Thr3e by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online Page B

over the on-site investigation. Let you work here in a coordination role.”
    Jennifer felt her face flush. “This is my case! You can’t just remove me!”
    “Did I say remove? I don’t remember using that word. And if you haven’t noticed in your six years with the bureau, we juggle agents quite frequently for a host of reasons.”
    “No one knows this case like I do,” she said. The chief wouldn’t actually do this. She was way too valuable on the case!
    “One of those reasons is the relationship between agent and critical parties, including victims.”
    “I’ve spent a year breathing down this guy’s neck,” Jennifer said. She let the desperation creep into her voice. “For heaven’s sake, Frank. You can’t do this to me.”
    “He killed your brother, Jennifer.”
    She stared at him. “This suddenly becomes germane? The way I see it, the fact that he killed Roy gives me a right to hunt him down.”
    “Please, I know this is hard, but you have to try to look at the situation objectively. Roy was the killer’s last victim. We haven’t heard a peep in the three months since. You ever ask yourself why he chose Roy?”
    “It happened,” she said. She had, of course. The answer was patently obvious but unspoken.
    “He kills four other people in the Sacramento area before you start to close in. You come within five minutes of apprehending him. He takes offense and chooses someone close to you. Roy. He plays his little game of riddles and then kills Roy when you come up short.”
    Jennifer just stared at him.
    The chief held up one hand. “No, that didn’t come out like I—”
    “You’re saying the Riddle Killer killed my brother because of me? You have the audacity to sit there and accuse me of playing a part in my own brother’s execution?”
    “I said that’s not what I meant. But he likely chose Roy because of your involvement.”
    “And did that fact affect my performance?”
    He hesitated.
    Jennifer closed her eyes and drew a careful breath.
    “You’re putting words in my mouth,” Frank said. “Look, I’m sorry, really I am. I can only imagine how it was for you. And I can’t think of anyone who is more qualified to go after this nut, but the equation changed when he killed your brother. He has it out for you. You’re a critical party, and frankly your life’s in danger.”
    She opened her eyes. “Don’t patronize me with the danger nonsense, Frank. We signed on for danger. This is precisely what the Riddle Killer wants, you realize. He knows I’m his biggest threat. He also knows that you’ll likely pull me for the very reasons you’re citing. He wants me off the case.”
    She said it with a strong voice, but only because she’d long ago learned to stuff emotion. For the most part. The bureau did that. The better part of her wanted to scream at Frank and tell him where he could put his objectiveness.
    He sighed. “We don’t even know this is the same killer. Could be a copy cat; could be unrelated. We need someone here to piece this together carefully.”
    The Riddle Killer had started playing his little games nearly a year ago. He picked his victims for a variety of reasons and then stalked them until he knew their routines intimately. The riddle usually came out of thin air. He gave the victims a specified amount of time to solve the riddle under the threat of death. Inventive and cold-blooded.
    Her brother, Roy Peters, had been a thirty-three-year-old attorney newly employed in Sacramento by Bradsworth and Bixx. A brilliant man with a wonderful wife, Sandy, who worked for the Red Cross. More importantly, Roy and Jennifer had been inseparable right up to college when they’d both pursued law. Roy had bought Jennifer her first bicycle, not because her father couldn’t, but because he wanted to. Roy had taught her to drive. Roy had checked out every boy she’d ever dated, often to her feigned chagrin. Her brother had been her soul mate, the standard no other man could