Page 96 of Choosing Us

There’s something else missing here, and mentally, I can play with the puzzle pieces, but there’s this gap of something that I know should be there.

My subconscious has put together a pattern, but I can’t see it yet.

What can’t I see?

“Mason, can you pull up our previous DNA profile on the unsub and do a side by side with the most recent incident?” I point to the large screen on the wall as I stand and start to pace while I read through the reports.

Did she know her killer?

Was it a neighbor or someone from work?

“Can you zoom in on the ethnicity part? I can’t see it clearly enough.”

He pulls it up and the whooshing in my ears only intensifies.

The unsub is a male, Caucasian, in his late thirties to early forties, and is of European descent. There is a very strong French lineage, and there’s a note about markers being consistent with someone who comes from the French-Canadian population.

French Canadian.

Above average height.

“Harlow? Is there something here?” Walker asks quietly as I continue to pace and churn over the details.

“Yeah, but I just, I can’t place my finger on what it is. It’s like a … what are those things called when a song is stuck in your head, but you don’t know it?”

“An ear worm?” Mason supplies.

I nod as I continue to pace. “Yes, exactly.”

“You have a worm in your ear?” Kelly grimaces.

“No, an ear worm is like a catchy song stuck in your head, but you can’t name what song it is,” Tara replies.

“Which means something is familiar here to Harlow, but she can’t place what it is,” Walker adds. “Mason, when you run this new case through the CPM, considering the other cases, what does it give for a score?”

“It is a seventy-four, so it’s comparable to the previous score of seventy-two with the murder of the still unnamed victim in California last summer,” Mason replies.

“Can you walk me through the timeline of what we know of Miss Johnson’s murder, please?” I ask as I continue pacing alongside the table.

Was she being watched?

Was she being followed?

Was she a crime of convenience?

And my biggest question—what triggered him to break his ritual and routine? The words about something feeling better than before are trying to land in my subconscious, but on what? And why?

“Miss Johnson was last seen at a corner store, which was routine for her. She was supposed to start her shift at the retirement home at seven a.m., and when she didn’t show or call, her supervisor sent one of her coworkers over to check on her. Miss Johnson did not answer the door; she lives on the second floor of a home converted into a four-plex apartment. Police were called for a wellness check, and Miss Johnson was discovered in her kitchen.”

Walker stands and steps closer to the screen, reading off the reports Mason has pulled up. “It looks like over the course of the next two weeks, they did the autopsy, including tox reports. There was no sign of sexual assault, nor any intentional DNA deposits left on the victim’s body.”

“So, if this crime is a sexual motivation or driver, then he is still unable or unwilling to participate in a sexual act with the victim or near them. This amount of rage makes me wonder if there isn’t some sort of sexual component, though, and if anything, the absence of semen or signs of assault don’t disqualify the possibility.” I verbally process my thoughts to my team but the missing piece I can’t place feels just out of reach.

“What was the unsub doing before he saw the victim? Was he working? Was he following her? Was he waiting for her? If he was working, I’m assuming they checked the employees of the corner store?” I stop to look at Mason, who nods. “Right, so maybe he was working somewhere else and then either drove to her apartment … or was driving or walking around and saw her making her way to the apartment.”

“So, not something where he was lying in wait?” Tara asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t think so. I think the amount of rage that he is showing from not only the method of killing, but the severity of the degree of escalation and deviation from his ritual suggest he was not only angry, but he was absolutely furious.”