Flash Point by Colby Marshall

it up,’ Teva said and Saleda obliged.
    â€˜See? The Machete UNSUB says something to Skewer UNSUB. If someone told Scout to keep it together right after Alice Coltraine was killed, wouldn’t Ashlee have heard whatever Machete UNSUB said before that? If it’s a coincidence and Ashlee was on the way to the vault before the moment in the tape that shows the UNSUB dry-heaving, guessing this is Scout might make us get everything else wrong, too.’
    Jenna nodded. ‘Ashlee Haynie is under duress right now anyway, so we’re lucky she remembered what she did. She might remember more later, or it’s possible she didn’t hear the comment the Machete UNSUB made to Skewer UNSUB at all. It might’ve been a whisper, or at least more quiet. Looked like a reproach.’
    â€˜I’d say the leader’s scolding Tall-n-Skinny Skewer Man for having playtime when he should’ve been taking care of business. Bet Creepy Skewer guy was glad the leader used his machete on the girl as his punishment and not on him,’ Dodd agreed. ‘That said, doesn’t look like the alleged leader turned toward the alleged Scout to tell her not to pitch her guts on the floor, so he either hadn’t noticed or was unconcerned.’
    â€˜Let’s leave that for the moment, though. What else can we tell about Scout?’ Saleda said.
    Jenna played back the tape in her mind, trying to focus her brain on that figure. It was useless without playing it again though. Too easy to keep eyes only on the big action. Stuff like Alice Coltraine’s decapitation, sadly.
    â€˜Play it again,’ she asked.
    Saleda rewound the gruesome gray scale film, hit play.
    â€˜I keep losing who I think is Scout,’ Porter said a few seconds in.
    â€˜Me, too. So much chaos,’ Teva agreed.
    Dodd reached for the remote from where Saleda had lay it on the table. ‘Let’s play it backwards, then.’
    Jenna watched as Dodd fast-forwarded to the familiar spot where the UNSUB believed to be Scout stood, hands to knees, dry-heaving off to the side of the main action. Then, he hit the rewind button, but only after pressing pause first.
    The film frames backed up much more slowly, the killings even more eerie in reverse. Body parts returned to people, blood sucked back toward wounds.
    The video backtracked to show Scout killing the dark-haired teenage boy who lay spread-eagle near the mortgage loan signs. The interesting part wasn’t only that she’d traced deep cuts up the fleshy undersides of his forearms with her switchblade. It was that she didn’t pull her knife until he was already incapacitated.
    â€˜She runs directly at the teen as she enters, but she wrestles him into the sleeper hold, takes him down gently,’ Dodd said.
    Blue flashed in. First a rich, sea blue – not unlike the color of the water near her hotel the time she’d vacationed at Santa Catalina Island. Then, the shade faded to a softer, more pastel hue. The color of blue bells.
    Compassion. Mercy.
They were both here.
    â€˜Then, she went and dry-heaved after she killed him,’ Jenna muttered under her breath.
    â€˜She felt for him. She went straight for the smallest, least imposing person. Could be for lots of reasons, but based on how she handles him, I think she didn’t want someone his age to die such a gruesome death,’ Saleda said.
    â€˜That’s what I’m thinking,’ Jenna said. ‘Which suggests something else about her age.’
    Porter shrugged. ‘She’s a mother? A kid dying in that way is hard for her to imagine?’
    Jenna shook her head, but Dodd was the one who spoke up.
    â€˜Maybe, but probably not. She slit his arms, used a wrist-slitting method actually effective in suicide attempts,’ Dodd said.
    â€˜So maybe she’s been suicidal before,’ Porter said.
    â€˜Likely,’ Jenna replied, taking the remote from Dodd. ‘Or something like it,