I said, That's a helluva risk to take, thinking you'll call it quits just because Byrd has the book.

Marx's lips pressed into a hard line.

Well, Cole, I guess he thought it was worth the risk, didn't he? Repko wasn't some streetwalker he screwed up by killing someone close to him, which was a mistake he hadn't made since Frostokovich.

A knot of anger grew in my shoulders.

Have you bastards known he's been killing people for seven years?

Munson made a grunting laugh that caused Bastilla to glance up, but Marx glowered.

Of course not. Only since the book.

You must have known since Frostokovich.

Goddamnit. I took care of some things for him, but nothing like this. He was a nasty bastard, all right, but I was investigating one of my friends. You never think someone you know could do something like this.

So you let it go? You fixed it for him?

Fuck off, Cole. The girl's friends told us about running into him that night at dinner, so we questioned him. He told us he went to an apartment he kept over by Chinatown after seeing them at dinner. Alone. So we had the coincidence of the meetings, and we knew he was a prick, but that was it. We couldn't clear him, but we couldn't find anything solid. You can't make a case on coincidence, so we all went on with our lives. After a while I told myself it was silly to suspect the guy. Hell, he was my friend, and all we had was the coincidental meeting.

Pike said, Until Repko.

Repko got us started, but it was really the book. When we saw Frostokovich everything came back. Wilts knew some of these girls. Wilts was the common demoninator.

Munson picked up where Marx left off by explaining they had discovered a connection between Wilts and the fourth victim pictured in the book, twenty-five-year-old prostitute Marsha Trinh. In reviewing her arrest record, it was learned she was one of five prostitutes Wilts had hired for a private party to influence prominent supporters one month before her murder. This contact put Wilts with three of the seven victims. Three out of seven was convincing.

Munson said, We still have a long way to go, Cole. We can't have you drawing attention to this. The man has to believe he's safe.

How close are you?

We would arrest him if we had something. We don't.

You think he's a flight risk?

You never know, but no, I don't think so. People like this, they think they can beat you and some of them do. They get off by thinking they're smarter than us. He wanted us to think Byrd is the guy, and right now he believes we bought it. That's why we played it the way we did. As long as he believes he's safe, we have a shot at making a case. You cannot kill seven people without making a mistake. It cannot be done.