“I can’t even begin to imagine a suspect from that pool. We’ve got the entire Lyndon police force, we’ve got county detectives. We’ve got Broeder police, we’ve got Chapman PD, the D.A.’s office. How the hell do you narrow that down?”

“Someone is going to have to.” Annie looked from one man to the other. “Identifying the girls-knowing who they are, what brought them together with their killer-will help lead you to him. I have someone at the Bureau trying to identify the identical tattoos these girls had. Right now, that’s all we have to go on. Within twenty-four hours, we should have reports back from our lab on the trace from both groups of victims. Hopefully, we’ll have something that will lead us in the right direction. Until then, do what you can with what you have.”

“First order of business is getting our hands on the membership list from Green Briar,” Malone noted.

“Which is more direction than we had an hour ago,” Sheridan reminded him. “Let’s see where that takes us…”

____________________

“What a treat this is.” Annie glanced around the handsome dining room at the restaurant, which overlooked the small man-made lake nestled in the heart of the beautifully manicured golf course.

Evan nodded. “Lots of dark wood, lots of flowers. It’s a pretty classy place.”

“Well, the room is lovely, and the view spectacular, but I was referring to the fact that you and I are actually having dinner together in the middle of the week.”

“And even more surprising, it isn’t cold pizza out of the fridge at two in the morning.” He took a sip of wine. “It is pretty nice, isn’t it.”

She laughed. “You are a master of understatement.”

He refilled her glass and set the bottle off to one side of the table.

“What a coincidence that you chose the Green Briar Country Club for dinner tonight.” She lowered her voice. “Don’t think you’re fooling me. I know you’re dying to go into the kitchen and start interrogating the busboys.”

“All in good time.” He smiled at the waitress who served their salads.

“You wouldn’t.”

“If I had a better idea who I was looking for, sure. We just haven’t narrowed things down enough yet. But sure. If I knew for certain our guy worked here, I’d be in there in a heartbeat.” He grinned. “Of course I’d wait until after dessert.”

“But you have confirmed that all of the victims’ families were members here.”

“Yes, but we also confirmed that they all bought their pools from Kava’s and three out of five bought their groceries at Marshall’s and had them delivered.” He pushed the croutons aside on his Caesar salad. “And we’re still trying to figure out how many of these families had their yard work done by the same landscaper and used the same handyman.”

“He’s there, though, Evan. I can feel him.” Her voice dropped even lower. “You’re going to find him in one of those places, and you’re going to find him soon.”

“You sound awfully sure of yourself.”

“I am sure of myself. Sometimes I’m not so sure. Sometimes I give it my best guess, and sometimes I’m right, but I’ve been wrong, too. This time, I know I’m right.”

“Well, then, I think we should drink to a speedy resolution.” Evan refilled his glass.

Annie touched the rim of her glass to his, then took a sip.

“Here’s what bothers me, though,” she told him. “You will get this guy, and you will get him soon. The other one-the one who killed the girls with the tattoos-he’s a different duck altogether. He’s going to be hard to find. Tracking him down is going to take your best skills. Your best use of the available science.”

“You really think he’s a cop?”

“I think he’s most likely a cop or someone close to one of the investigating departments.” She tapped her fingers on the stem of her glass. “You might want to ask Sheridan to bring this investigation strictly into the county, have only your people handle it from here on out.”

“Less chance of a cover-up if it’s a cop.” He nodded. “Of course, that means I’ll be stepping on a lot of toes.”

“But there’ll be a greater chance for justice for those three girls. For them and their families.”

“That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? Finding out who these girls are and helping to bring closure to their families.” He took another sip of wine and added, “Someone needs to pay for what he did to them.”

“If we can identify the significance of the tattoos, there’s a good chance we’ll be able to determine where these girls came from. Then maybe we can figure out who they are and how they got from there to here.”

“It should only be so easy.”

“Easy? Not on your life.” She tilted her glass in his direction. “But I promise you, the payback will be huge. When you look into the eyes of the parents of these girls and tell them the man who did this to their daughters has been captured and will be punished, that their daughters can rest in peace, you will know it was worth every hour you spent, every bad lead that you followed, every toe you stepped on along the way.”

“I can’t argue with you. I’ll speak with Malone in the morning, see if he agrees, see if he wants to talk to Sheridan himself or if he’s okay with me taking the lead here.”

“What are the chances he’ll toss this to the Bureau as part and parcel of the other investigation?”

“I’d be real surprised. I think he’s going to keep this totally separate, and frankly, I think he should. For one thing, we all believe the killings are not related. For another, he’ll want to assure the more prominent citizens that the deaths of their daughters merit the attention of the FBI. These other girls, maybe not. Which is okay with me. I want to handle this case myself.”

“What will you do if Sheridan doesn’t want to bring that investigation into the county?” she asked. “What are the chances he’ll want to permit the local departments, the locals where the bodies were found, to work the individual cases?”

“If I know Sheridan, he’s going to weigh this very carefully from a political angle. If he thinks there’s a chance his office can track this guy down and make a collar, he’ll jump at it. If he thinks it’s a long shot, he’ll put me off until he thinks we have something.”

“Then we’ll have to get him something.” She leaned back in her seat to permit the waitress to serve their entrées. “And we’ll start with the tattoos. As soon as we get an ID on them, you’ll have something to take to him. In the meantime, you have all the resources of the FBI at your disposal. Use them.”

“Sheridan hates the FBI, you know.”

“I know.” She grinned. “But it’s going to make him look really good if he can hold a press conference and assure the county movers and shakers that he’s brought in the best the feds have to offer to take this killer down.” She pounded her fist lightly on the table for emphasis.

Evan laughed at her attempt to mimic the D.A.

“That’s all good for tomorrow’s agenda, but no more shoptalk. Tonight is ours, and I want to enjoy every minute of it with my girl.”

“Well then, let’s eat up and head home early.” She smiled and toyed with her fork. “The night, as they say, is still very, very young…”