CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Ella forced herself back into investigator mode.
She'd just spilled her guts to a room full of strangers, but that didn't matter now.
She was here to find a killer. Her story about her mom, true as it was, could still serve a purpose.
Psychopaths didn't react to emotional confessions the way normal people did. She could use that.
She studied the men in the circle while Derek moved on to the next participant.
One guy was staring at his phone. He hadn't looked up once during her story. That could mean detachment, or it could just mean he was uncomfortable with heavy emotions. Hard to say. Another man was staring blankly at a spot on the floor, displaying neither sympathy nor indifference.
A third man was watching her too. His expression was calm and placid, but the corners of his eyes didn't match. They were upturned in focus, like he was studying her instead of listening to her.
A young woman across the circle stood up. Her voice was soft but steady. ‘Hi, I'm Lily. I’m terrified of heights. It's called acrophobia.’
Ella shifted her attention to Lily while keeping her peripheral awareness on the men she was observing.
She glanced over at Mason, or whatever his real name was.
She’d noticed him watching her intently during parts of her monologue, and his face had been etched with what appeared to be genuine concern.
Upturned mouth, narrowed eyes, no makeshift barriers with his arms or legs.
However, Ella knew better than to take appearances at face value.
Lily said, ‘I remember this one time. I was on a school trip to the mountains.
Everyone was excited about the cable car ride, except me.
Just the thought of being suspended in the air made me feel sick.
I tried to tell myself it's just a ride, nothing will happen, but when we got there, and I saw the cable car, my legs just wouldn't move.
I couldn't step in. I felt so embarrassed, standing there, frozen, while everyone else got on.’
Ella studied the girl. Mid-twenties, brunette, soft-spoken. There was something fragile about her, something that made Ella want to stand up and tell her it was okay. That fear didn't make you weak.
‘It's not just cable cars. Bridges, tall buildings, even being on a high floor... it's all the same. The other day I tried to walk across Helmsley Bridge, but I couldn’t get near it. I had a panic attack. It feels like I'm missing out on so much.’
As Lily's story unfolded, Ella reflected on her own emotional vulnerability earlier. Had it been a mistake to reveal so much? Or perhaps it was a strategic move, disarming those around her, making them less guarded in their responses. Her story could elicit reactions that mere observation couldn’t.
Ella traced the room again, this time using Lily’s monologue to peer beyond the veil of appearances.
She rifled past each male group member one by one – Derek included – checking their microsignals and reactions.
But while she was engrossed in the task at hand, her peripheral vision caught something.
A figure stood in the doorway. He was drifting in and out like he couldn't decide whether to stay or leave.
Ella tried to place him. Church staff? Shy attendee?
He looked young. Early thirties, maybe. Thin build, curly black hair falling over his forehead. She couldn't see his face clearly, but something about the way he stood felt familiar. He leaned against the doorframe with his thumbs moving across his phone screen while Lily kept talking.
Odd behavior. He wasn't participating, but he wasn't ignoring the session either. He was watching.
The man looked up from his phone.
His eyes met Ella's.
Ella listened to her gut. This was no ordinary group member. The way he alternated between blending in and observing suggested he was here for a specific purpose.
Lily was still speaking, but Ella’s attention was elsewhere.
The man slowly stepped back from the doorway, glanced at Ella one more time, then turned and disappeared into the hallway.
Ella’s heart rate spiked, and her intuition told her that this man wasn’t simply a reserved member of their circle. There was something else going on.
And Ella needed to find out what.
Without a second thought, Ella feigned a wave of emotion and covered her mouth with a shaky hand.
‘Excuse me, I just need a minute,’ she mumbled, quivering her voice just enough to sell the act.
She stood up and brushed past the chairs with hurried steps, never taking her glare off the dissolving shadow moving down the far corridor.
She gave Lily and Derek an apologetic glance, and Derek gave her an assuring nod.
Ella stepped into the hallway. Twenty feet ahead, the man was pushing through the church's side exit. He looked back over his shoulder.
Their eyes met again.
This time, Ella saw it clearly: guilt.
‘Stop! Police!’
The man shoved the door open and ran.
Ella exploded from the church doors and locked her sight onto the blur that was fast moving across the cemetery. Her adrenaline surged as she pursued across the cold, uneven ground, reminding herself that innocent people didn’t run.
‘Freeze!’
He didn't stop. Didn't even slow down.
Ella had no gun, no backup, no radio. Just her and him and a field of tombstones between them.
The suspect vaulted over a low gravestone, heading not for the main gate but toward the back wall.
Ella followed. If the guy made it over that wall, he'd disappear into the woods. She couldn't let that happen.
She lengthened her stride and closed the distance.
He was fast – tall, lean, built like a runner – but speed only mattered for the first thirty seconds.
After that, it was about endurance. And Ella had run down suspects twice his size.
There were two dead bodies out there, two people whose families would never see them again, and that alone was enough fire to keep Ella in pursuit all night.
He weaved between headstones, cutting left and right, trying to throw her off. But Ella had been doing this for years. She read his movements before he made them, anticipating each turn.
She was gaining.
He glanced back and panicked when he saw how close she was.
He pushed harder, lengthened his stride, then stumbled slightly but composed himself.
Ella pushed herself harder too, her lungs burning, her muscles screaming.
She was close now, close enough to hear his heavy breaths, close enough to reach out and touch him.
The suspect reached the wall and, in one swift motion, leaped at it and tried to climb.
But Ella was right on his heels.
She lunged forward just as the suspect found his first foothold on the wall. Her hand shot out and clutched an ankle.
'Get off me!' He kicked back. Ella jerked her head to the side.
His foot missed by inches. He kicked again.
She held on, digging her nails into his leg, bracing her foot against the wall for leverage.
She summoned all of her weight into her shoulders, gripped the man's leg with both hands, and hauled him off the wall, down to the muddy earth below.
Ella went down with him, and the impact knocked the air from her lungs. The suspect landed beside her and immediately tried to scramble to his feet.
She swept his legs.
He went face-first into the mud, then pushed himself up onto his hands.
Ella threw herself onto his back and drove him flat.
He bucked beneath her, trying to twist free.
His legs kicked wildly, and he managed to roll himself over.
A fist came out of nowhere and connected with her ribs, but she didn’t let go.
She raised her own fist, ready to bring it down.
That was enough.
‘Okay! Stop! I didn’t do anything wrong!’
Ella didn't lower her fist. Guilty people had a look. A feeling. This man had both.
‘No?’
‘No. I swear it.’
‘We’ll see about that.’ Ella pressed her knee into his spine, then reached behind her and pulled out her handcuffs. She'd left her gun in the car, but she never went anywhere without these. ‘Then why were you watching us? Why'd you run?’
‘I can explain. Let me explain.’
Ella snapped the cuffs around his wrists, then stood. She grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet.
‘Save it for the interrogation room’ she said. ‘You’re coming with me.’