Michael Bell

Michael Bell aka Mary Smith or The Storyteller is the main antagonist of the Alex Cross Novel Mary, Mary. With a disturbed obsession of grandeur, Bell planned a series of serial killings under the alias of "Mary Smith", partly to cover up his guilt in the murder of his wife.

Biography
Mary Wagner was Bell's patsy, having killed her children twenty years before and lived under the psychosis that they were still in their home. Bell killed multiple people in publicity, all the while describing the crimes in emails in detail under the alias. Bell first shot an actress and mutilated her face with a knife. LA Times entertainment reporter Arnold Grinner receives the email describing Bell's thoughts leading up to the murder. Cross is given the case because the actress was a friend of the president. A movie producer and a local anchorwoman are next to die, Cross working with local detective Jeanne Galetta as the investigation progresses and Cross struggles with love and family. Arnold Grinner is the final victim in the publicity spree.

Cross starting to date Galetta results in her lose of authorization on the case. However, she finds Wagner's suburban was found at all the scenes, and she's not far from the cafe where the emails were sent from. She's detained after being questioned, especially since circumstantial evidence piled on her, including stickers at the murder scenes with the first letters of each of her children's names, and being absent from work during each murder. But when Alex Cross gets into a taxi and sees another dead journalist, Truscott, he realizes he's in Bell's ride. After confronting Bell, the car crashes, and Cross kills Bell in a fight. Wagner ends up killing herself in custody.