“It all falls into place when you realize that Jenny Burke was his first victim.” Annie turned to Cass. “Earlier you said your father always left the house very early in the morning. That he took charters out on a regular basis.”

“That’s right. He fished just about every day, took charters out at least five times a week in the warm months.”

“What time did he usually arrive home?”

“It must have been around four-thirty, most days. I don’t know that I could tell time when I was six, but I do remember my mother saying, ‘It’s time to clean up for dinner, Daddy will be home before the clock strikes five.’ Knowing now what I know about charters, I’d guess that by the time he got back to the marina and tied up the boat, cleaned it up from the trip so it was ready to go again the next day, four-thirty might be closer. If they had a really good morning, though, if the fish were running really strong and everyone in the party caught what they wanted, he’d have brought the boat back in early. There would have been no reason to stay out.”

“Which apparently was the case on that day.”

“According to Henry Stone-he worked for Bob-they were back to the dock by twelve-thirty, and left for home shortly before one,” Denver told her. “Actually, when Bob was attacked, he was standing at the kitchen sink, cleaning that morning’s catch. Had his back to the door.”

“And what time did the attack occur?” Annie asked.

“We got to the house around two-thirty or so, I think. So it had to be before that.”

“Earlier I said I thought our man was young. Disorganized. That maybe this had been his first kill. Now I’m convinced that was the case.” Annie lowered herself into her seat. “I don’t think he went to the Burke house intending to kill anyone. I think he went there to see Jenny-he knew her from someplace. I think he was totally fixated on her. Maybe he fancied himself in love with her. Maybe he fancied that she was in love with him.”

“Obsessed,” Rick offered.

“Exactly.” Her gaze returned to the photos. “See how Jenny’s body is positioned? She’s fallen onto her side, her arms are over her head. And every one of his subsequent victims is in the same position, the more recent ones more carefully staged. I think he’s carried that picture-that memory of Jenny-in his head for all these years.”

“You’re saying you think he’s killing her over and over?” Cass asked.

“I think it’s more accurate to say that each time he’s hoping it ends differently,” Annie murmured. “I think he attacks these women because they remind him of Jenny, but each time he’s thinking, ‘This time I’ll get it right. She won’t fight me, I won’t have to hurt her.’”

“How could he possibly think a woman isn’t going to fight being raped and strangled?” Cass asked.

“He doesn’t think of it as rape. He thinks his victim wants to be intimate with him. He only strangles her when she doesn’t cooperate,” Annie explained.

“Then you think that he believed that my mother wanted to have sex with him?” Cass asked, indignation on the rise.

“I think he did believe that, yes. Which is no reflection on your mother. Please keep in mind, we’re talking about a delusional personality here.” Annie opened the Styrofoam container that held her ice cream, and almost unconsciously began to swipe off small bites with the plastic spoon. “Assuming that we’ve discovered the why, we still need to discover the who.”

She licked at the spoon, a faraway look on her face.

“Who would she have been in contact with… someone young, inexperienced…”

“The department secretary and I have been going through yearbooks, trying to compile a list of who would have been around back then, who’s back in town now. Within a certain age limit, of course.” Denver explained to Annie that a large multiclass reunion was occurring that week. “We’re trying to pin down some likely suspects, but our list is only partially complete.”

“What criteria are you using to cut the list?”

“Well, since we got word that there were other identical killings, in different states-even different countries-over the years, we figured someone whose job required them to move around a lot. Or someone in the military, perhaps,” Denver said.

“Peyton is going to put the names into the Bureau’s computer, see what spills out, once the list is complete,” Rick said.

Denver remained skeptical. “I’m still not sold one hundred percent on your theory that the Burkes were killed by the same man, Dr. McCall. How do you explain the fact that Jenny wasn’t raped and all the others were?”

“Jenny Burke’s clothes were ripped, according to the report you sent me, Chief. He didn’t rape her, because he was interrupted. Which probably infuriated him. Bad enough that he hadn’t expected her husband to be there, bad enough that he had to kill him. Which must have rattled him big-time. He would have panicked when he found that she wasn’t alone in the house.” Annie appeared to be speaking to herself. “That would have thrown him off completely.”

Rick nodded. “I’m following you. He comes into the house, expecting it to be empty, except for Jenny, who he might even think is expecting him, that she wants him to come to her. He sees Bob in the kitchen, and maybe acts impulsively, sees the knife and uses it. Then he goes upstairs, probably covered in Bob’s blood…”

Rick stole a glance at Cass. She was white, but holding her own. Trying to be professional, even while the details of her parents’ deaths are being discussed, he thought.

Denver told them, “Jenny’s clothes had blots of Bob’s blood. We thought she was surprised upstairs, and tried to fight him off…”

“Which would have confused and incensed him,” Cass added a comment for the first time.

“It’s likely that you and your sister arrived home at right about that time,” Annie said. “And then he really panicked. Your mother would have tried to warn you.”

“So he panicked again and strangled her. When Trish came up the steps, he was probably in a rage.” Cass squeezed her eyes closed. “And when I came in…”

“He would have been completely out of control by then. Totally out of his league. He panicked and ran out of the house…” Rick paused. “Why didn’t anyone see him?”

“What?” Cass opened her eyes.

“Why didn’t anyone see him leave the house? Your aunt was out front, right? She would have seen him if he’d gone out the front door.” Rick started piecing it together. “Your aunt said that when she came into the house, she went right into the kitchen. That someone was there in the kitchen, covered in blood.”

“Wayne Fulmer,” Denver supplied the name.

“Did he ever say that he saw someone else in the house?” Rick asked the chief. “Did he say that someone ran past him?”

“No. He never said anything about seeing anyone else. He testified that he came up the back steps and knocked, and when no one answered, he peeked through the screen door and saw Bob on the floor, so he came in, thinking that maybe Bob had fallen, but then he saw all the blood on the floor. He said he tried to pick him up, claims that’s when he got Bob’s blood on his clothes, then he heard commotion, and the next thing he knew, Cass’s aunt was standing there screaming her head off.”

“I read the reports. His story never seems to have changed,” Rick noted.

“No, it never did.” Denver seemed pensive.

“So we’re back to the question of how this guy got out of the house if no one saw him,” Annie said. “If someone other than Fulmer committed the murders, why didn’t anyone see this second guy?”

“He could have gone out through the basement door,” Cass told them.

“Where is that, in relation to the rest of the house?” Rick asked.

“The door to the basement is behind the main stairwell in the house,” she told him. “There’s a walk-out into the backyard from the basement.”

“Cass, you said you thought Lucy was in the backyard.”