Bear's Baby (Bear Heat Book 4) by Natalie Kristen Page B

have all been trying to find a common thread linking
these three victims. These three people didn't seem to have anything
in common at first. Two of the victims were women, and one was male.
They varied in ages. Yoon was in her twenties, Anthony was
thirty-eight and Felicia was in her early forties. Their backgrounds
were different as well. One was from a single-parent family while
the other came from a large, extended family. Felicia Jackson
enjoyed a well-to-do, privileged upbringing. Three different people,
from different backgrounds and neighborhoods. But they all died the
same way.”
    She clicked the control and
the screen displayed the pictures of the victims' mutilated bodies.
There was a ripple of unease and anger across the room. Lindy went
on stoically, “They were all tortured, and had their hearts,
eyes and tongues ripped out. The killer enjoyed inflicting pain and
suffering, and he was sending a message with these murders.”
    “Eyes and tongue,”
someone spoke up. “These people saw something and the killer
wanted to shut them up?”
    Lindy nodded. “Not
just shut them up. The later victims had their hands torn out.
Felicia's feet were missing. The killer wanted to shut them up, and
stop them. Stop what they were doing, stop them from walking forward
in their chosen paths. These people saw something all right. They
saw darkness and violence and wrongdoing, and they spoke up, stood up
and did their part to stop the perpetrators. Yoon Park was a police
officer. She protected and defended the city against crime. Anthony
Buller put these criminals away as a public prosecutor, and Felicia
Jackson stood up and gave voice to those who were too afraid and too
weak to speak up for themselves. These three courageous people
fought against crime and evil. What they stood for, what they did.
This is the common thread linking the three of them.”
    Agitated voices erupted
around the conference room. Questions flew and Lindy tried her best
to answer every one of them.
    “The killer is going
after police officers? Will we find another dead cop soon?”
    “No. I don't think
they will target another officer,” Lindy said.
    “You said the killer
won't target another police officer. Why not?” a young
policewoman asked. “How can you be so sure?”
    “The killer isn't after
police officers, prosecutors and counselors per se. He wants to
destroy what these people stand for.” Lindy took a deep breath
and said, “Yoon, Anthony and Felicia stood for what's good and
right in all of us. The killer is the exact opposite of these three
warm and stout-hearted people. The killer is cold, and...old, not in
age, but in mind and spirit. I believe he is a master of disguise,
so he may look frail, aged or even young and vulnerable. But make no
mistake. The killer is incredibly strong, callous, cunning. He has
no mercy, no humanity.”
    “So what are we looking
for?”
    Lindy swallowed. This was
the hardest part.
    “Everyone.”
    Shouts were hurled and some
people got to their feet.
    “What?”
    “You're nuts!”
    “Everyone is a
suspect?”
    “What kind of rubbish
is this?”
    Lindy put up her hands to
call for silence. “Wait, listen to me. This is a very
delicate, dangerous situation. What I am saying is that the
perpetrator would disguise himself to look like someone you would see
as harmless and benign, perhaps even someone you'd encounter every
day. But beneath that soft, gentle exterior, there is a monster
lurking. You have to be very alert and sensitive, and perhaps and
more accurately, overly suspicious of anything and anyone from
now on.”
    As voices and emotions rose
to fever pitch, Dr. Ross Manolo, one of the senior profilers from her
department stood up. “I agree with Lindy,” Dr. Manolo
said. “The killer would look ordinary and unremarkable. He
would behave normally until something triggers his murderous
instincts. Lindy hasn't mentioned it, but there is a possibility
that hypnosis may have a part to