"You stupid fucking idiots," Maxwell said, getting back to his feet. His shirt was drenched in red and clinging to his chest, two large holes where his heart used to be. "You can't even kill my puppet. What chance do you have of killing me?"
"The head," Sky said.
Olivia was still shocked, and more than a little scared, and didn't argue as I removed her Glock from its holster.
"Going to tear all of your flesh from your bones," Maxwell said. His voice was raspy and no longer resembled anything remotely human.
I walked over to him and raised the gun. "Go fuck yourself," I said, and pulled the trigger, destroying Maxwell's brain and a large portion of Maxwell's skull. The corpse fell to the ground, where I put another two in what remained of his head. Just in case.
"What the hell was that?" I asked, as Olivia slumped to the ground, her gaze never leaving Maxwell's body.
"A puppet," Sky said, not sounding all that together herself. "Some liches can take control of the bodies of those they've killed." She raised Maxwell's sleeve to show a marking painted on his forearm in blood.
"This is all new to me," I said, and noticed Agent Reid checking on Olivia.
"New to me, too, Nate. I've heard of it happening twice. Ever." Sky removed a phone from her pocket. "I need to make a call-this has just gotten a lot worse."
I left Sky to her conversation and walked over to Olivia, who appeared to be slightly more with it. "You want to talk about it?" I asked.
She shook her head.
"How does the lich know you?" Sky asked as she joined us.
"Peter Jarvis would dress as a cop, pull women over and pretend that they'd done something, or that there was a problem with their car. Once he got them into his own car, he took them to a secluded house he owned where he would rape and kill them. He took a week with each one. He murdered sixteen women in a twenty-four month period, until he got caught by Vicki."
I remembered reading the file in Vicki's basement.
"His own girlfriend caught him?" Sky asked.
"After she left him, Vicki had heard rumours that he was involved in some bad stuff. She thought it was drugs or something, so followed him to his little nest and caught him as he was about to murder a young woman."
"So, why does he hate you?"
"Because she called and asked if I'd go with her. She was terrified of him. He fought back when we found him and pretty much got his ass kicked by me while Vicki freed the latest girl he'd taken."
"He changed his M. O," I said. "These new girls aren't raped, aren't held for a week. What happened?"
"He did," Sky said as she rejoined us. "Liches can't get it up. So, if he can't have his fun, then why keep them alive?"
"So who raped Vicki's girlfriend, Amber?" I asked.
"Neil confessed on the way to the prison," Reid said.
I was suddenly no longer bothered that he'd died. Horribly. "So, do you have a plan?" I asked Olivia
"Peter's apartment isn't too far from Winchester city centre. We could go look around, see if anything jumps out at us.
"It's been a few years, what if someone else lives there now?" I asked.
"About six weeks ago, Vicki got me to check the place out," Olivia said. "She wanted to make sure no one lived there. I think the anniversary had her spooked."
With good reason, I thought. "Did you find anything?" I asked.
"No one had lived there since Peter was arrested, but it was still paid for on a regular basis."
"Who's paying for it?"
"No idea, someone opened a bank account and deposits a few grand on the first of January every year. It's used to automatically pay the bills and that's it. I tried tracing the account owner, but that was a dead end. It's under an assumed name with no apparent ties to anyone Peter might have known. Whoever arranged it covered their tracks well."
"Well, let's go find out what the apartment's been used for."
Chapter 31
Agent Reid and Sky went to watch over Tommy and Kasey, while I went with Olivia to investigate Peter Jarvis's old building.
As it turned out, the building was an unassuming four-story block of flats. One might have expected it to be dark and creepy, or at the very least have the aura of a place where a serial killer once lived. Instead, it looked the same as every other building on the road-red bricked with a small, tidy garden out the front, and steps leading up to the front door.
We walked up to the blue front door, which was unlocked. Olivia pulled it open and we stepped into the hallway.
"Not too concerned about security, are they?" I said.
"This is an affluent neighbourhood, with little crime. And five years is a long time. Most of the people here wouldn't have been around during the time of Peter and his crimes, and no one who lived in this building back then still does."
"You really did check up on this asshole, didn't you?"
Olivia and I started up the stairs.
"Apparently not enough."
"You couldn't possibly think he was going to turn himself into a lich."
Olivia stopped walking before we'd reached the landing above. "No. You're right, I couldn't have. But I could have looked into him more after Vicki disappeared. I should have taken the possibility of his return into account. And I didn't."
"And neither would anyone else in your shoes. A lich is such a rare event that it would be near the bottom of possibilities for the attacks on those women. I've fought a lich before, and even I didn't consider that one could be behind those murders."
"I know, I just… I feel like I've been five steps behind since Vicki's disappearance. And now she's dead. Turned into a monster by that… cunt. And after all that he threatens my family."
"Your family are safe. They have agents and Sky with them. And Tommy isn't exactly a slouch when it comes to taking care of himself. And we both know how safe Kasey is with that much security around her. They're safer than we are."
Olivia forced a smile. "You really are not what I'd expected."
"I'm an enigma wrapped inside a riddle, all bundled in something quite wonderful."
"It’s nice to see you have a healthy opinion of yourself."
"It's a burden I live with every day."
Olivia's smile was genuine. "You and Tommy are both idiots."
"Says the woman who had his child," I said as we stopped outside Peter Jarvis's door.
"Moment of weakness," she said, and stared at the plain brown door intently. "I hope there's something important in there. Or at least useful."
"Only one way to find out."
Olivia stepped back from the door and created a sledgehammer of water in her hands, freezing it solid and then smashing it into the door just above the lock. It took two swings to destroy the lock and knock the door open. The ice instantly evaporated and she walked through the ruined door.
I followed, closing the door as best as I could behind me. It shut out most of the natural light from the window on the landing, and encased Olivia and me in darkness. Not the ideal start to invading a serial killer's home.
Olivia soon found the light switch and dull fluorescent light showed us a normal hallway, albeit a dark one, with pictures on the wall and some bookshelves along with several doors.
"You know, this is the second home I've been in that was owned by a psychotic murderer," I said. "And both of them have appeared completely…"
Olivia opened the first door inside the apartment.
"Holy shit," I said as I stared at the madness beyond.
The room itself was fairly normal-a rather hideous green carpet with a small camp bed in the centre, one small bedside table and a lamp. It was what was on the walls that frightened and horrified. There were pictures of Olivia. Someone, probably Neil, had been stalking her, but there were hundreds of photos covering the walls. They were interspersed with photos taken of the bodies of the dead women; creating the most disturbing wallpaper of all time.