the threat of fire was ever-present--the bleached grass fields and arid forests ready, with the aid of a small spark, to burst into flame.

He was often uncomfortable and supposed that dropping fifteen pounds would help, but so far he hadn't so much as lost an ounce, hadn't stepped foot inside the gym here at the station nor at his apartment complex.

Yanking at his tie, he leaned back in his chair, the facts of Mary Beth Flannery's death running through his mind in a continuous loop. It was how he worked. A puzzling case like this one would get under his skin, and he thought of little else, day and night. The cut-and-dried ones didn't create the same itch in him, the same need to outwit the killer, the race against time to stop the murderer from striking again.

Because that's what Paterno thought they had here--someone not only out for blood but something else as well. The guy was playing a game, intentionally leaving clues, taunting the police and hoping to strike fear in those who were still alive.

Why else take the time to scrawl the weird symbol on the mirror in lipstick?

Why else leave a backpack with the identical drawing?

Why else make a point to let the police and everyone involved know that the kidnapping of Dani Settler was connected to Mary Beth Flannery's death?

He glanced at one page of his notes, the ones dedicated to the victim.

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