“He must have opened it,” Tatum said again, staring at the screen.
“He didn’t open it,” Barb answered, exasperated. “We would have seen an indication.”
“Maybe you messed up the Trojan horse?”
“I didn’t mess it up,” Barb said between clenched teeth. “Tell him to open it.”
“I can’t tell him to open it, because Peter wouldn’t have told him to open it. Peter wouldn’t have known he didn’t open it.” He wanted to smash the laptop to pieces. “Damn it! We must have spooked him somehow.”
“How?” Barb asked incredulously. “We hardly said anything.”
“I told you, he’s extremely paranoid right now—anything could set him off.”
“But he’s still online.” Barb pointed at the screen. “Wouldn’t he have logged off?”
Tatum had no idea. As far as he knew, the unsub could have curled into a fetal position, crying, in the corner of the room. Or fled out to the street. Or maybe the concept of opening a PDF file freaked him out so much that he decided to kill Rhea and himself. There was no way to tell.
“I’ll prompt him. Maybe he’s just confused,” Tatum finally said.
It took him a while to formulate the sentence, avoiding anything that would make it sound like Abchanchu really cared one way or the other.
The chart is really simple. Do you see the column on the left, where it says “weight”?
That could make the unsub decide to open the damn file. Tatum had quit smoking a few years before, but he suddenly craved a cigarette. He watched the screen, hardly daring to blink, praying for the indication that the file had been opened.
CHAPTER 53
He rushed to the bathroom, turned the doorknob, the woman’s screams dying away. The door didn’t budge. He blinked, confused, for a second thinking the woman had somehow managed to free herself and lock herself inside.
But then, as her muffled voice completely stopped, he realized what was going on. Daniel had locked the door and was now taking care of the woman.
“Daniel!” he screamed. “Open the door.”
Nothing. He shook the doorknob. “Daniel! Don’t do it!”
One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three. No, not when he finally had a woman with truly pure blood. He’d never find someone like her again. He screamed and slammed into the door. Something cracked, and it flew open.
Daniel knelt by the woman, a noose tight around her throat. The woman’s face was purple, eyes bulging as she struggled frantically against the zip ties that held her to the sink’s pipe.
He pulled Daniel away, slammed him against the wall, screaming obscenities at him. Then he crouched by the woman, his fingers trembling as he tried to loosen the noose. It was too tight; he couldn’t get a grip. The woman’s eyes rolled back in their sockets. He let out a frustrated shout, dashed to his room, got one of his scalpels, ran back, and cut, slicing deeply through her skin. Blood ran freely down her neck to her shirt, soaking it. Her eyelashes fluttered as he tore the gag from her mouth, clearing the way for air.
She coughed and spat, her gaze focusing on the bloody scalpel.
“Don’t scream,” he said, waving the scalpel threateningly.
She let out a hoarse, fearful sob. Then she inhaled, wheezing, shutting her eyes.
He got up, whirled to face Daniel, who’d gone to the kitchen and was soaking a towel in the sink.
“You asshole!” he screamed at Daniel.
“Lower your voice,” Daniel said in a measured tone. He applied the wet towel to the back of his head. “You nearly broke my skull.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t.” His eyes were tearing up. Betrayal. He’d felt it before, but he never thought Daniel would do that to him. “After everything I did for you? This is how you—”
“What you did for me?” Daniel snarled. “What about what I did for you? Who set you free? Who helped you to drink real, fresh blood for the first time? And now you place me in danger? I can’t leave this place. My face is plastered on every TV screen and newspaper in this city. I’m stuck here, with you and that damn bitch, waiting for the moment she’d manage to scream for help or free herself.”
“She won’t. She can’t!” He shook his head. “Why would you even want to leave?”
“We had a deal, remember?” Daniel asked. “I help you heal, and you do the same for me. I’m sick! I’m dying. You know what I need to get better.”
“But you don’t have to do it like that. Try her blood. It’s so pure—it’ll