Steven frowned. "Four vicious premeditated murders and he goes to family court?"

Davies shrugged. "He had a very… lenient judge."

"So you go to family court, what happens?" Lieutenant Chambers asked.

"Everything's set up, then the defense moves to have the semen evidence stricken."

"Because?" Liz prompted.

Davies's lips thinned. "Because they said the evidence had been stored inappropriately."

Nobody asked how or by whom. It didn't really matter at this stage.

"And without the semen evidence you had no case," Liz finished.

"We couldn't tie him to Laura Resnick, the first victim, so the whole case crumbled like a house of cards. Parker walks away, free as a bird. His whole record is sealed. But the community knew what he'd done. His parents had tried to keep his name out of the press, but it just wasn't going to happen. Crowds gathered, some threw bottles, most just picketed. Parker Senior's import business suffered. Nobody wanted to do business with the father of a monster like William. Senior had to declare Chapter Eleven, sell the house. They moved away, then just disappeared."

"It's hard for a whole family to just disappear," Liz observed.

"Mrs. Parker's father is a multimillionaire."

They all nodded, well aware of the power of cold, hard American cash.

"Lutz is the maiden name of Mrs. Parker's paternal grandmother." Davies looked frustrated. "I thought for a while they might have left the country. Gone to Switzerland or France."

"Not if they wanted their son to play football," Steven returned and Davies nodded.

"As I recall, that's what Parker Senior was maddest about," Davies reused. "He didn't care that four girls were dead. That every bit of evidence pointed to his son. He cared that William wouldn't get to play high school football and get picked up by the college scouts."

Steven sighed. "So his parents take him out of Seattle, then pop up as new residents to Raleigh-Durham, erase a year from Rudy's age, and have 'fourteen '-year-old Rudy start high school all over again with a whole new set of girls to choose from," he said, punctuating the word in the air.

Lieutenant Chambers huffed his disapproval. "Like I said, kid in a freakin' candy store."

Liz rubbed her forehead. "You all do realize that none of this is proof Rudy had anything to do with Lorraine or Samantha."

"Not yet," Steven said grimly. "But now we have some place to look."

At that moment a uniformed officer came in with a note. "Agent Thatcher? Your admin assistant has been trying to get in touch with you all morning. She says it's urgent."

Steven looked at his cell phone, frowning. It was on, but the signal bars were down to one.

"You won't get any reception this deep in the building," Chambers said. "Pain in the ass."

Steven pointed to a phone in the corner of the room. "But that one works."

"If I remembered to pay the bill," Chambers said sarcastically.

Steven placed the call, listened to Nancy, then turned to the group with a sense of grim despair. "They found Samantha."

"In better shape than Lorraine?" Liz asked.

No one even assumed she'd still be alive. Correctly so.

"Marginally." Steven rubbed the back of his neck. "But that was the good news."

No one said anything, every one of the faces ____________________ knew what was coming.

"The bad news is that now we have a victim number three."

"Oh, God," Liz murmured.

"Who?" Chambers demanded.

Davies looked grim.

"Her name is Alev Rahrooh," Steven said. "Sixteen. Cheerleader. Went to yet a different high school. No sign of forced entry. Davies, I'll want to confirm your story with your LT in Seattle. Procedure of course."

Davies raised a brow. "Of course."

"Then we'll need to choose which site to see first. Door number two or door number three."

Thursday, October 6, 4:15 P.M.

Casey stowed her overnight bag in the XK 150's tiny trunk and slammed it closed. "I feel nervous about leaving you right now. I can cancel my trip if you want me to stay."

Jenna dangled her car keys from one finger "I'll be fine. Tell her, Lucas. I'll be fine."

"She'll be fine," Lucas echoed obediently and Casey stuck her tongue out at him.

"Polly Parrott will say what you tell him. I say I have a bad feeling about this."

____________________ shrugged. "The way I see it, if you've got the car, ____________________ it."

Casey pointed to the hood. "Your Jaguar thingy is missing."

The hood ornament. Adam had looked for a long time to find just the right one to complete his restoration. "It was gone yesterday morning before I left for school. I called Officer Pullman to report that, too." That the school hellions had invaded her home parking lot still left her blood cold. "Casey, go on now or you'll get stuck in rush-hour traffic."

They frowned at each other until Casey huffed a disgusted sigh. "Oh, all right." They traded keys and Casey got in the car, still looking worried. "Call me if you need me."

As she drove away, Lucas asked quietly, "How are you, Jen? I know yesterday was a shock."

"I'm fine. Really," she insisted when he looked unconvinced. "Although I am wondering why they took a day off. No problems in my classroom all day today."

"Maybe the surveillance camera deterred them."

Jenna's eyes widened. "You put up a camera? Where? When?"

"In the far corner of your classroom where you'll catch anyone coming in the door. Yesterday, after we'd gotten rid of your pinata. I've ordered a few outside models we can mount to the light posts here in the parking lot." He looked annoyed. "And you're welcome."

Jenna rolled her eyes. "Thank you, but you might have told me. Now I have to worry if anyone saw me picking my nose or straightening my nylons."

Lucas's teeth flashed in a grin. "I could sell either of those on video and get rich quick."

She smacked him in the arm. "Take that back or I'll tell Marianne."

"She'll just be mad she didn't get a starring role. You know what an exhibitionist Marianne is."

"No, I don't," Jenna answered primly, then met his eyes, sobering. "Thanks, Lucas."

He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Do not go into the school by yourself. Wait for me and I'll walk you to your classroom."

She swallowed hard. "Do you think they'll stop?"

His face darkened. "Is Rudy playing this weekend?"

"No," she whispered, shaking her head.

"Then they won't stop. That's why I put the camera in. I want hard evidence we can use to expel those juvenile delinquents and I'm tired of waiting for Blackman to be a man and do it himself."

"Thanks, Lucas. Go home and make dirty videos with your wife. This is Thursday, so I get to kick the crap out of who-ever's unlucky enough to be my sparring partner tonight."

"I hope whoever is unlucky enough to be your sparring partner is wearing a heavy-duty cup."

"Stainless steel even." And she laughed out loud at his predictable wince. "Good night, Lucas."

Thursday, October 6, 6:25 P.M.

Steven sat alone in the conference room, staring at the board. A map held pushpins indicating the clearings where Lorraine's and Samantha's bodies had been found, the houses where the three missing girls had lived, the schools they'd attended. The churches in which they'd worshiped.