A fewmoments later he took her hands in his. 'Will you play for me tonight?'

    Christa-Mariemoved closer. She put her arms around him, her head on his chest. They stoodthat way for a long time, not moving, not speaking. She broke the silencefirst.

    'I'mdying, Kevin.'

    Byrnestroked her hair. It was silken to his touch. 'I know.'

    Shenestled closer. 'I can hear your heart. It is steady and strong.'

    Byrnelooked out the window, at the fogbound forest surrounding Convent Hill. Heremained silent. There was nothing to say.

Chapter 74

    Jessicacould not find her partner. she had stopped by Byrne's apartment, visited allhis familiar breakfast and coffee haunts, checked his favorite watering holes,hoping not to find him. She had not.

    Byrnehad not called into the unit nor, more importantly, shown up for hisdeposition, his on-the-record statement about his whereabouts on the nightEduardo Robles had been killed. Jessica knew that the inspector had smoothed itover with the DAs office, but it was unlike Byrne in any number of ways, notthe least of which was his commitment to keeping his word.

    Jessicaspent the remainder of the morning reading through the material on Carnivalof The Animals. There were indeed fourteen movements, not all of themdevoted to animals. One was called Fossils; another, Pianists;yet another, Finale. For some reason the killer had chosen eight of themovements. But they were all there, and it was all making slow sense.

    Beyondthis, all these victims were related to cold cases. They were all suspects inhomicides. Or suspected of complicity in homicides.

    Theconnection to a group like Societe Poursuite and a man named GeorgeArcher could not be overlooked.

    All thesepeople were in some way culpable. In the eyes of their killer, they were allguilty of something. But why these people? What linked them? Why thecases of Antoinette Chan, Marcellus Palmer, Marcia Kimmelman and MelinaLaskaris? Why not any of the other hundreds of unsolved cases sitting in thedusty books on the shelf?

    Atone o'clock Jessica put a call into the Department of Motor Vehicles. If GeorgeArcher had a driver's license in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, they wouldbe able to get a photograph.

    Sheskipped lunch and spent the early afternoon on the phone with the lab and theDAs office. Michael Drummond was in court, but his secretary promised Jessicathat he would get back to her.

    Byfour o'clock she learned that there was no one named George Archer registeredat any hotel in the greater Philadelphia area.

    Shealso put in a call to Chief Rogers Logan in Garrett Corners. At her requestLogan paid a visit to Archer Farms. George Archer had not returned to hishouse.

    As thefirst half of Jessica long day wound down, there were no new leads. The threeother lead detectives - Josh Bontrager, Nicci Malone, and Dennis Stansfield -were all on the street, chasing down their leads. Josh had interviewed membersof the Chan family. All had concrete alibis. Nicci Malone had taken the morningto drive to Weirton, West Virginia to speak to Marcellus Palmer's son anddaughter-in-law. She learned nothing of value. God only knew what Stansfield -obsessed now more than ever with Kevin Byrne - was doing.

    Itseemed the Byrne/Stansfield conflict had settled for the time being. Therewould probably be some kind of fallout from the incident, but it wouldn't betonight. The homicide unit had a few other things with which to be concerned.

    Jessicaarrived home around five-thirty, made a quick dinner for her and Sophie. Afterdinner Sophie modeled her Snow Fairy costume. She looked adorable.

    Outside,the wind picked up, swirling leaves in the street. Perfect Philly Halloweenweather. And there was never a shortage of atmosphere or things to do in Phillyon Halloween.

    Therewas the Ghost Tour, which took participants on a candlelight excursion toSociety Hill and Independence Park. There was the tour of Eastern StatePenitentiary, once voted the number one haunted house in America. Then therewas the Mutter Museum, and the home of Edgar Allan Poe.

    Butif Philadelphia was attached to its horrific past, it was nothing if notcreative. Jessica had already seen news footage of people trick- or-treating inpink body suits, with a band of paper wrapped around their heads. The newfavorite costume in Philly, it seemed, was the victim of a serial murderer.

    Jessicatook Sophie out for trick-or-treating early. This year was different fromprevious years. Trick-or-treating among row houses was a frontal assault.Within an hour, they hit a hundred or so houses. Sophie returned with a pair ofbulging pillowcases.

    WhileSophie divvied up her swag on the living-room floor, Jessica showered andprepared for her undercover assignment at the hotel.

    Beforeshe left the house, she caught her reflection in the hallway mirror. Notbad, she thought. The simple black dress was okay, if a little tight. Timeto ease up on the cannoli from Termini's.

    Thehard part, of course, was the gun. Though in many ways the perfect accessory,most designers did not allow for the bulk of a weapon when creating a line. Itwas never the Smith & Wesson collection for Dior, or Vivienne Westwoodpresents Frocks with Clocks.

    Justto be on the safe side, she packed a small duffel with jeans and a hoodie,stowed it in the car. She had no idea where this night would take her.

    Theteam met in Le Jardin's Loss Prevention office. There were ten detectives inall, including Josh Bontrager, Dennis Stansfield, Nicci Malone, and NickPalladino. Most were in plain clothes, the remaining few had on PPDwindbreakers.

    Theywere briefed by John Shepherd on the layout of the floors, the location ofsurveillance cameras, the hotel protocol for emergencies. They went brieflyover the program for the evening, which included a lavish dinner, a number ofspeakers, along with a keynote address by the attorney general for theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition, in the smaller meeting rooms therewere various panels and demonstrations. According to Shepherd, excluding front-and back-of-the-house staff and personnel, there were close to one thousandpeople in the building.

    Everyso often Jessica glanced at the door. Byrne had not shown.

    AfterJohn Shepherd had completed his briefing, Dana Westbrook addressed the taskforce. They had received more than seventy DMV photographs of men named George Archer.None were registered to the man at the Archer Farms. The sheriffs office, inaddition to detectives from the Pennsylvania State Police, were showing thephotographs to neighbors and vendors in the area, trying to match the photowith the man who ran Archer Farms.

    Forthe first hour Jessica worked the reception table, just outside the CrystalRoom. The double-length conference table was draped with white bunting, andcarried a few hundred name tags, programs, and pins bearing the slogan Heescapes who is not pursued.

    Aspeople filed by, Jessica watched their movements, their behaviors. Overall, itwas a rather staid-looking group. Conservatively dressed, quiet in demeanor,polite in manner. In the course of an hour she handed out more than fifty nametags.

    Ateight o'clock three men approached from across the lobby, one of them quiteinebriated. They were in their forties, white, casually dressed. As they gotcloser, the shortest one - the drunk one - did his best to focus on the table,on the name tags, and finally on Jessica.