“Where did you get this?” “Just for grins, I sent the information about our victim to a buddy of mine in the regional FBI office. He entered the data into their Violent Criminal Apprehension Program database and came up with these cases.” A cold chill slithered down Gabe’s spine. Three young women, along the West Coast as far north as Bellingham, Washington, and south to Portland, Oregon, had been murdered. Each woman bore similar features: red hair, green eyes and petite frames. All the women had been strangled within the past six months. “I called the detective handling the case in Bellingham. He said the killer taunted his victim, building the tension like a cat playing with a mouse.” “Taunted?” Gabe’s chest tightened, his heart racing. “How?” His breath caught and held. “He’d call from blocked numbers and threaten them. Sometimes he left presents for his victims to find. One time, he left a favorite photograph in a victim’s car that had been on her desk at her workplace.
