Blood Dahlia - A Thriller (Sarah King Mysteries) by Victor Methos Read Free Book Online Page A

file already.
    A woman came to the door and said, “Who is it?” without opening.
    “FBI, ma’am. We’d like to ask you a few questions about Nathan if we could have a minute of your time,” Rosen bellowed.
    A long silence followed, and then the rattle of chains and the clunk of locks sliding open.
    Melissa Archer was petite, almost frail. A woman probably in her late sixties or early seventies, her hair was still a deep brown, but the spots on her skin betrayed her age. Giovanni noticed her hands were trembling.
    “Yes?” she said.
    “Ma’am, I’m Special Agent Arnold Rosen, and this is Special Agent Giovanni Adami. We’re investigating a string of homicides that we believe you may be able to help us with.”
    Ms. Archer looked from one to the other and back. “ Oh dear. Well, come in.”
    They entered her home. The first thing that struck Giovanni was how bare it was. Not a decoration or photo anywhere. This woman was at the end of her life, but there was nothing here to remind her how she had lived.
    The furniture was covered in plastic , and as the two men sat down, the covering crackled as if it had never been used before. Ms. Archer was preparing something in the kitchen and came out a moment later with cookies and juice.
    “I’m okay,” Giovanni said.
    Rosen took a cookie and a glass of juice. He drank a sip before taking a bite of the cookie. “I’m sorry about what happened with Nathan,” he said after chewing.
    “He was my boy. I have two girls, too. One’s in San Francisco, and the other is in Canada. As far away from this town as they could get, I guess.”
    Rosen nodded as though he knew exactly what she was talking about. “Nathan was a good -looking boy.”
    “Oh , he had a lot of girlfriends. They were always coming in and out of the house. I kept telling him that it wasn’t proper for a young man to have so many girlfriends, but he would just say, ‘Mom, that’s just how it’s done nowadays.’ He loved going on dates.”
    Giovanni wondered how many of his dates ended up in some ditch. Though three b odies were attributed to him, Giovanni knew it took a while for these types of perpetrators to be caught. The real number, he guessed, was probably double that.
    “Did he have any close friends?” Rosen asked. “Anyone that was over here all the time? Maybe they had sleepovers. Things like that.”
    She shook her head. “No. Nathan always preferred girls to spending time with boys. He didn’t play sports or anything like that. When he wasn’t on his dates , he liked to keep to himself.”
    Rosen took another bite of the cookie and placed the rest down on a napkin that Ms. Archer had put in front of him on the coffee table. “Ms. Archer, can you think of anyone in Nathan’s life that would want to copy what he did? Perhaps an uncle, cousin… anyone.”
    “No. Why would anyone want to do that? I’m not delusional, Agent Rosen. I know the evil my son brought into the world. But he was still my son. I can’t stop loving him, no matter what he’s done.”
    “I understand,” he said solemnly. “Could you do me a favor? If you think of anyone that might, I don’t know, walk in his shoes, could you give me a call? This man has killed six young women so far. We need to stop him, Ms. Archer.”
    “Of course. Please leave your card, and I’ll call if I think of anything.”
    As Rosen was taking out a card, Giovanni scanned the steps leading upstairs. Dirty shoeprints came in from outside, the backdoor in the kitchen, and headed upstairs.
    “Does anyone else live here?” Giovanni asked.
    Ms. Archer looked surprised —maybe because he hadn’t spoken the entire time. “No. It’s just me now. My husband left us when Nathan was a child. When he was gone, it was just me and Nathan.”
    Giovanni nodded , a gnawing sensation in his gut, and he realized he felt bad for Melissa Archer. That her son would put her through what he put her through, not to mention the mothers of the