Patrick shrugged. “Then let’s hear them.”
“You were stationed together with Duncan in the navy.” They had EOD agents pulling up the senator’s enlistment records. “I bet you kept those photos close, because you’d need them close.” Looking at them would’ve been a compulsion. “But if you were bunking with Duncan, he would’ve had access to your area. I think he found them, only, instead of turning you in, he kept the photos so that he could blackmail you.”
Patrick gave a low whistle. “You’re only half right.”
She didn’t like the coldness in his stare. The man was in total control. She needed to rattle his cage and make that control shatter. “You were going after girls then...” Time to press for more. Time to shatter. “But after your enlistment, after you started fighting and killing in battle, did you think they were too easy? You’re the big game hunter. And they weren’t big enough game.”
His gaze drifted dismissively over her. “No, you weren’t.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“The girls—you—were expendable. Weak. They all cried and begged too quickly. Some didn’t even have the sense to run. I mean, hell, everyone is supposed to have a survival instinct, right? Isn’t that what the experts say?”
She didn’t respond.
“But they didn’t. They died easily.”
She studied him carefully. There was no emotion in his voice. No remorse. No glee. He was simply stating a fact. She’d wondered before if he were a psychopath. She wasn’t wondering any longer. “Why didn’t Duncan turn you in?”
But she knew...
Noelle didn’t like the sardonic little smile curling Patrick’s thin lips. “Most people would’ve turned me in. I mean, that would be the right thing to do, huh? That’s what you think, don’t you, Noelle?”
From the corner of her eye, Noelle saw Thomas clench his hands into fists.
“But Duncan wasn’t like most folks. He was like me.”
One psychopath, finding another.
“He kept the photos and told me he’d turn me in unless I did a job for him. Someone had made him very, very angry, you see, and he wanted that person eliminated.”
“Then he should’ve done the job himself.” This tight snarl came from Thomas.
Patrick shrugged. “Not his way. He gave me the prey, and he told me to hunt. I did.”
Mercer’s suspicions had been right. This guy had become Lawrence’s attack dog.
“I found out I liked my new prey. They fought harder. They made me have to work for the rush.”
The rush he’d first got when he killed Emma Jane. “Emma Jane was a crime of passion.” Strange, when he was so passionless now. “Emma Jane was probably the only person you ever really connected with, and she betrayed you.”
He lunged forward and grabbed the bars. “I was eighteen! I’d just enlisted. She couldn’t even wait two months for me to come home. Two. Months.”
The pieces were all in place for Noelle now. “You killed the other girls because they looked like her.” I looked like her. “You thought we’d give you the same rush, but we weren’t Emma Jane, so you needed to try something else.” Duncan had entered the man’s life at the perfect time.
Or the worst.
“I was good at killing.” Patrick’s words were hard, biting and eerily reminiscent of what Thomas had once told her. Almost helplessly, Noelle’s gaze slid to Thomas. He was glaring at the man behind bars. “Duncan made it worth my while. Duncan paid me for my work, and I had one hell of a time.” His voice was calmer now. “After all, I’d lost my pickup man.” His blue stare locked on Thomas. “Courtesy of the Dragon. And, damn, but Justin was good at picking the girls. The kid always knew exactly what I liked back then.”
“We’re going to need a list of all your victims.” Families deserved to get closure. This man before her, he could’ve killed so many people.
But Patrick just smirked. “Like I’m the only killer in the room.” He nodded toward Thomas. “Why don’t we do some sharing? Get him to tell you all about his kills, and then I’ll tell you mine.”
She kept her shoulders locked. “I don’t need to know about what Thomas did in battle—”
Patrick’s laughter cut her off. “I’m not talking about battle. I’m talking about what he did...for fun. Like when he was down in Alabama. How many did you kill then? Not counting my pickup man, of course. Because he was probably just a bonus for you.”
Thomas was as still as stone.
“Not gonna tell her? How about I start... It was a whole gang that went down, after you turned on them....”
His mission. Patrick couldn’t learn about the EOD or about what covers Thomas had used over the years. “In a few hours, you’re going to be transferred to a maximum-security holding facility. You won’t get out again, and you’ll be very, very lucky to see the light of day ever again.”
But Patrick was still focused on Thomas. “When I first saw you with her, I didn’t get a good look at you. You’re good at changing your appearance, though, aren’t you? Blending in. Showing people what you want ’em to see.”
“If you cooperate, we can help you.” Noelle doubted that there was actually much help Mercer would allow. Maybe a slightly bigger cell? No, probably not. This guy would be locked away forever. But what he didn’t know...
“You’re missing what’s right in front of you!” Patrick exploded.
Noelle didn’t flinch.
“He’s a killer! Worse than me! You think he’s some kind of hero? Don’t you know what he did to you when he had you in that cabin?”
Goose bumps rose on Noelle’s flesh.
This was the monster who’d tried to destroy her life.
“He’s just like me,” Patrick told her, and he was so smug. “Only...I bet he’s killed more men than I have. Think about that the next time you decide to have sex with him in front of a fire.”
He had been there.
Revulsion twisted her stomach.
Patrick was laughing again and— Thomas moved in a flash. His hand flew through the gap between the bars. He grabbed Patrick around the neck and yanked the man forward. Patrick’s head slammed into the bars. Bones crunched, and Noelle was pretty sure the perp’s nose broke. Judging by that spray of blood... Oh, yes, it was definitely a break.