“No, I don’t. The man I took over for on the task force was convinced Cross was behind the murders, and I think the evidence backs up that theory. Forensics has come a long way in twenty-five years. Pink’s gun was a .357 caliber revolver. One such slug was removed from his body, but other slugs were recovered as well, from him and the wall behind him, .38 caliber, indicating a second shooter.”

“Harrison could have had a gun no one knew about.”

“I’ll concede that. But later we discovered the .38 slugs matched ballistics in other murders in LA. There was also blood evidence by the back door, blood that didn’t belong to any of the Pinks. And Isaac had been on the phone moments before being shot, talking to his partner. He told his partner the house alarm had been disconnected before hanging up, so . . .” Bass shrugged.

Tess considered this as a memory surfaced. “My dad never believed that Harrison could have killed Pink. The sergeant was too savvy to be shot to death by the girl he was sheltering. Pops believed they were looking for someone completely cold-blooded.”

“Your pops was wise.”

Tess shared another of her father’s theories. “Do you think Harrison was killed as well and dumped somewhere else?”

Bass spread his hands. “She never resurfaced. My guess is, yes, she’s dead. The bureau kept on the case after Cross. He left the country for a time, tried to live off the radar, but ten years later, his appetites eventually betrayed him. He came back to the States, and we caught him for kiddie porn. I was part of the child pornography task force that arrested him. When we caught him, he had more pornography on his computer and in his possession than any person I’d ever investigated.”

“How did you catch him with the porn?”

“We got an anonymous tip, then set up a sting. I hate dealing with kiddie porn, but the guy was truly a sick puppy. He fell, hook, line and sinker.”

“I remember his pretrial press conference. He cried and swore that he was innocent.”

Bass rolled his eyes. “After his arrest we were flooded with complaints—women, girls, boys, all with stories about what a sick puppy he was and how they’d been exploited. He’d put fear into all of them. Some claimed to know of people he’d murdered to keep them from talking to the cops. Him being in custody made them brave.”

“Were you ever able to substantiate any of the claims?”

“A lot of molestation, some rape, but we could never prove any murders. But now we get to the reason I bring Cross up at all. Like I said, Cyrus Beck was one of his closest friends—until, of course, the arrest.”

Tess nodded, trying to remember more from that time period. It was big news when Cross was arrested.