Then another face flashed in front of her eyes. Steven. I never got a chance to tell you I'm sorry, she thought just as Josh pressed something scratchy to her face and held her nose. She struggled, holding her breath until she could no longer, until her reflexes took over and she gulped a lungful of air through her mouth.

"That's the way," he said soothingly. "Ten, nine, eight," she heard him counting. "Five, four…"'

Then nothing.

Friday, October 14, 6:25 P.M.

Steven pulled the string on the lightbulb and his gut clenched. The closet door was covered with photos, some cut from the Roosevelt yearbook. But most were snapshots of Jenna. Close-ups, above the shoulder shots with her apartment in the background. His blood ran cold realizing Josh Lutz had been stalking Jenna, watching her through her patio door. He thought about the neat hole cut in the glass. Josh had stalked her through that glass door, then came through it to try to kill her.

"Sonofabitch," he whispered.

Silently, Davies pushed back the clothing hanging in the closet to reveal more pictures.

"Lorraine, Samantha, Alev, and Kelly," Steven murmured. Before and after. The after shots were taken at various angles. The photos of Alev showed Josh had experimented to get just the right layout of body parts before leading them to the clearing. "He's developing his own pictures, just like Jenna said. I wonder where his darkroom is."

"I wonder where he's keeping his souvenirs. You know he's kept something to remember his victims by," Davies said, pulling the blanket from the bed and lifting the mattress up. "Hello" he said. "What have we here?"

Pills, Steven saw. Hundreds of little pills. He held one up to the light. "Mellaril," he said softly, then looked at Davies. "Pretty powerful antipsychotic. When taken consistently it can suppress cognitive function, sometimes down to the level of an eighty-five IQ. But somebody hasn't been taking his meds. And I bet you somebody's mother thought her boy was under control. But he isn't. Maybe he was, but he sure as hell isn't now."

"That might explain why he took a sabbatical," Davies mused. "If he was on the pills during the years between Seattle and here."

"And this stash would certainly explain the fact that he's started again. He stops taking his pills and acts like he's still dull-witted to keep anyone from realizing he's changed."

"A la I , Claudius," Davies said.

"But he must've gotten tired of pretending at some point," Steven said. "He wanted Casey to know he identified with the killer in Crime and Punishment. Sandra!" he called.

Sandra appeared, wearing a generally disgusted look on her face. "I haven't seen so much porn in one bedroom since my vice days," she said. 'Too bad we can't arrest Rudy for that alone."

"Take a number, Sandra. For now, bring up our mother-of-the-year. I want to see the look on her face when she sees all her precious baby's unswallowed meds."

It was worth the wait. Mrs. Lutz's face went white with shock, then flamed red with rage when she saw the piles of unconsumed medication.

"You thought you had him under control, didn't you, Mrs. Lutz?" Steven asked smoothly. "Or do you prefer to be called Parker?"

"I am Mrs. Lutz," she said rigidly. "And I don't know what you're talking about. I have no idea who those pills belong to."

Steven lifted a brow. "And if we look hard, we won't find a prescription on file?"

She pursed her lips and said nothing, which said quite enough.

Steven leaned close. "Where is your son, Mrs. Lutz? Where is Josh?"

She stiffened. "I don't know."

"Mmm. That's a shame. Then you don't know where he is to warn him we're here, waiting for him? I really hope not, because I'd hate to have that happen, to spoil the surprise. You see, I want your boy behind bars and I really hate to be disappointed."

She straightened her body imperiously. "My son has done nothing wrong."

"Do you recognize these girls?" Davies asked softly, holding back the clothing hanging in the closet. "Maybe you've seen them on the news. Three are dead. Your son has pictures of their bodies, something we haven't released. And I'll bet we'll find pictures of four Seattle girls as well.'

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. "I'll call my lawyer now."

Steven threw her a look of contempt. "You just do that. He'll need the time to prepare to defend your son against a death penalty sentence. Sandra, make sure Mrs. Lutz calls only her lawyer. I'm going to search for Josh's darkroom. Where's Kent?"

"I'm here." Kent stuck his head in the door.

"Good. I want everyone focused on finding out where he's taking his victims. He's had Kelly Templeton for almost three days. He kept Samantha and Alev longer than that so Kelly may still be alive. I don't want him hanging any more pictures in his closet."

Friday, October 14, 7:00 P.M.

Jenna woke with a horrific headache giving her the deja vu feeling of waking up in Allison's spare bedroom bed all over again. Except the ropes tying her wrists and ankles were brand new.

And she was lying on a hard wood floor, not in Allison's spare-room bed.

She opened her eyes and looked up. She was in a barn with a high loft. Then she remembered. The graveyard. Seth. Adam. Josh. Running, falling. The blood. Seth. Where was Seth?

She jerked her head to one side and recoiled in horror. She felt the burn of bile as it rose from her stomach into her throat. Nailed to the wall was…

Hair. Human hair. Eight… heads of hair. All long and dark. Carefully braided and mounted below framed pictures of smiling girls. Four she recognized, four she did not. Then

Josh Lutz came into view, his cheerful whistle an unsettling contrast to the macabre scene. In one of his hands was a hammer, in the other was another framed picture. He looked over at her and she saw he had a nail between his lips. He saw her looking at him and grinned, the nail dark against the white of his teeth. He slipped the picture under his arm and took the nail out of his mouth.

"You're finally awake."

Jenna said nothing. Didn't move as reality began to seep into her brain. As she stared up at him from where she lay tied on the floor, she remembered bitter words to Steven and Neil that morning. No way it could be Rudy, maybe his father, but not Rudy. They'd all been wrong.

Josh Lutz was a killer. Not a nice boy. Not a victim of a dysfunctional family.

Josh was a killer. He'd already tried to kill her once. And this time he would succeed.

Stop that. You will escape. You must. People need you. Seth, Nicky, Steven. They need you.

Josh was grinning again as he pounded the nail into the barn wall. "I see you've noticed my decorating. I think it could use a woman's touch, don't you? You could help me spruce up the place. What do you think of my newest picture?" He held up the frame and Jenna's throat closed.

It was her in the park. Laughing. She recognized the sweater as the one she'd worn to the park the day she'd spent with Nicky and Cindy Lou. He'd seen her with Nicky.

Oh, God, no. Please don't let him touch Nicky.

"Good, I can see you like this one." He held the picture at arm's length and tilted his head. "You're very photogenic, Miss Marshall."

"Don't you touch that little boy," she heard herself say, her voice coarse and harsh.

He frowned. "I don't do little boys. I'm no pervert."

"You're insane."

He lifted a brow at that as if what she'd said amused him.

Amused him. Anger simmered and with it the frustration of helplessness.