Caging a Copycat - Chapter 19

Dr. Lara Farell glared at her as Seattle PD uniforms secured the therapist in cuffs.

Stinging pain exploded through her. Olivia hissed as the EMT checking the stab wound in her side packed the site with gauze. The rain had lightened, leaving behind a clean, refreshed scent in the air.

Three murders. Two killers. And a bureau linguist who’d saved her life.

Uniforms escorted Dr. Farell into the nearest police cruiser. While Charles Daggett had manipulated and recruited her to kill for him back east, Lara Farell would serve her time here in Washington. The district attorney was already in the process of coordinating with the original prosecutor to add conspiracy charges to Daggett’s sentence. As for his psychologist, Dr. Farell would spend the rest of her life behind bars for a man who’d seen her as nothing more than a tool to get what he wanted.

Olivia knew the feeling, that sense of betrayal that had stayed with her these past few years. Dr. Farell had been right in a way. She’d held on to her anger as a defense mechanism, happy to detach from the truth. Only that wasn’t possible anymore. The moment the killer had centered that gun on him, all that blame Olivia held against him had dissipated. Without that barrier, she’d been left empty, exposed, defenseless. The fear he would hurt her again couldn’t control her anymore. What that meant for their future—if they had one—she didn’t know. But for the first time since leaving the Violent Crimes Unit, she was ready to find out.

The preliminary autopsy reports had matched the blade recovered in Marco Stein’s apartment to the twenty-two stab wounds inflicted on all three victims. While Stein hadn't killed Irene Pierce or Grant Harvey, he'd been the perfect lead to move their investigation in the wrong direction. Partial fingerprints pulled from the handle came back as a match in CODIS for Dr. Farell, but the DA would consider mitigating circumstances. Charles Daggett had manipulated, coerced and brainwashed a copycat to throw doubt on the investigation that ended in his arrest.

Which left only one loose end. The pen recovered at the fifth scene, the one that connected Daggett to the murders of all those bureau agents.

“So that’s what death warmed over looks like.” Special Agent Nicholas James penetrated her peripheral vision. With styled blond hair, a muscular frame and a killer attention to detail, Agent James knew serial killers up close and personal. Then again, he’d been practically raised by one before putting the cuffs on the X Marks the Spot Killer himself. “I hear you’ve had quite a night.” He motioned his chin toward her. “How bad?”

“I won’t be needing Dr. Flood’s services, if that’s what you’re getting at.” Olivia slid from the back of the ambulance and forced herself to stand on her own two feet. “What did you find?”

Nicholas slipped both hands into his suit slacks. “I went through all of the surveillance footage of Charles Daggett’s interrogations like you asked. You were right. The third time Agent Hart brought the guy in, there was a pen on the table he let Daggett use to write down his alibi for the fourth murder. Daggett had a bad habit of chewing on the pen cap. Explains how his DNA ended up on the thing.”

“And then?” Her heart shot into her throat.

“Agent Hart left Daggett in the room to get him a glass of water.” Nicholas locked bright blue eyes on her. “Then SAC Grant Harvey came in and collected the pen and Daggett’s statement.”