The Sketcher's Mark (Lara McBride Thrillers Book 1) by Chris O'Neill

brutal in dispatching their male companions. 
     
    Lara thought about the profile, the man’s motivation to kill.  It wasn’t jealousy or rage, if he had killed the young men in question, it was simply to get to the girls and take his ‘Angels’.  He was a true psychopath, disconnected from right and wrong, the lives of others meaning nothing to him.  She felt the ribbon flutter around her a little tighter and pull her closer to him.  She took copies of the articles that interested her, thanked the young man and, after politely turning him down for lunch, went back to the hotel, stopping en route to buy a large tourist map of Paris.
     
    In the little hotel room, Lara tacked the map to the wall and Paris was hers.  She was delicate in pinning the pictures she had printed of the girls’ faces and the related articles to the map, placing them where the girls had last been seen.  She finished by attaching the missing poster of Janelle to the area around the Pompidou. When she was done, she took a few steps back and looked at the city stained by the wreckage this man had left in his wake. Now she could clearly see the girls’ pictures placed directly over specific areas.   The Pompidou.  The Louvre.  Montmartre.  Notre Dame Cathedral. 
     
    “He’s stalking the tourist spots...” 
     
    That meant a huge amount of foot traffic, so many people and faces that it would be almost impossible, if not miraculous, for her to find him there.  Somehow, he was hiding in plain sight, watching, searching, and hunting for his prey. 
     
    She packed up her bag with the flyers Brouchard had printed for her and hurried back out to canvass the area right across the street, the last place where Janelle had been seen. Her phone buzzed in her pocket as she walked to the square outside the Pompidou.  It was a foreign number, perhaps somebody responding to the flyers.  She set her bag down and answered, her heart beating faster in anticipation this could be the call she had hope for- and dreaded.
    “You’re looking for me.”  It was the same voice she had heard over the phone on the plane.  She recognized it instantly and chills raced down her spine. Her heart blasted past its normal speed.  She tried to remain calm, keep her focus and keep him talking.  The more he talked, the more information he would give away and the closer she could get to Janelle.
    “Who are you?”
    “You know the answer to that.  I’m the man who has your sister.”
    “Prove it.”
    “We spoke before when you called her phone.”
    “Where is she?”
    “She’s with me. “
    “Alive?”
    “For now.”
    “Her name is Janelle.  She’s a very sweet girl. She’s graduating college soon and she’s gonna go out there in the world and try to make something of herself.”
    “You’re trying to make it harder for me to hurt her by eliciting sympathy.  Making a connection.  Good try, Lara, but it’s wasted on me. I have no plans to hurt her. She’s my Angel.”
    The personal appeal had failed.  She had to try a different angle.
    “I can get you money.”
    “I’m not interested in money.  I’m almost insulted you even brought it up.”
    He had confirmed this wasn’t a kidnap for ransom angle.  Lara felt worse because at least in those cases the kidnapper was easier to deal with, his goal was simple- money.  With people like this, it was always harder because when the grand plan they had was personal and ultimately much harder to get them to part with their abductees. That meant his ego was obsessed with control and power.  She had to play on his sadism.  Getting her to deliver a ransom to him could be seen as a power play, getting to pull Lara’s strings like a puppet. That might appeal to him.
    “I can go to the bank right now and get you everything I have.  Cash exchange, the money for Janelle and you just walk away and it’s over.”
    “That’s not up to you.”
    “You’re right.  It’s up to you.  You have the