A Dark Place _ The Hunt For The Van Gogh Killer Begins m - Mary Alford Page 0,1

the decision had been simple. He wanted to live, and so he followed Buckley’s lead.

Climbing from the car, he breathed in the chilled air, and excitement flared again. Calming it was not easy. His instincts craved killing.

More pounding came from the trunk.

You’re a failure. Can’t you do anything right? Buckley’s nasty words came back to taunt. You will never amount to anything without me.

He reached into the backseat for another needle he’d prepared and stormed to the back of the vehicle.

The trunk popped open. Her frightened eyes latched onto his. She screamed at the top of her lungs and tried to kick him, her arms flailing all around.

Failure. . . his mentor’s voice taunted his mind. He hadn’t secured her hands and feet. His own incompetence angered him.

He grabbed her around the neck and drug her up to within a few inches of his face before he jabbed the needle in hard. The terror inscribed onto her face slowly faded into nothing. When she grew limp under his hold, he lifted her into his arms and carried her inside. The box created by his father waited in the decaying basement.

Power in the old house had been shut off for decades. The only known relative lived in another state. But he didn’t need electricity. He knew every inch of the place by heart.

Working on the instincts of the animal he’d been taught to be, he carried her limp body down the steps to the basement. A lantern was set up in preparation for this moment. He laid her on the cold floor and lit it.

With the pale light illuminating the space, he opened the special box his father had once used on him. Holes drilled in the top of the metal lid would allow her enough air to breathe. He didn’t want her to die before her time.

He turned to the woman who was unaware of the games they would play, her appearance nothing like the others. A smile spread across his face as he reveled in the intricate web of deception he’d created for those who would try to stop him.

With her hands and feet secured with zip ties, he placed her inside the box. Shutting the lid, he clamped the lock into place. The table was ready. He couldn’t wait to begin. But first, there was something he must do. Only fitting to meet the monster she’d helped unleash.

He pulled up the photo he’d taken of his latest victim and sent it to her.

This is all because of you. . . he typed and smiled at the message. Once it went through, he turned the phone off. A lesson he’d learned from his mentor. Edward Buckley had been a hard taskmaster, but he’d taught him everything he needed to succeed. And he would. Oh yes, he would. He would surpass his mentor and become the greatest serial killer of all time.

Chapter One

FBI Director Robert Holden stormed into the room where the team of agents working the Van Gogh case were combing over evidence obtained from past crime scenes.

Agent Asher Lackland glanced up from reading the first Van Gogh victim’s file and did a double take when the director stopped in front of him and his former partner, Declan Rutherford, with his eyes flashing.

“Where is Grayson and the rest of Strike Force?” The man who had recently been appointed to the director position of the FBI practically barked the question to Asher. Until a few days ago, no one at the agency had heard of Holden. He wasn’t an agent. Didn’t work his way up through the ranks like everyone else.

When the announcement came, Asher couldn’t wait to return to his desk to look this mystery man up. There was little information. Holden was friends with the up-and-coming international political star, Daniel Pamphili.

Asher shot his new partner, Olivia Hamilton, a surprised look. One of Holden’s first directives as head of the FBI was to shake things up. He’d severed Asher’s and Declan’s partnership and assigned them new partners. Holden had done the same to most of the agents under him.

“You mean Will Grayson?”

The anger in the director’s eyes lashed out at him long before his words. The man placed his hands on the table and leaned in close, forcing Asher to back away. “That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

He was about to correct the director when Olivia kicked him under the table.

Asher got the message. Don’t talk back to the man in charge. “We haven’t spoken to either Will or