He gulped. “I thought she was the one. I started tracking her. Learned her every movement and routine just like Abigail and I thought a good predator should.” Satisfaction tilted his lips. “Sharon had no idea. Then I decided we should have our date, and she failed. She thought she was so smart, and she failed.”

Laurel angled her body to the side for a better line of sight to his brain. “What kind of rage do you have inside you?” she whispered. “To beat a woman’s face like that?”

“Her brain was so impressive, she didn’t deserve to have it,” he countered, sounding almost bored now. “If her body couldn’t do it for me, then her brain was useless, right?” He leaned down and kissed Haylee on the top of her head, smiling when she whimpered again. “Dumb girls have their places, but I deserve somebody as smart as I am, and I guess none of them came close. I was even smart enough to wear shoes two sizes too small in the snow.” He laughed. “The second I showed you my size thirteen shoes, you dismissed me as a suspect. My toes were sore for days from those damn boots, but it was worth it.”

Laurel should’ve looked harder at the man, but he just hadn’t stood out. “You’re going to prison, Jason.”

“No, I’m not. I’m better than everyone and smarter than you think. The right woman is just waiting for me,” he snarled. “You taught me that, Abigail. That I should never settle.”

Abigail snorted. “That’s not what I was teaching you.”

“Weren’t you?” Jason cocked his head. “I don’t know. I’ve always felt the rage, but I’ve never wanted to act on it until I started working with you. Until we fantasized about how we would’ve gotten away with the Snowblood Peak murders. On and on and on. God, I was aroused, and you knew it.” His gaze grew calculating. “You even offered to rent me this greenhouse when you learned I had a passion for flowers.”

“You’re psychotic,” Abigail muttered. “I thought you were learning to deal with trauma in a healthy way.”

“I don’t know. Tell me, Dr. Snow. Do you think it odd that, on the heels of the Snowblood murders, there’s another ritual serial killer working in your backyard?” Jason’s eyes gleamed.

Laurel still couldn’t make her shot without putting Haylee in danger. “I do find that odd, Jason.”

Jason stretched his neck, his pupils widening. “Your sister sure didn’t stop me. We spent so much time talking about perfection and how I could reach it. How I could free the rage inside me, and that it wasn’t my fault.” His eyes half lowered as if remembering with pleasure. “Now that I see you two together, it does make me wonder—why did you come looking for me, Abigail?”