‘And Mike was one of them,’ Garcia completed Hunter’s sentence.

‘He probably ran the fan club.’

Garcia laughed.

‘Anyway, to these people the Crucifix Killer was a hero, someone doing God’s work, and suddenly Mike was handed the opportunity to become his hero.’

‘You mean take the rap for his hero?’

‘It makes no difference. To the rest of the world Mike Farloe’s name would become synonymous with the Crucifix Killer. He’d leave his life of obscurity behind. His name would be mentioned in books and studied in criminology classes. He would in death have the fame he never had when living.’

‘But you said Mike knew certain things about the victims that probably only the killer would know… like the reasons for killing them. He’d mentioned things like one of the victims fucking her way to the top of her company. How would he know that?’

‘Because the killer told him,’ Hunter concluded.

‘What?’

‘Just think about it. You’re the killer right, and you want to frame someone for what you’ve done. You finally find the right person. You befriend him.’

‘Something that wouldn’t be very hard to do since Mike had no friends.’

‘That’s right. Most of your conversations would revolve around the Crucifix Killings. How great a job the killer is doing in ridding the world of sinners or what have you. Now you start filling Mike’s head up with rumors. “I’ve heard that one of the victims was a diseased prostitute… another had sex with everyone in her company just to get to the top.”’ Hunter put on a different voice pretending to be the killer.

‘Preparing him for when he got caught,’ Garcia cut in.

Hunter bit his bottom lip and nodded.

‘But why not tell him about the real Crucifix Killer’s carvings to the back of the neck.’

‘Because no one knew about it except the real killer and a handful of people that were working the case. Telling Mike Farloe about the real symbol would’ve made him instantly suspicious. Mike was fucked up, not stupid.’

‘Meaning he would’ve thought the person telling him about it was the real killer?’

‘Possible but not probable. Mike would’ve thought the guy was full of shit.’

‘Why?’

‘How do you think Mike got to know about the Crucifix Killer in the first place?’

‘Through the papers and the press.’

‘Exactly. Mike probably read and watched everything about the Crucifix Killer the media threw at him. And he believed every word of it. People are very impressionable. Telling Mike that what he read and believed was a load of crap would’ve pushed him away, not gain his confidence. Who do you think your normal street man would believe, the papers and TV or a complete stranger?’

Garcia thought about it for a moment. ‘You’ve got a point.’

Hunter nodded. ‘The killer knew what he needed to do to gain Mike’s confidence.’

‘Do you think the killer was counting on Mike confessing?’

‘Maybe, I’m not sure.’

‘He had nothing to lose,’ Garcia concluded, but still looked bothered by something. ‘But why?’

Hunter threw him an alarmed look. ‘Have you been listening to what I’ve said? I’ve just explained to you why.’

‘No, why frame Mike?’

Hunter paused and stared at his cup of coffee. ‘That was about to be my next question. What are the reasons for framing somebody?’

‘Revenge?’

‘Not in real life.’

‘Huh?’

‘Framing someone for revenge only happens in Hollywood movies. In real life people skip through all the bullshit, go directly to the source and pop them a head hole. Why go through all the trouble of planning a frame? Plus Mike died by lethal injection, not a lot of suffering. If our killer wanted him to suffer, he would’ve taken care of Mike himself.’

Garcia nodded in agreement. ‘That’s true.’

‘So why else would you frame someone?’

‘Maybe he wanted the police investigation to end.’

‘Possible.’

‘Perhaps his initial intention was to commit only seven murders.’ Garcia turned to pour himself a glass of water. ‘After the killer achieved what he set out to achieve, why keep the investigation open and risk some cop bumping into some evidence that could lead to him a few years down the line? Frame somebody, the case gets closed and he’s scot-free.’

‘So now the killer changed his mind and is back to commit another seven?’

Garcia cocked an eyebrow. ‘He could be.’

‘I don’t buy that. This killer had an agenda set from the word go and I’m sure he’s sticking to it. Whenever he’s finished doing what he’s set out to do, if we haven’t caught up with him by then, he’ll disappear and we’ll never hear from him again.’ Hunter’s voice sounded somber.

‘When Mike was arrested, did you have another suspect, someone you were investigating?’ Garcia said, breaking the silence.

Hunter shook his head.

‘You weren’t getting closer to anyone or anything?’

‘I’ve told you this before, we had nothing, no suspects, no leads – but I know what you’re getting at. If we were getting closer to someone, especially if we were getting closer to the right someone, framing Mike would’ve thrown us off course.’

‘Uh-huh! It would’ve put a stop to the investigation. Why carry on investigating when you have a suspect with such overwhelming incriminating evidence?’

‘Well, we didn’t have any suspects.’

‘But the killer didn’t know that. Unless he had some inside information from the police.’

‘Very few people had that information and they’re all trustworthy.’

‘OK, so maybe you did dig into something that hit pretty close to home with the killer.’

A muscle flexed on Hunter’s jaw. ‘We weren’t digging anything. The only thing we had was seven victims and a lot of frustration,’ Hunter said, staring out the window, his gaze distant. ‘But we’ll go though the files again… two months prior to Mike’s arrest. Let’s check what we had then.’

‘There’s one more possibility,’ Garcia said, flipping through some papers on his desk.

‘And what’s that?’

‘How long between Mike Farloe’s arrest and the first victim this time around?’

‘About a year and a half?’

‘What if the killer framed Mike because he knew he’d be out of action for a certain amount of time? Like if the killer had been in prison for some other minor charge.’

Hunter sat back on his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. ‘The problem here is that he had to know in advance he’d be out of action for so long. Framing someone takes time and as we’ve said before, he had to find the right person first. You don’t get that much warning before being arrested. But…’ Hunter shook his right index finger in Garcia’s direction.

‘What?’

‘An operation,’ Hunter said cocking both eyebrows. ‘The killer could’ve had some sort of operation scheduled. He would’ve known that well in advance.’

‘But the killer was out of action for over a year. What sort of operation puts you on the sidelines for that long?’

‘That’s easy. Back operation, hip operation, any operation that would require the patient to go through physiotherapy to regain movement and strength. Our killer needs all his strength to commit these murders. He wouldn’t have struck again if he wasn’t one hundred percent fit. We’d better make a list of hospitals and physiotherapy clinics.’

Garcia was already typing his first search into his keyboard.

Forty-Nine

They spent the rest of the day digging into Mike Farloe’s life. His criminal record was long, but not vicious: convictions for indecent exposure, non-violent sexual assault and pedophilia. He was a scumbag, Hunter thought, but not a violent scumbag. In his last spell in prison he found God and upon his release he started wandering the streets preaching the gospel to those who’d listen and those who wouldn’t.

Mike’s medical records showed nothing out of the ordinary. A few treatments for venereal disease and broken bones from street beatings but that was all. He had no psychological history and nothing stood out. They concluded the killer couldn’t have picked Mike based on his medical or criminal record. They were still looking into any religious cults that Mike might’ve been involved with, but by eleven-thirty in the evening they still hadn’t come up with anything.