“It’s a black Mercedes.”

“Really? Hell, I thought it was white,” he said a little heatedly. “Get to the point.”

“Hey, keep your pissy attitude under control.” She nicked the screen with her fingernail. “The car is black, but that spot is blue. And gold.” She pointed to another smudge of color. “And red.”

“I noticed that before. We all did. It’s a sticker on the bumper. But that’s all you can see. No writing. It could be anything. The techs already enlarged it and came up empty.”

“I know that. But wait a minute.” Katie was hitting keys, enlarging the section even more. Now was revealed a red top bar, a short line of gold, and a background of deep blue. Katie hit another key, zooming in on the gold and red parts.

“We’ve seen that, Katie,” Shaw said, studying her intense expression. “What’s the big deal?”

“When I saw it the first time, I thought I knew that pattern, but nothing came to me so I just thought I was mistaken. But now that I’m looking at it again I know I’ve seen it before. Somewhere. It’s bugging the crap out of me.” She looked at Shaw’s jacket hanging on the chair. She touched the breast pocket. “Damn, that’s it. That’s it!”

Her hands flew over the keyboard. She got back online and did a Google search.

When the screen revealed the answer to her query Shaw gaped as he stared at the top of the page.

It was a crest with a red top bar, a blue shield, and a gold X with a red crown in the center. It seemed a fleshed-out match for the bit of sticker visible on the bumper.

Shaw read the name at the top of the screen. “St. Albans School?”

She nodded. “I told you my dad grew up in Washington? Well, he went to St. Albans. It’s an exclusive private boys’ school in D.C.” She held up the sleeve of Shaw’s coat. “He still has a jacket with that crest on it. That’s where I remember seeing it. And I bet our guy has a son that goes or went there.”

A second later Katie was lifted into the air. Shaw’s strength was such that he had done it solely with his good arm.

“Great work, Katie,” he said into her ear.

He put her down and turned his attention to the screen while she looked slightly flustered.

She said, “So we tell Royce and Frank. They can search St. Albans’s database, get a list of names, we match it to vehicle registrations, and we find the black Mercedes and our guy.”

“Do you think we can find that out without calling Royce and Frank?” He didn’t look at her when he said this.

She answered hesitantly. “I don’t know. I mean, you’d probably need a search warrant.”

“But you said your father went there. That might make a difference.”

“Maybe, but I can’t access vehicle registrations. And why don’t you want to call them?” She looked uncomfortably at Shaw.

He turned, towering above her. She unconsciously took another step back.

“Why do you think?” he said bluntly.

“I don’t know what to think.”

“Sure you do. You’re a smart woman.” He nodded at the screen. “Smart enough to have seen that when none of us did.”

“I can’t help you do what you want to do, Shaw.” Her voice was tinged with a quiet desperation.

“Getting squeamish on me all of a sudden? Worrying about the rights of others? Innocent until the trial lawyers cover up the truth so no one can find it and the guilty walk free?”

“I don’t give a damn about the people who did this. They can rot in hell.”

“So what’s the problem then?”

“The problem is you. You take the law into your own hands, you go to prison. Or worse. I won’t be a part of that. I can’t.”

He sat in the desk chair and stared down at the carpet.

“Shaw, you can’t throw your life away over this.”

Shaw didn’t appear to be listening. “I thought I knew what real pain was, Katie. What it was to hurt like you’ve never hurt before. But when Anna died, I discovered exactly what it felt like.”

Katie crept forward and put a hand on his shoulder. “You need to let it out, Shaw, before it destroys you.”

He stood so quickly that she had to jump back. “I’ll call Frank and get him going on this.”

“Just like that?” she said, bewildered.

“Just like that. It’ll be faster that way,” he added ominously.

As he made the call, Katie stared at the crest of St. Albans School and then over at Shaw as he relayed her discovery to Frank.

When he clicked off, Shaw said, “Get your shoes on. We’ve been stuck in this room long enough. I’ll take you to dinner while they bang through the database.”

Katie retrieved her shoes, sat on the bed, and slipped on her heels.

He put a hand on her arm and guided her out the door. As they walked down the hall, her heart was thumping in her chest. She didn’t believe Shaw. Not at all.

And she was afraid. Not for herself.

She was afraid for him.

THERE WERE EIGHT FAMILIES on the St. Albans database that owned black Mercedes S500s, a match with vehicle registration showed. Shaw, Royce, Frank, and Katie sat in a room at the FBI’s northern Virginia office studying this list.

“Two in McLean. One in Great Falls. Three in Potomac. The rest in D.C. Four of them have kids currently enrolled in the school,” an FBI agent rattled off.

Katie broke off staring at the screen and glanced at Shaw. His focus was totally on the list, she could see. As she watched, she saw him mouthing words to himself.

He’s memorizing the names and addresses.

“The smart thing to do,” Frank said, “is split up our assets and hit them all at once.”

“We can actually narrow the list down even more,” the agent said. “The house in Great Falls and the car are registered to a woman; she’s eighty-six. The ones in D.C. are men, Stephen Marshall and Sohan Gupta, but they’re African American and Indian, respectively. You said your guy was a white guy. We can check out those people later just in case someone had access to their cars, but it makes sense to prioritize.”

Frank said, “So that leaves five. Two in McLean, Virginia, and three in Potomac, Maryland.”

“We’ll have to get search warrants executed,” the FBI agent said. “That’ll take some time since the circumstances” – he glanced at Frank – “are a little unusual.”

“How long?” Royce asked.

The agent checked his watch. “We’ll push hard, but tomorrow morning at the earliest.”

“Do it.”

“Should we post surveillance teams at their houses?” Frank asked.

“Might spook them,” Shaw pointed out. “And if we don’t have search warrants in place…”

“Then they could destroy evidence and there’d be nothing we could do about it,” Royce finished for him.

Frank sighed and said to the FBI agent, “Just get ’em as fast as you can.”

Katie glanced over at Shaw in time to see a grim smile cross his face. And then it was gone. “I want to go with you when you do the hits,” he said.

Frank nodded. “But we let the FBI guys lead the way.”

“Absolutely.”

Royce nodded in agreement. “I’m clearly out of my jurisdiction here.”

The meeting broke up and Shaw walked out. Katie quickly followed him. As he reached his car in the parking lot, she put a hand on the car door.

“Don’t do it.”

He eased her hand off the door. “Don’t do what exactly?”

“You know what.”

“I’ll give you a ride to your hotel. You obviously need some sleep. You’re sounding a little punchy.”

She gripped his sleeve. “Shaw, I saw what you were doing back there. You memorized the list. You’re not waiting for a search warrant. You’re going to go to those places tonight. And-”

“And what? Start killing people? Is that what you think?”

“I’m not sure what to think.”

“Good, you can join the club.” He pulled his arm free. “You want that ride?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Suit yourself.”

He drove off. Frank and Royce came out of the building and headed toward her. Frank stared after Shaw’s car. “Your buddy leave you high and dry?”