Freak by Jennifer Hillier Read Free Book Online Page B

opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
    “The cops think Seattle has a new serial killer on its hands,” Jerry said.
    Her gaze fell to the manila folder sitting on the desk between them, and she finally found her voice. “Is that what’s in there? Pictures?”
    “Crime scene photos. Do you want to see them? You don’t have to look if you don’t want to, but I brought them in case you did.”
    She hesitated, then reached forward and slid the folder toward her. Taking a deep breath, she flipped it open, bracing herself. The first sheet was a typewritten page of notes, and she skipped past it to the color photographs underneath.
    The images were difficult to process. At first glance, they weren’t nearly as gory as she was expecting—she’d seen much worse on TV and in the movies. The only difference was, in these photos, the women were real people, and now they were dead.
    And not just dead. Murdered .
    “That first picture is of Stephanie Hooper,” Jerry said, his voice taking on a mechanical quality Sheila had never heard before. “Age twenty-four. You can see she has an uncanny resemblance to Abby Maddox, though of course nobody would have picked up on it at the time. She was found in a hotel room downtown a week ago.”
    Sheila peered closer at the photo. The woman was lying atop a rumpled bed, dressed in tight jeans, naked from the waist up. “What’s that around her throat?”
    “Zip tie.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    “If you look at the next picture, it’s a shot of her at the morgue, and you can see the carvings on her back.”
    The next one was worse. Under the harsh lights of the morgue, the bruises were clearly visible, and FREE ABBY MADDOX was carved deeply, and rather neatly, into the woman’s back. The victim’s skin color was unnatural, and with her lying on the cold steel table, it was easy to forget that she had once been alive. Breathing. Vibrant. The thought pinched something deep inside Sheila, filling her with a profound sense of sadness. She looked up at Jerry. “I can’t make out the second carving beneath the name, it’s too small. What is it?”
    “It’s a one, then a slash, then a ten,” Jerry said.
    Sheila frowned. She didn’t get it.
    “Look at the next photo. If you want to. Though you definitely seem to have a better stomach for this stuff than I do.”
    Obligingly, she turned to the next picture. And felt another pang.
    “Victim two was Brenda Stich.” Jerry cracked his knuckles again, something he always did when he was stressed. “This is the one they found this morning. Different hotel. Age twenty-six. As you can see, she was also a Maddox clone. She also died of asphyxiation by zip tie.”
    Sheila inhaled sharply. Even though Jerry had told her what to expect only moments before, it was something else entirely to see it in full color. The words FREE ABBY MADDOX were indeed carved deeply into the woman’s back, and the blood from the wounds was smeared all over her skin.
    It took her a second before she could speak. “What’s that underneath Maddox’s name? Same as the last girl?”
    “Sort of. Only this one says two-slash-ten.”
    It was too much to process. Taking one last look at the picture,Sheila closed the file, relieved there were no more photos. Hands trembling, she clasped them together again, trying to regain her bearings. She knew Jerry was about to explain everything. Problem was, she was no longer certain she wanted to hear it.
    “Rape kits on both vics came back negative.” That distant tone again. Jerry sounded as if he were reciting. “Both women had engaged in intercourse recently, but there’s nothing specific to indicate sexual assault. The first one, Stephanie Hooper, was a student at the University of Washington. The second one was enrolled at Seattle Pacific, though she only went part-time.”
    “Both college girls,” Sheila said. “And the zip ties? Any significance with those?”
    “None the cops can think of.