He placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, and Zoe took a deep breath. They left the room, Terrence’s screams in their wake.
CHAPTER 72
“So Glover’s been gone since yesterday,” Tatum said darkly. “Probably halfway to Canada by now.”
They stood in the hospital’s hallway, a few steps away from the door to Finch’s room. The painkillers were wearing off, and his arms had begun to hurt like hell. He was half regretting not letting Finch burn.
“Maybe,” O’Donnell said doubtfully. “He left most of his things behind, including some cash. He didn’t use his credit card or go to the bank. According to Terrence, he can’t drive.”
O’Donnell looked at Zoe. “He was cagey about the photographs, so I’m guessing it was Glover’s idea.”
Zoe frowned. “I agree, but I can’t make any sense of it. Glover gets off on violating and strangling women, not posing them in strange satanic ritual settings.”
“Maybe the photos were just a weird excuse for killing women,” O’Donnell suggested. “Glover tells Terrence that to get better, he needs to photograph those dead women because he gets some sort of psychic energy from it. Then he needs to follow through with that idea. There’s no point in trying to understand the logic of a crazy person.”
“But there was a consistent logic to it,” Zoe said. “Terrence’s delusion was all about the blood, right? Or it was at first, before he went haywire. Remember, other than that he was completely functional. So he wouldn’t believe some sort of harebrained idea about photos drawing psychic energy. Whatever Glover said, it had to make sense to Finch.” Her voice rose in frustration.
Tatum eyed Zoe worriedly. He knew his partner well enough by now to spot the pattern. When it came to Glover, her analytical ability faltered. She tried to understand what made him tick, but of all the killers she profiled, this one constantly eluded her. He stood in her blind spot.
“O’Donnell has a point,” he said slowly. “The photos aren’t for sexual gratification. So they must serve a different purpose.”
“Maybe,” Zoe said impatiently. “But I just don’t think he could conceivably say that they would cure his cancer.”
“He didn’t tell Terrence that he needed a cure,” Tatum said.
“What do you mean?” O’Donnell asked.
“Terrence said that Glover told him he had no insurance. He didn’t say he was dying or that doctors couldn’t fix him. He said doctors wouldn’t fix him.”
“Well, we discussed this,” Zoe said. “Glover would make a way to paint himself as a victim.”
“But he made it sound as if the problem was money. Photos of dead women can’t be used to cure cancer.” Tatum shook his head. “But they can be sold. Remember what Swenson told us?”
“He said people paid a lot of money for that kind of stuff,” O’Donnell muttered after a moment. “And he mentioned fake snuff. But if they knew it was real . . .”
“We assumed that Glover only went on the dark web to buy illegal porn,” Zoe said, her eyes widening. “What if he sold it as well? How much would someone pay?”
“Maybe a lot,” Tatum said. “If they were authentic. If those crazies on the marketplace knew that these were the actual murder photos. If that’s what he did, it would explain why he called to tip off the cops about Henrietta Fishburne. He needed the press to report her murder before he could sell the pictures.”
“That was how he explained it to Finch,” Zoe said. “He needed money, maybe for a treatment or for private hospital care, and that’s why they had to kill those women and take those photos. I’m betting that the pentagram and the knife were actual client requests.”
Tatum shook his head in disbelief. “Do what you love, and the money will follow.”
“If that’s true,” O’Donnell said, “he might be receiving treatment here in Chicago.”
“We’ve already gone down that road,” Tatum said. “There are too many patients. And they wouldn’t let us look at patient records without a warrant, which is impossible to get.”
“But we can narrow it down now,” O’Donnell said. “If our theory is correct, we can find out how much he sold those pictures for and when he got the payments. We can look for a clinic that accepts cash as payment and minimizes the paper trail. If those transactions really exist, the more we know about them, the easier it’ll be to find the place and the patient name.”
Zoe shut her eyes, looking pale. “We need to find him fast. If dead women are