Cuneo nearly jumped out of his chair. "Wait wait wait! You're really losing me here, sir. You're saying maybe the Executioner killed Boscacci? Next is Kennedy maybe, too, huh?"

Lanier came to Glitsky's defense. "No one's denying it's a reach, Dan."

"If we had anything else at all to follow up on the Executioner's victims," Glitsky said, "I wouldn't waste anybody's time talking about this. But the fact is, we don't have anything."

"And nothing with Boscacci either," Cuneo said.

Glitsky: "Not quite. We believe it's likely he was shot with a silenced weapon. In fact," he turned to Lanier, "that's why we need to have the lab reexamine the slugs from Twin Peaks."

"They already ran ballistics," Lanier said. "And the Boscacci slug was deformed so they couldn't cross-check."

"I know," Glitsky said. "I'm not talking about ballistics." He talked to the group. "Boscacci's slug had a fairly distinctive scuff. Sometimes, if a silencer isn't fitted properly, it scuffs a slug as it leaves the barrel, and normal ballistics wouldn't pick it up, especially if the slug is deformed. But," he added, "they get a visual match with the Twin Peaks's slugs, maybe we're in business."

"So these are pro jobs," Taylor said.

"Maybe," Glitsky said. "In any case, it would be worthwhile to find out if anybody in Twin Peaks heard a gunshot. Or," he turned to Belou, "near Mrs. Cary's home?"

"Yeah, but so what?" Cuneo asked. "Every witness says they heard nothing, which is the answer every time I ask anything. They didn't hear nothin', they didn't see nothin', as far as they can recall if their memory serves them at that particular point in time they were out of the area code if not the hemisphere when the incident occurred. Then what? We're going to consider that some kind of positive evidence?"

Glitsky remained calm. "At least positive enough so that the ATF will supply us with people who bought silencers. These we interview and try to find some connection between any one of them and any of the victims. At least it's doing something, instead of just waiting for another strike."

"And meanwhile," Taylor said, "when the Executioner does hit again, then what?"

"Then, if he leaves us anything at all, we move on that, of course. But until we've got something better, we've got to eliminate other options, the best one being that a silenced weapon has killed four people instead of two."

"And," Lanier said, "we can know the answer to that by, say, tonight, if we all go out and canvass now, when witnesses are likely to be home."

Evans chuckled softly. "That was subtle, Marcel."

Lanier smiled all around. "Thank you. I like to think it's the key to effective management."

"So we're approved on the overtime?" Russell asked.

This was always a thorny issue. Lanier hesitated, looked over to Glitsky, who nodded. "Put it all on the event number," he said.

"One more thing," Cuneo said. Everyone turned to him. "When we started talking about Boscacci, you said, first, you were going on the assumption that he was one of these Executioner victims. Was there something else?"

A muscle worked in Glitsky's in his jaw. "I said first?"

"I believe so. Yes, sir."

Another minute. "Sorry," he said, "it's gone."

When Hal and Linda North came out of their son's guarded room at the hospital, Wu and Hardy were there in the hall to meet them. After Wu introduced Hardy, Linda smiled and said, "Dismas? Wasn't that the name of the good thief on Calvary?"

Hardy forced a smile. He didn't feel remotely friendly. "That was him," he said. "Not too many people know that. He's also the patron saint of murderers."

Linda tightened, drew herself up. "Andrew isn't a murderer."

"No, ma'am, he isn't."

Hal spoke up. "After all we've been through on that score, it's good to hear somebody say that. So you're telling me we've got a chance?"

"Don't get me wrong. We've got some tough days ahead, but there's some reason for guarded hope. There have been some developments in your absence. Besides, of course, this suicide attempt." He fixed them both with flat eyes.

Linda read his look. "You probably think we're horrible to have gone away, don't you?"

"It doesn't matter what I think," Hardy said. "Maybe I wondered a little."

"About what?" Hal stepped protectively in front of his wife. "About what?" he repeated. "Us going south?"

Hardy said nothing.

"I asked Andrew and he said he was fine. He knew that we'd had the reservations for months and he was adamant we should just go. It was only for three days. He said he'd be fine. He was getting used to Youth Guidance. We didn't know he'd do anything like this. How could we have known?"

"Mrs. North," Hardy said, "Mr. North. I'm not accusing you of anything. It's none of my business how you run your lives. For Andrew's sake, though, it might be helpful if we knew where we could find you if we need to contact you while this is going on, but…"

"He knew where we were." Hal was growing hot. He turned to Amy. "I was sure he'd have told you."

"No, sir. He didn't."

"He can talk to us anytime," Linda put in. "Both of our kids can. Hal and I, we're always there for them if they need us."

"There you go." Hal took an aggressive stance between them, but spoke to Wu. "You could have called Alicia at home. You have that number. She could have reached us. Easily."

"How did you find out?" Hardy asked. "About this?"

"I called the YGC to talk to Andrew as soon as we got home this morning. They told me. Then I called Hal and we came straight here."

But Hal continued at Wu. "I still don't understand why you didn't think to call the house. Alicia could have called and gotten us back here hours ago."

Wu matched his gaze, tightened her lip, turned to Hardy, who came to her defense. "Your daughter wasn't home, sir."

"What? Of course she was. We both talked to her."

"We did," Linda said. "She was home. Absolutely. She called us."

"On her cellphone?" Hardy asked.

"Yes, I think so." Linda looked from Hardy to Wu, then back to Hardy. "You're saying she could have called from anywhere."

"I'm telling you," Hardy said, "that when they found Andrew in his cell this morning, they called your home first, then sent a squad car by- this is at four a.m., remember- and nobody was there. The first person they could reach with any connection to Andrew was Amy, at her apartment."

"I don't believe that," Hal said.

"You check it out," Hardy replied. "Won't take you five minutes."

"Now you're calling my daughter a liar." Hal directed his ire at Hardy. "Hey, you know what? We don't need to take any more of this crap from you or anybody else." He turned to Linda, grabbed her by the elbow. "Let's go. That's the end of this."

But she held back. "I want to know the truth about Alicia."

"You just heard it," Hardy said.

"It doesn't matter," Hal snapped. "It's another ploy to make us feel guilty and ultimately, I'm sure, to pay him more."

"Pay me more? Here's a flash for you, pal, if you haven't already heard. I'm doing this for free." Hardy was by now so mad at the man's blindness and arrogance that he was tempted to throw a punch. Blood pounded in his ears. He felt he had to raise his voice to get above it. "And firing Amy? There's a brilliant idea! Never mind how Andrew is going to feel if the one person who's been standing by him since his arrest deserts him, too. You think that's going to help his state of mind? His self-esteem? Of course, worrying about what Andrew's feeling isn't something you do much, is it?"

Linda stepped in front of her husband. "How can you say that? I love my boy. I do."

Hardy forced himself to some semblance of calm. "You know, Mrs. North, I'm sure you do. But doesn't last night tell you that maybe he's not getting the message? That maybe he feels alone and deserted in the world?"