She shrugged. “I can be whomever I want. Since I started at the university as a blonde, I figured I’d stay that way all year.” Or perhaps she was angry with Laurel for ignoring her so she fell back on old comforts. While she now enjoyed her natural coloring when not at work, she hadn’t decided to be herself at school. Surely it wasn’t cowardice. She was just choosing her own time.

“Your very appearance was a lie.” His smile lacked true emotion. “This is when the others started to beg and cry.”

Her chuckle moved her shoulders. “I’m not one of them, and deep down, you’re smart enough to know that.” She leaned toward him, keeping the parts of her body that now worked completely relaxed. “If I remember correctly, we established you have just as high an IQ as any doctor. As your mother.”

He lost the smile. “Don’t talk about my mother.”

Abigail let her smile widen. “We talked about your mother all the time while you volunteered for my study. How you would like to go back and hit her the way she hit you. How you’d like to smash her face in so that brain she was so proud of would be crushed. Didn’t she call you stupid?”

He backhanded her. “You’re terrified and hiding it.”

Pain crashed through her skull. She welcomed it, letting the hurt sharpen her focus. “I don’t feel fear, moron. Not like you want. I’m not afraid of you. You need the fear to fulfill your pathetic fantasy. I’m not scared.”

“You will be,” he promised. “Or maybe you’ll be the one, and you’ll live.” Hope glimmered in his psychotic eyes.

She unobtrusively took a deep breath, centering herself. Her legs had almost returned to full strength. “You know, it’s surprising those flowers don’t smell like anything.” There were so many. Shouldn’t they have even a light scent? “It’s like you. You were without light, color, or smell. Until you met me and I helped you tap into your inner strength. What is up with these weird flowers?”

“They’re black dahlias. They symbolize betrayal, the specialty of every woman. You’re all filthy liars.”

She sighed. “That’s pedantic. So beneath a true predator. I’m very disappointed in you, Jason.”

He reared up.

She tightened her legs, ready to kick when he lunged.

The door opened. A young blonde with unremarkable features walked inside, anger twisting her lips. “I knew it. I knew you were seeing somebody, Jason.”

Jason jerked.

Abigail paused. “Well. This is interesting.”

Jason started to stand, giving her an opening.

Abigail struck.

* * *

Laurel dodged back into the interrogation room, her phone in her good hand. “Tommy? When you went to the city but didn’t drive, who drove the truck on those occasions?” She held her breath.