“And that would help.” Nellie didn’t really make it a question, but it was.

“Motivation is a vital part of any profile,” Bishop told her. “And we don’t have that. We don’t know if he may try deliberately to mislead us, and we certainly don’t know what’s driving him, assuming it’s anything sane. Many delusions have cloaked crime on a truly massive scale, murder included.”

Thinking reluctantly of the crimes her late uncle had committed, Nellie had a hunch she looked as shaken as she felt. All the bad didn’t go away with Duncan. This is real, dammit, and hiding your head in the sand won’t make it less real. You could have a target on your back. Or Finn could. Any of us.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll . . . talk to the crow who usually shows up on my balcony railing every night.” She frowned. “Tia. I think she’s one of their leaders. And even if she doesn’t visit tonight, she’s usually around me somewhere.”

“Leo says Tia is a queen,” Hollis said. Then she blinked and leaned back to look around her partner and over at the gleaming black Pit bull, who had raised his head from his bed and was calmly returning her look. “Wow. That was . . . different.”

“And through a clogged filter,” DeMarco murmured.

—

NELLIE STEPPED OUT onto her balcony with Leo beside her, more than half hoping the crow would not be there. But she was there, clearly visible in the soft sconce lights at either end of the balcony, a couple of feet along the railing, turning her head to study the woman intently.

And Nellie, who was utterly certain she’d been able to clearly understand the thoughts of a crow once before only because the spirit or energy of her dead mother had opened a door for her just for that one time, during a desperate need, was more than startled to realize that images and concepts were flickering in her mind too fast for her to do anything with them.

“Wait, slow down,” she said, hardly aware of speaking aloud.

There was an instant of stillness, and then the images came more slowly, the concepts tentatively offered, but clear.

Nellie had the notion that if she practiced this she could do it silently, but for now, she spoke aloud because it was easier.

“You understand what it is we’re looking for, Tia? A bad man, an evil man, has taken someone else away and is hurting them. He wants to kill. Destroy. That person and others. Maybe . . . some of my family or friends. But anybody could be hurt. Everybody.”

Understanding.

“We don’t know who it is. But we believe he’s up in the mountains, hiding what he’s doing. People are searching, but we can’t search as fast as you and your family and friends can.”

Understanding.

Nellie drew a breath. “I promised no one would ever force any of you to do anything again. I’m asking now, because we need your help.”