Deadly Fate by Heather Graham

spiritual world than my dad’s family, and whatever works, that’s what I believe in.”
    â€œThat works for me. But let’s just lay it all out. Bring me up to speed,” Mike said. “Thor and I have been partners for a few years. I know his intuitions are damned good, and I don’t know if he’s listening to the spirit of an ancestor, a voice in the wind or his own gut. I just know that it’s worth paying attention to the voices—wherever the hell they come from.”
    Thor looked at Jackson. “You dreamed about Mandy Brandt,” he said.
    Jackson nodded.
    â€œSame dream,” Thor said.
    â€œI see you in front of me and I see him, Tate Morley, and the way he was standing over Mandy Brandt. I hear the sound...you shooting Tate Morley. And I can’t help but wonder if we wouldn’t be plagued by the dreams—if it wouldn’t have been better—if we hadn’t done the right thing and called for an ambulance.”
    â€œBad situation,” Thor said. “My aim wasn’t great—I couldn’t get a clear shot. We’re taught to shoot to kill in situations like that. I meant to kill him.” He paused; the moral quandary there was pretty brutal. He and Jackson could have finished the man off, or just let him die; even if they had just let him die, in reality, it would have been murder.
    But would it have been better to have committed that murder—and possibly saved lives in the future?
    â€œThe question is moot,” Jackson said, as if reading his mind. “Neither of us knew if the injury was or wasn’t mortal at the time.”
    That was true.
    Except he knew that both he and Jackson had been afraid since Tate Morley had been convicted and incarcerated. Prisons were expensive from the get-go; trials were staggering. Executions somehow cost the state far more than incarceration for life— except that incarceration for life sometimes didn’t mean life!
    â€œThis can’t be Tate Morley,” Thor said. “He escaped in Kansas—I’m sure the authorities are all over finding him there. Everything about this is different. Different method of killing. Totally different display. Except...”
    â€œExcept for the theatricality,” Jackson said.
    â€œExactly,” Thor agreed.
    â€œYou mean—staging the bodies? The way they were left to horrify whoever came upon them?” Mike asked. “If I remember the newspaper reports right, the Fairy Tale Killer left his victims looking...as if they were sleeping.”
    Thor nodded. “Yeah, but I can’t help thinking about the way we saw Amelia Carson in the snow—she reminded me of the Black Dahlia.”
    â€œWhose killer was never caught,” Jackson said quietly.
    â€œAnd finding Miss Fontaine this morning?” Mike asked.
    â€œOther killers in history have left their victims in such a state—historically, when traitors were decapitated, their heads were left on poles for all to see—like Natalie Fontaine’s was in her room today. Dozens of movies have been made about such murders as that of the Black Dahlia—and those who have been decapitated. There was a Florida killer who left the head of one of his victims on a shelf to greet the police when they came. It’s shock value—it’s theater.”
    â€œIn other words, you think that Tate Morley might still actually be the killer, just taking a new direction on his theme?” Mike asked.
    â€œIt’s a wild shot,” Jackson said.
    â€œWhether it is or isn’t, we have a monster on our hands. I do believe that the remaining members of the Gotcha film crew are in danger,” Thor said. “I don’t know about the cruise ship cast—but they were here. Who knows?”
    â€œWho knows what might have happened if you hadn’t gotten here?” Jackson asked.
    â€œI think we were supposed to get here,” Thor