“If we lose this chance at catching this killer, if he or she runs or goes dormant until the case goes cold, then we are back to square one and they are back to killing again without consequences.” Darby was still in danger, and so was everyone else. They needed to catch this guy. Fast. Eban got back to the evidence at hand. “Any chance of tracing sales of Darby’s boots in Fairbanks since last September?”

“Why September?”

“That’s when Darby came back to Fairbanks after her abduction last summer.” Eban rubbed a hand over his tired face. “It’s much more likely they didn’t see her winter boots until the first snow flew unless they have physically been in her apartment.” A possibility considering how easily Darby’s fellow students gave out her key. “Maybe check that first snow date and start looking at local purchases of that style of boot within a week from that weather event. Work backwards after that if you get a hit.”

Allan frowned. “You think they’ve been planning to set her up all this time?”

Eban wished Lincoln Frazer was here, but he had a pretty good grasp of human psychology from his own training. “I’m leaning toward them identifying with her and wanting to emulate her. Mimicry is a way of fast-forwarding and reinforcing societal bonds. We like those who look and act like us.” They used it in negotiations all the time to forge a connection. Mirroring was a prime example. “Whether the killer happened to be in Fairbanks or moved here specifically to get closer to Darby, they saw reports on the abduction and subsequent rescue last summer and fixated on her. Saw her as like them in some way, maybe as an ally. Wanted to be like her. Probably in their mind they’re BFFs. On Tuesday night something changed.”

“Darby was having fun.” Signy looked up and held his stare. “The UNSUB saw her having fun at the dance.”

That made sense.

“Maybe they drugged her to ‘save’ her. Then Martin took her home and it tripped that switch that told them to kill,” added Allan.

“Assuming Darby wasn’t his target of preference and Martin simply got in the way.”

Eban nodded. “We can’t afford to make any assumptions at this point. We don’t rule anyone out.”

Signy wrote something down. “I’ll get started on creating the list of boot sales. I’ve also requested cell phone data from the tower nearest Martin’s house the night he died and from those nearest the church last night.”

“Good.” Eban nodded. Crosschecking all this information would take time but would hopefully give them a solid shortlist of names to concentrate on, which was better than having a suspect list as large as the entire population of Fairbanks.

“I think we should put out a request to the public for anyone who might have seen a car parked on the side of the road near Martin’s house Tuesday night,” Allan suggested. “I know it’s a quiet area but doesn’t mean someone wasn’t driving along and didn’t spot something.”