“Her head snaps up and her bulging eyes regard the ceiling for a second or two before her head snaps forward again. Her back doesn’t move at all; it’s as if her head is mounted on bearings,” King writes. 

What’s happening here you may ask? This is what happened after Brady’s mom, Deborah Ann, ate a poisoned hamburger Brady made. 

After Brady received the frustrating message from Hodges, he came up with a revenge plan.

He wanted to poison Hodge’s neighbor’s dog. 

Hodge and his neighbor, Jerome, are friends. Jerome is still in high school and helps Hodges with cleaning his yard and computer problems Hodges can’t fix.

Brady thought by killing the dog, Hodges would realize it was Brady and feel so guilty that he would commit suicide.

But the poisoned hamburger never made it to the dog. Instead Deborah saw the meat in the fridge, cooked it and ate about half of it before Brady came home to see his mother convulsing on the couch. 

He of course blames this on Hodges once again for “getting in his head.” 

Hodges is still working for Janelle and they have actually started dating. I didn’t see that coming, but they make a great team. 

Unfortunately Janelle’s mother, Elizabeth Wharton, passed away from a stroke. Elizabeth was also Olivia’s mom, who owned the Mercedes used at the job fair mass murder. 

Brady saw this in the paper and thought Hodges would go to the memorial service, to look for him – the Mercedes Killer. 

So Brady went to catch Hodges off guard and kill him. 

Brady was right, Hodges was there but in support of Janelle, not to catch Brady.

Here Brady learned Hodges and Janelle are dating. He was both surprised and confused.

So far Hodges is still working solo, with the exception of some help from Janelle and Jerome. 

Hodges still wants to make Brady angry enough to get him to reveal himself as the Mercedes Killer. 

I think this plan could work well, but it hasn’t made too much progress yet. Brady definitely has been getting angry and wants to take the credit, but he wants to get revenge on Hodges even more. 

I know they don’t have much information on who the Mercedes Killer is, other than from past investigations and the messages they have. I think they need to do something more extreme to get Brady out of hiding.  

With Brady’s mother now dead, the police are going to get involved somehow. Brady didn’t call 911 — instead he just let her die on the couch and then carried her to her bed. 

She was an alcoholic and didn’t go out much, but there has to be someone who knew her and will realize she’s gone. 

I think the police will come to Brady’s house, see his dead mother and his basement of inventions and team up with Hodges to catch him. 

Or maybe, Hodges will say something so extreme to Brady, he’ll have no choice to reveal himself as the Mercedes Killer.  

I’m excited to continue to read and see if my predictions are right. Come back next Tuesday to learn with me. 

Olson can be reached at [email protected].