A hush fell over the small crowd that had gathered. The only human sound was Todd Singer’s sobbing.

“Beck, maybe something someone told Lisa yesterday tipped her off to something the killer didn’t want anyone to know about. Somehow he figured out that she knew and needed to keep her from telling anyone else.”

“That would make sense. It’s the only thing that does.” He stood with his arms folded, looking beyond her to where Lisa Singer’s plastic-encased body was being gently loaded into Vivien Reilly’s van. He turned and waved Hal over.

“I want Mickey Forbes picked up now and brought in for questioning. Now. Keep him there until I get there.”

He turned to Mia. “I’m going with Viv. I’ll meet you back at the station.”

Mia nodded, understanding that his accompanying the medical examiner was as much to make sure his friend’s journey wasn’t made alone as to be there when cause of death was determined.

“Sue, make sure Todd gets home all right. Give Jay a call and have him meet you over there so the guy’s not alone.”

Beck started toward the van, then looked over his shoulder at the three of them: Hal, Sue, and Mia.

To no one in particular, he said, “Has anyone heard from Duncan?”

25

Mia was waiting when the first of the FBI crime scene techs arrived. As she showed them where the body was found and walked them through the building, the more she was convinced that Lisa’s death had been, for the killer, a matter of necessity rather than the fulfillment of a fantasy.

“We’ve been dealing with three crime scenes for each of our victims,” she explained to Trish Sterling, one of the first techs on the scene. “The place where he’s held them, the place where he killed them, and the place where he disposed of them. In this case, however, it appears we may have all three scenes in one. Most unusual for this offender.”

“We’ll see what we can find for you,” Trish told her as she slipped the plastic booties over her shoes.

Mia pointed to them and said, “Unfortunately, you’re going to find a lot of footprints in there. The chief, the former chief, me…”

“And no one covered up?” Trish frowned.

“The ME and her guys did. The others…we didn’t realize we were entering a crime scene.”

“Well, you, Shields, have sure kept us busy for the past…” Trish looked at her watch. “Looks like eighteen hours or so.”

“You were over at Connor’s?”

“Yeah.” Trish nodded. “When this call came in, I figured I’d take this one, since I was the closest tech.”

“Aren’t you tired?

Trish grimaced and asked, “Aren’t you?” She gathered up her evidence kit and started toward the building. “It was worth it to see your cousin Connor in the flesh. I’ve been hearing about him for years. Nice when reality lives up to the myth…”

Mia watched as several other techs prepared to enter the building. To the last man, she gave her card. “Here’s my cell number. Give me a call when you’re finished here.”

She drove herself back to St. Dennis, the radio off and the windows down to blow out the hot stale air that had been building up since she arrived at the old building earlier in the day. Her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten a thing but she had no appetite. That Lisa, of all people, had become a victim made her weak in the knees. Lisa, who had everything, who had so loved her life…it just seemed so unfair. Why, she wondered, was Lisa targeted? What had she learned?

Beck suspected that Mickey Forbes was the man they were after. Maybe he was right. He had the opportunity, he had access to the building, and if in fact he’d killed the other women, he would have had a motive, with Lisa asking so many questions right there in what was essentially Mickey’s own backyard. If he had been in the company of all of the victims, either at the gym or at the coffee shop or both, sooner or later, someone might have remembered and start putting it all together. Perhaps someone already had, and Lisa had figured out who that someone was. Maybe Lisa had been on her way to speak with that person. Maybe she’d told Mickey before she left the Goal Post…

“Maybe,” Mia whispered. “Maybe…”

She parked in Beck’s reserved spot out front of the municipal building and went inside. After the heat of the day, the air conditioning refreshed her. She waved to Garland on her way in and went straight to the kitchen, hoping to find something with some sugar in it. There were three Cokes left, and she took one.

“Garland, have you heard from Beck or Duncan yet? Anyone?” She asked as she popped the lid off the soda can.

“Beck’s still out with Viv. He called a few minutes ago and said he thinks he won’t be much longer. Hal just picked up Mickey. Sue is still over at Singer’s, she said Jay Gannon is on his way over to stay with Todd for a while and as soon as he gets there, she’ll be in.” Garland’s eyes were rimmed with red, as she suspected her own might be. “Do you think it’s him? Mickey Forbes?”

“Don’t know.” She nodded. “Let’s see what he has to say, once we get a chance to talk to him.”

“Hal says he’s lawyered up already.”

“Doesn’t surprise me.”

“Damn this son of a bitch, whoever he is. Of all people…Lisa…”

“I know.” She walked behind him and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“It just sucks that it had to be her,” he choked.

“It sucks that it has to be anyone.” She gave his shoulder one last pat and headed back to the makeshift office she’d set up in their conference room.

Mia was debating what to do next-where would she be most useful?-when Connor called her cell to give her an update on the near break-in at the house.

“The techs are done and gone,” he told her. “They’re going to run the tire prints to see if they can find a match there. That’s about the only useful bit of evidence they were able to find. The ground wasn’t soft enough to give us good shoe prints.”

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to hang out here for a while, replace the glass in my basement window, and just enjoy being home for a while. You?”

“I’m going to stick here until this is done. A couple of the techs who were at your house were pulled over here, and they’re still working the scene.”

“Then your friend…”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry, Mia. It’s hard enough when it’s a stranger, but when the victim is someone you know…”

She knew they both had the same “someone you know” in mind.

“Mia? You still there?”

“I’m here.” She hesitated, then lowered her voice to a near whisper. “Connor, I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

“You need a break, sweetie. It’s been a very intense few years with little time off for good behavior. Take some now,” he counseled. “Walk away if you need to, for as long as you have to. Forever, if that’s what’s right for you.”

“I’d feel like a traitor,” she confessed. “Everyone in the family has been with the Bureau…”

“Fuck the Bureau.” His voice was firm. “You don’t owe the FBI a thing. Look, even your brother Grady had enough sense to know when to leave. You really think he’ll ever be back?”

“He lost everything he cared about-at the hands of his own brother.”

“Well, it seems to me that as protective as you are toward Grady, you could spare a little of that compassion for yourself.”

When she didn’t say anything, Connor told her, “Take some time off, Mia. As soon as this case is over, find a place where you feel at peace and sort things out for yourself. Figure out what’s best for you. Not what’s best for the Bureau, nor for the family. What’s best for you. Get yourself together. It’s time.”

“I’ll think about it. Thanks, Connor.”

“I’m here if you need me.”

“You’ll be around for a while?”

“I think so,” he told her. “I have a few things to work out, too.”