“She went to school with Tobi and vanished about the same time.”

Deputy Morgan shook her head. “I don’t remember the name, but I’ll have a look in the system.”

“Pull anything you have on Cindy Shaw, would you?” Macy asked.

The phone rang, drawing Deputy Morgan’s attention back to her console. Macy dropped her backpack in a chair and opened Susan Oswald’s box.

The evidence sticker on the side stated that the materials had been collected on June 15, 2004, by Deputy Marty Shoemaker and collected from Susan Oswald’s room. The chain of custody line stated the evidence had been transported from the scene to the locker but had never been checked out again.

There were five plastic evidence bags. The first contained the pantyhose, still coiled into a tight circle. The next bag held two single earrings that did not match. Another held the white fitted sheet from her bed, which had a square cut from the center for DNA collection. There was a bag containing her oversize green Valley High School T-shirt. And finally, a partial plaster mold of a footprint. A paltry collection from an offender who’d left years of pain in his wake.

Macy removed her yellow legal pad and made notes.

The shoe impression taken at the scene next to Susan’s window was a right-foot, size-eleven athletic shoe. She listed several shoe companies that could have possibly made it.

As she worked her way through the box, she scribbled more notes.

Collects keepsakes. Doesn’t use a condom. Shows remorse?

He was less interested in the sex than the violence. Most likely he craved the girls’ fear. He choked each to near unconsciousness and grew increasingly violent. The perpetrator was practicing. Experimenting. Building up skills, courage, or endurance for murder.

Macy picked up the bagged pantyhose and socks in the evidence box. She flipped through her file. According to Greene, “Ms. Oswald says he used the pantyhose to bind her.” And then in very bold letters the words: “VERY UPSET.”

Ellis Carter’s box also contained the cotton sheet that had been on her bed when she had been attacked, a single woman’s hiking shoe, and a strand of red rope that had been used to bind her hands behind her back.

Again, Macy searched Greene’s case notes. Rebecca Kennedy had also been bound with a red rope, and she had always assumed her attacker had brought the binding with him.

The first time the assailant hadn’t been prepared. But in subsequent attacks he came ready with rope. She added red rope to her list.

Macy spent the next few hours going through each box, reading all of Greene’s comments, and making more notes. He had interviewed the people who’d lived closest to the victims. One had reported seeing a shadowed figure on the road near Ellis Carter’s house, but when the neighbor had gone out to investigate, the person had vanished. He had also interviewed Rebecca’s neighbors.

She began to write down questions:

What was his trigger? Were there economic stressors in the area at the time? Was it personal? Did the offender harbor fantasies and finally act upon them?

Once she had inventoried the cases, she pulled up an electronic form for ViCAP and answered as many of the one-hundred-plus questions as she could. At four a.m., she hit “Send” and then followed up with a text to Special Agent Andy Jamison asking her to prioritize the case.

Macy’s phone chimed with a response almost immediately. Will do. As she packed away the boxes, her phone chimed with another text. This one was from Nevada. Where are you?

She wasn’t surprised he was awake. Insomnia was one of the traits they had discovered they shared in Kansas City. It was a prevalent condition in their line of work. What normal person could sleep after what they saw?

She typed back, Sheriff’s office. Evidence analysis.

Nevada responded, Treat you to breakfast. Walt’s Diner in fifteen minutes.

Deal. She packed up the boxes and replaced their tops. She shoved her legal pad in her backpack before clicking off the lights and walking out to the dispatcher’s desk. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Sullivan will be on at six,” Deputy Morgan said.

“I’m sure I’ll be here several more nights,” Macy said.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow evening.”

“Where’s Walt’s Diner?”

“Near the highway in the truck stop. Go out the main road and make a left at the railroad tracks. Follow the signs to the interstate.”

“Thanks.”

