“I’d almost given up, but then I saw my Angel stumble out of Kieran’s apartment all by herself.”

He laughed. “All I had to do was flash my lights and wave. She walked over, asked if I’d take her home, and passed out. I put her in the back seat and threw a blanket over her.”

Caitlin shuddered. “That easy.”

“The perfect moment, Caitlin. A moment like no other. My moment.”

“And Paige?”

He pushed Caitlin’s plate closer. “One more vegetable, please.”

Another forkful kept him going.

“As you can imagine, I didn’t dare look for another piece for some time. There’s nothing like having a prize everyone wants, being so close to the edge.”

“Of getting caught?”

He ignored the question. “I met Paige three months ago.”

“Another one of your students?”

“Passing ships,” he said. “Chad Branford’s bike rides intersected Paige Lauffer’s running routes.”

Caitlin’s stomach turned. The road to a woman’s death started with a disciplined workout regimen. “And you what? Asked her out?”

“Not I, Caitlin, Chad Branford. And he didn’t ask her out; he noticed her T-shirt from a five-K charity run to help a local nursing home and asked how to make a donation. She directed him to her Facebook profile.”

Caitlin wanted to tear into the seam between Chad Branford and whoever he claimed to be, but she’d unleashed the story he had no one else to tell and couldn’t interrupt the flow.

“I learned more from her online auctions than her social media accounts. Such detail, such attention paid. I saw a kindred spirit, and one so different than Angela—soft-spoken, introverted, isolated. I knew I could take her. Then you came to town.”

Caitlin flinched, reached for the last piece of broccoli.

“I knew your story, Caitlin. I tend to notice news articles about men who manipulate women.”

She started to say something, stopped.

He noticed. “Yes, I am self-aware, have been since my teens. Different, distant, disturbed. They called me all the good D words. I fought them at first but then broke the words down. Different? Yes, gladly so. Distant? I have no respect for people who don’t see society for what it is, a construct we use to enforce an arbitrary moral code. Disturbed? Well, who isn’t? Where was I?”

“I came to town.”

“You sure did. I had to attend the ceremony. Right away, I was smitten. You were so strong, but also damaged and lonely, even in a room full of people there to celebrate your greatness. I left a note so you wouldn’t feel alone.”

The notes. Caitlin had forgotten completely. Once she’d realized neither Mary nor Greenwood had left the two handwritten notes, she’d assumed it’d been Scott Canton, but never got a chance to broach the subject. Mary knew they existed. Maybe that would help someone find her, assuming anyone wanted to.