Faith nodded.“Thank you for that information, Dr.Sullivan.And thank you for the book.We might reach out for more help at a later time.”
The two of them stood, and Faith left Marcus a card.He took it and gave her a smile that looked a little too eager for her comfort."I don't suppose you'd consider allowing me to interview your killer once you find him?It would be a fascinating insight into the mind of a warrior."
“Not a chance,” Faith said firmly.
Marcus sighed.“Well, I had to ask.Good luck anyway, agents.”
Faith felt more than a little frustrated as they left Sullivan’s house, but this hadn’t been a completely wasted effort.Even though Marcus had told them little that they knew already, he had offered a concise profile of their killer.Better, he had offered an identifiable one.They still had more work to do to solve the case, but Faith felt that they had taken an important step forward.
At least, she hoped so.Night would fall soon, and she worried what horror it would bring.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"Would it be inappropriate to say I didn't like that guy?"Michael said as he pulled into the parking lot of their hotel in Danbury.
“No?”Faith asked.
“He was like a ghoul,” Michael said, shivering with disgust.”
Faith raised an eyebrow.“Wow.Youreallydidn’t like him.”
Michael sighed.“I have a hard time with pompous, arrogant intellectuals.Add to that his macabre fascination with death, and you have a good recipe for a tough personality to deal with.”
“I didn’t take it as a fascination with death,” Faith said, punching the call button for the elevator.
“Just the dealers of death,” Michael said.Faith’s lips thinned, and he sighed again.“I didn’t mean it like that.I just feel like people shouldn’t be so concerned with the reasons people die.”
“We’reconcerned with the reasons people die,” she reminded him.
“No, I mean… Forget it.Never mind.”
The elevator arrived, and the group rode it in silence.Turk wagged his tail and looked between his humans, wondering why they were upset at each other.
They weren’t really upset with each other.They were both frustrated with their lack of progress and taking it out on each other in different ways.They’d worked together long enough that they knew how to handle this occasional strife, though, and by the time they reached their room, they were able to work together again.
Faith made Turk some dinner, and Michael ordered food for the two of them.While the Turks ate and waited for their food to arrive, they got back to the job.
“Let’s give Marcus the benefit of the doubt,” Faith suggested.“We don’t really have a better idea at the moment.”
“Fair enough,” Michael allowed, starting coffee in the pot.“So our killer is a warrior who reveres other warriors.Why is he showing his respect to these warriors by killing them?”
“I think the respect lies inhowhe's killing them," Faith replied."I think the reason he's killing them is different.Related, maybe, but different.Remember, Marcus said that he believes he's granting them a warrior's death.So why would they need a warrior's death?"
“A warrior’s death is achieved in combat with a superior foe,” Michael countered.“He isn’t a superior foe.He’s ambushing them.Maybe he thinks that makes him superior, but it clashes with the idea that he respects them.”
“Maybe he thinks they were denied a warrior’s death,” Faith replied.“If that’s the case, then he wouldn’t need to grant them the circumstances of a warrior’s death.”
“He would just need to change the ending,” Michael concluded.
“Exactly.They were supposed to die a warrior’s death, but for some reason or another, they didn’t.The killer is fixing that by giving them the death that was stolen from them.”
Michael nodded.“Well, it’s an idea.”
“It’s the most complete idea we’ve had to work with so far.”
“Fair enough,” Michael admitted.
He poured two cups of coffee and set one in front of Faith, then sat with the other in the second of the room’s two chairs.He looked at Turk to see that he’d finished his dinner and was now sleeping in between the beds again.“He’s been sleeping a lot this time around, huh?”
