Desperate Girls (Wolfe Security #1)(70)

“Okay, hypothetically, say she met up with someone or had someone over, and he drugged her drink. The amount of Rohypnol in her system was pretty low. So imagine she comes to during the rape and begins to struggle and make noise. Then her attacker grabs a pillow and puts it over her face, ends up smothering her. When he realizes she’s dead, he panics.”

“And then what?” Brynn asked. “Poses her like the other victims, with the knife wounds and everything?”

“The term we use is ‘staged,’ ” he said. “ ‘Posed’ is when the killer arranges the victim’s body in a certain way to send a particular message. ‘Staged’ is when he tries to manipulate the scene to mislead police. That could be what happened here. He could have been staging the crime to look like the recent murders that had been in the news.”

“But what about the necklace? You’re saying the killer took her necklace and somehow got it into Corby’s house?”

“Or someone else did.”

His words hung in the air. Someone, meaning someone on the investigation. As a defense attorney, Brynn had plenty of reasons to be cynical about law enforcement, but what Mark was suggesting stretched the limits, even for her.

“It was a high-profile case,” Mark said. “I’ve seen it happen. The public is scared. The police are under intense pressure. Maybe someone pockets some evidence as backup to make sure that when they finally find the guy, he gets put away. And if it did happen—or something close to it did—that feeds into James Corby’s story that he was set up by police.”

“You’re defending him?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You think he’s justified in his revenge quest?”

Mark shook his head. “I’m not saying that. The prosecution put up convincing evidence that he killed three women. But as for the fourth, he might indeed be falsely accused. And the ‘trophy’ he supposedly took from her—the gold necklace—that was the key piece of evidence that sent him away for life, and there’s a possibility it could have been planted. I’m telling you, that’s the source of his rage now.”

“You know, you’re not the first person to come up with this,” Brynn said. “Have you talked to Detective Leary?”

Mark’s brow furrowed. “No. Why?”

“She came to me yesterday morning with suspicions that the necklace might have been planted.”

Mark looked surprised. “Then you’re right, I should talk to her.”

“You should share this information with the FBI, too. Aren’t they spearheading the investigation while the marshals are leading the manhunt?”

He nodded. “I spoke to agents on the task force this morning.”

“Great. But I have to ask why we’re so focused on this now. Even if you’re right with this theory, James Corby still raped and murdered three women, then killed a prison guard, a cop, and a judge. Our first priority should be to find him, not retry his case.”

“This is important now because it goes to motive,” Mark said. “What is his endgame here? The man escaped from prison, so logically, we might expect him to try to get away, maybe slip into Mexico. But we have to look at who we’re dealing with. I told you yesterday, Corby perceives himself to be smarter than everyone else. His conviction and incarceration—they’re a source of humiliation to him. The investigators and the prosecutors outsmarted him. They beat him, but maybe it was a rigged game. And they can’t be allowed to get away with that.”

“This is still only a theory,” Brynn pointed out. “You need more evidence before you can prove it.”

“You’re right,” Liam said. “But we need to consider it, because it could be dictating his actions.”

Mark opened another manila folder. “What’s in here on Corby’s childhood is pretty limited. But based on the psych eval, it’s clear he grew up without a father and had a domineering mother who abused him, both physically and emotionally. The system failed to intervene and stop the abuse. Corby feels he’s been wronged his whole life, and his incarceration is just one more unfair punishment. Now it’s his turn. Killing a cop with his own gun, cutting out the tongue of the lawyer he believes lied in court to put him away, stabbing a prosecutor in the back—it’s all symbolic. And it tells us something crucial.”

Brynn waited. She tried to keep her expression blank. But her chest felt tight, and her skin was breaking out in a cold sweat. She glanced at Erik, who was still watching her closely.

“In James Corby’s mind, he’s justified,” Mark said. “He believes the system is rigged against him, and he may be right. He wants revenge, and accomplishing that goal may be more important to him than whether he lives or dies.”

“That’s why we’re focused on this now,” Liam said. “A guy like that? He’s a formidable threat, because his mission is more important to him than his survival.”

“He wants payback,” Mark said. “And he wants it to hurt.”

As they left Liam’s compound, Brynn didn’t say a word.

Erik had volunteered to take her back in the Tahoe, and Jeremy would return later that afternoon in Trent’s truck.

“You okay?” Erik asked from behind the wheel.