“The timing I think is key.”

“Timing?” Eban prompted, drawing on his negotiation skills to draw out as much information as possible.

“The press revealed the O’Roarke woman was being released and a few hours later there’s another victim? That murder smacks of rage.”

“So, what? They doubled down with another victim who could also be linked to Darby and planted physical evidence at the scene to ensure her arrest?” Pressure squeezed behind Eban’s eyes as the implications took hold. Had they stolen other items from Darby to further implicate her in other crimes?

“Yes. But multiple stab wounds suggest they lost control when they realized Adele Surrey had called the authorities. They didn’t have the time they usually had at a scene to make sure they hadn’t made any mistakes. Now we have a knife and a voice recording which is a lot more than we’ve had to work with in the past.” Fraser sounded excited at the prospect.

“Why fixate on Darby?” asked Eban. Hadn’t she been through enough?

“I don’t know. Either they somehow identify with her as a fellow victim, or they decided it might be fun to torture her even more than she already has been.”

Eban’s mouth was so dry he couldn’t swallow. “Do you think she is in danger?”

“Immediate danger? If I had to place a bet I’d say, no. The UNSUB’s actions have been merciful up until now, after all, Darby is alive. However, the killer might blame her for things not going the way they’d planned.”

Fear crashed along Eban’s veins. It was bad enough knowing Darby had been in the same space as the individual who had murdered Martin Carstairs, it was a thousand times worse to realize she was possibly in the presence of a serial killer who’d eluded the FBI for “some time.”

“I need to get her out of here.”

The silence on the other end of the line lengthened. Eventually Frazer spoke again. “As far as we can tell, and it is almost certainly an underestimate, this killer has murdered six male victims in the last four years and, with Adele Surrey, we have our fourth probable female victim. I believe they’ve been active for much longer than that.”

What the hell? Eban let go of a huge breath. Why weren’t the media up in arms?

“These new cases make it eleven murders and this is the only time they have ever left the knife behind—again, assuming it is the killer I think it is.”

Eban swore silently. “Did the killer assume the police would blame Darby for the other murders?”

“Perhaps. They might have gotten lucky if Darby had been in the vicinity of some of the previous murders without a strong alibi. Circumstantial evidence has been enough to incarcerate people in the past.”

And Darby might have ended up behind bars for years as they worked to prove her innocence.

Eban frowned. “You don’t sound suspicious of her.”

“From what I managed to ascertain from reviewing a copy of her resumé and talking to a professor from her undergraduate degree, she was on field trips to Hawaii and the Aleutians for at least two of the other murders. He also vouched for her character as do several other FBI personnel whom I trust.”