CHAPTER 1
“He’ll burn in hell for this,” Rebecca Black said through gritted teeth.
Her body shifted incessantly in her seat at the back of the courtroom. She anxiously awaited the judge’s return while simultaneously staring daggers into the back of the man sitting behind the defense table. His head of perfect black waves and his flashy smile did nothing to distract her from the monster she knew him to be.
Beads of anxiety-driven sweat ran down the back of her neck. The room felt like a furnace, but she knew it was all in her head. She gathered the long blonde tresses that hung down her back and twisted them up into a loose bun. A rush of cool air crossed her exposed neck. Unfortunately, it did nothing for the rage that boiled inside of her.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but I just don’t think he’s the one,” Lexy said calmly, trying to diffuse her friend’s rising anger.
“Are you kidding me?” Rebecca whipped her head around. “Are we talking about the same man? You’ve been right here with me the whole time. How can you not see him for the psychopath he is?”
“The evidence doesn’t—”
“He butchered them! Case closed!” Rebecca glared furiously around the hushed courtroom, daring anyone to try to silence her.
“If it was that simple, we wouldn’t still be here,” Lexy said, clearly annoyed at the interruption.
Rebecca closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. Lexy had a point. The evidence was all highly circumstantial and didn’t really prove a thing. It all pointed to him, but nothing was concrete, and his dream-team of lawyers made sure every person in that courtroom was aware of that fact. However, successfully hiding guilt didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
He was so sure of himself it was difficult not to believe everything he said on the stand. But it wasn’t what he was saying that infuriated Rebecca. Instead, it was his mannerisms. His bold cockiness. His totally relaxed posture, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. And, worst of all, the smile on his face and the twinkle in his eyes when the prosecution presented the crime scene photos. The rest of the courtroom flinched and turned away from the gruesome sight of the sliced bodies projected onto the screen. But that monster actually leaned in closer, as if to get a better look. These were not the actions of an innocent man. Rebecca wished Lexy could see him the way she did.
Lexy gave it one more shot. “Look, I know this is deeply personal for you, but you need to try to see it objectively, at least.” She paused and chose her words carefully. “I’m telling you this as your friend. You need to put your biases aside, just for now, and look at this with a clear head. Because if you don’t, this whole mess is going to tear you apart. Not everyone is as ‘sure’ as you are…especially not everyone on that jury. They love him. They’re hanging on his every word. It’s written all over their faces.”
Rebecca knew Lexy was right. Not about the man’s innocence, but about her feelings being completely obscured by rage. But how could they not be? Four innocent women, murdered and dumped like garbage. And her sister, Sara, had been one of them.
As set as she was in her own judgement, Lexy had been her best friend for almost two decades, and Rebecca owed it to her to at least attempt her suggestion of objectivity. She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. No feelings. Only the facts.
The first body had been found just over a year earlier, wrapped in plastic alongside a popular running trail within Rock Creek Park in Washington D.C. Exactly a month later, another body was found. The pattern continued every thirty days, like clockwork, until the body count reached four. Whoever had dumped the bodies had intended them to be found quickly. Such time and care had been taken to prepare them. He wouldn’t have wanted them to be destroyed by animals, insects, or the elements.
The most horrifying sight came when the bodies were unwrapped. The victims were naked and covered with diamond-shaped lacerations. The edges were glued, either to keep the pieces from shifting or to stop the bleeding—maybe both.
The autopsies revealed the skinning was not the cause of death, and the victims had still been alive during that process. The cause of death came from a single stab wound to the abdomen, the one area where the flesh had not been removed. That kind of wound would have produced a lot of blood, but barely any was found. He had stabbed them, let them die slowly over several hours, and then cleaned them up before gift-wrapping and dumping them.
There was no doubt they were all victims of the same killer. If the surface mutilations and murder weapon weren’t enough, his choice of victims was. His taste was specific. Tall slender brunettes with mid-neck wavy bobs, emerald-green eyes, and, of course, they were all stunningly beautiful.
Andrew Donovan had been questioned following the discovery of the first victim, as well as the second, third, and fourth. They had all been romantically involved with him at one time or another. He was the glaring connection between them all. The motive was not clear, but he was definitely linked somehow. His alibis placed him out of town at the estimated time of death of each woman. Suspicions had been high, but no hard evidence could put the knife in his hand…until the autopsy of the fourth victim.
The characteristics of the knife were inconclusive in the first three killings. Organs and tissue stretch and retract when impaled, which did not leave an exact impression of the blade. However, the body of the fourth victim told a clearer story. With his most recent kill, the blade buried itself deep within the liver. And, being a solid organ, an almost perfect impression of the weapon had been retained—a three-edged triangular blade, similar to a tent stake.
Bruising caused by the impact of the knife’s handle on the uncut flesh revealed the blade was nearly six inches long. Several days after the initial autopsy, more discolorations became visible. Intricate designs where the handle met the blade left patterned bruising and pointed investigators toward a very unique knife. One they had seen before…at Andrew Donovan’s house during his previous questionings. The Phurba Dagger was one of a collection of ancient weapons he had acquired over the years and proudly displayed in his home office.
But why would he suddenly start killing off all of his exes? And why cut them up the way he did? As hard as she tried, Rebecca couldn’t fathom a logical reason for it.
Once again, she closed her eyes and exhaled. And once again the horrifying images flooded her mind. She couldn’t shut them out. Every day she tried, but they always returned.
The plastic cocoons lying at the side of the trail. The mutilated bodies that were revealed once the plastic was cut away. Their dead stares that seemed to look right through her. And the eerie similarities between the victims, as though Sara was being murdered over and over again. Rebecca shuddered as her memory randomly sifted through the crime scene photos. Diamonds, diamonds, and more diamonds.
A tear escaped down her cheek. The endless suffering Sara endured. The suffering all those women endured. Lexy passed a tissue into her lap, and Rebecca swiped it to the floor without a second thought. A superficial peace offering like that didn’t erase the betrayal she felt. She didn’t understand Lexy’s thinking and why she defended him so strongly.
Again, her eyes bored into the man across the room. Mr. Perfect. Money, power, great looks, and charm. A very dangerous combination. She had never met him before, not even when he was dating Sara. But Sara had told Rebecca all about him. How amazing he was. How thoughtful and romantic and caring. Rebecca didn’t buy it, though. Sara was under his spell, and there was no reasoning with her. A man didn’t get to the top of the corporate ladder without being a master manipulator. The man was a flat-out wizard, with the way he could work people. And he had a pile of dead bodies behind him to prove it. All those women. They were all his, at some point. And none of them saw it coming. Yes, he was a very dangerous man. But why was she the only one to see it?
She gave a subtle glance to her right and immediately regretted it. The longing gaze in Lexy’s eyes proved that she, too, was spellbound. Her long strawberry locks were likely the only thing saving her from joining the pile.
Rebecca’s train of thought was broken as the crowd jumped to their feet. A hush fell over the courtroom as the judge took his seat behind the bench. Moments later, the jury marched in through the back courtroom door like a line of ants and shuffled into their box.
She glanced once more at the defense table. He looked confident with a subtle smile spread across his lips. He seemed to already know what the jury was about to say. And he did. He had known all along.
“We, the jury, find the defendant, Andrew Donovan...not guilty.”
