In the adjoining motel room, Knoll is trying to tell them what he can. Mrs. Martinez isn’t taking the news lightly that her daughter may be the next target for the serial killer she’s seen all over television. They had to take her phone away to keep her from calling a friend and ruining our cover.

I stay out of the way and focus on my maps and books in the other room. Johnson and Keener have experience talking to people in this situation. The last thing I want to do is be another face in there making things awkward.

We’ve got six other agents in the motel and three more watching the parking lot, as well as a team using the nearby Texas Highway Patrol station facilities to coordinate with all the other law enforcement agencies. I can’t think of a safer place in the world for Rosa than right here. Through the doorway I see her mother is on the verge of tears again. She keeps explaining that Rosa is a good girl and that she can’t understand why anyone would want to harm her.

While Johnson talks to her by the bed, Keener is sitting with Rosa at the table and asking if she’s spoken to anybody suspicious or noticed anyone watching her. Rosa is adamant she hasn’t. Keener wants to know if she’s been in contact with anyone online. Rosa replies that she only talks to friends she knows.

The next step will be looking through her e-mail to see if she’s telling the truth or received messages from one of our suspicious proxies. Keener takes out a computer and shows pictures of men’s faces from Faceplaced to the two of them to see if they recognize any of them. After twenty minutes there are no matches.

Knoll comes through the adjoining doorway and sits down at the table with me. He sees the maps, books and all my notes. “Anything?”

I shake my head. “Lots of ‘ifs’ but nothing stands out. He wants us to think he’s capable of the impossible.” I nod toward the other room. “What about there?”

“I don’t know if he’s made contact yet. We’ll check phone records and texts. He might just have singled her out and be waiting for the right moment. Or he might not be after Rosa at all. He could be a thousand miles away and laughing at us. Maybe this is all a sick joke.”

“Maybe. I still can’t shake the idea that he wants us here for a reason, not just to misdirect us. At least it seems that the next evolution of this game is to play it right with us here. The angel’s eyes were an invitation.” I nod to the other room. “I can’t think he expected us to find her.”

“Yeah, I hope so,” replies Knoll.

“Anything from Colorado?”

“No. The point there didn’t give us a nice match like the town here did. We have our field office looking, though. And we don’t have a potential victim like we do here.”