Fifteen minutes later when she pulled up in front of Walt’s, Nevada was standing outside the diner, his hands tucked into his coat for warmth. Out of the car with her pack on her shoulder, she locked the door and approached him. “How’d you know I wasn’t in my motel room fast asleep?”

“Really? You’re on a tight clock. You don’t have time to sleep.” He opened the diner door and gave her a slight smile. They passed a SEAT YOURSELF sign and found a booth in the back. A waitress delivered coffee and left them with menus.

She opened the menu, and her gaze went straight to the all-American breakfast, complete with eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Decision made, she dumped two sugar packets and cream in her coffee. “You think you know me that well?”

“I also drove by the sheriff’s office and saw your car.” He sipped his coffee, but didn’t bother to look at the menu. “What did you discover in the files?”

“Basically what we already know. He’s incredibly careful. He stalks and plans. Nothing was random. He left behind his shoe print three times, red nylon rope three times, and his DNA at each scene. He’s not worried about physical evidence.”

“He’s just a regular Joe.”

“He likes to think he is,” she said. “But guys like that have moments when they aren’t as slick as they think they are. If he’s still alive, I would bet he didn’t stop with the crimes here in Deep Run.” She sipped her coffee.

“Maybe the Turner case spooked him. Greene did a few things right.”

“He might have laid low for a while, but I would bet money he found new hunting grounds.” She shook her head. “I submitted the case details to ViCAP and asked a colleague to fast-track it.”

“If this guy has a pattern, then maybe a cop in another jurisdiction made note of it.”

“And filled out his ViCAP form.”

When the waitress returned, Macy ordered and Nevada followed with the number six. After she was out of earshot, Nevada said, “I spoke to Paul Decker.”

“Where?”

“I tracked him to a trailer outside of town.”

“And what did he have to say?” Macy asked.

“Said he remembers seeing Tobi with Cindy Shaw. He said Cindy was always scheming and using other people. Not a glowing referral.”

“Did you bring up Cindy?”

“No, he mentioned her without prompting.”

“Interesting. What else?”

“Not much really, but I encouraged him to give it some more thought. His parole officer would be so proud of him. If someone on that Dream Team was a part of this, Decker will rat him out to save his own ass.” Nevada sipped his coffee. “He’s getting called into the probation office tomorrow for a surprise drug test.”

Smiling, she folded one of the empty sugar packets in half, sharpening the crease between her thumb and index finger. “Well played, Nevada. Well played.”

“I do my best.”

She looked around the diner decorated with neon lights and black-and-white photos of the town from the last one hundred years. “Is this your favorite hangout spot?” Macy asked.

“Since I was a teenager. It’s open all night. A favorite for truckers, kids after football games, and hunters looking for a predawn hot breakfast.”

“I have a few places like that in Alexandria. Bev’s on Route 1 is one of my favorites.” She savored this easy familiarity between them. “Their number three is my go-to meal.”

“You have a thing for pancakes, Crow.”

“That’s no secret. I have a desperate addiction to sugar.” She traced the rim of her cup with her finger. “I actually lived in Alexandria a couple of months before my Texas vacation. I’m amazed we didn’t run into each other there.”

“I was on the road.”

“Not surprising.”

“And yet here we are.”

She stirred her coffee. “Which begs the question: Why me for this case?”

“You applied to Ramsey’s team.”

“You could have investigated this case.”

“It’s nice to have a second set of ears to bounce ideas off of.”

“You have Deputy Bennett.”

“She’s learning fast, but I needed someone who could hit the ground running.”

“Figuratively speaking.” Her sarcasm didn’t coax a smile.

He was silent for a moment and then said, “My last bureau investigation was in Arizona. It was a child abduction case. When we found the little girl, we were too late. You were the first person I called.”

“But I was hooked up to a ventilator.”

“Yeah.”

She tapped her finger on the side of her cup. “What we see can’t ever be unseen.”

“I forgot about the kid and could only think about you. I didn’t sleep until I knew you were out of the woods.”