“Yeah,” Bishop answered. “And the crows in this valley have returned to most of their normal habits, according to Finn, at least until now. The one named Tia who’s been communicating with Nellie and now Hollis definitely seems to be one of their leaders, so a night visit from her was maybe timed then simply in order to meet Nellie alone and establish the communication. Normally, they do roost at night. But we don’t know for certain they haven’t disrupted that habit recently as well as begun patrolling. Tia didn’t say how long they’ve been doing that. Or even how, whether individually or in a—”

“I don’t have to be a telepath to know what you’re thinking,” Quentin said when his boss broke off. “A flock of crows is called a murder, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, though I would guess the average person doesn’t know that.”

“With ravens, it’s a conspiracy,” Diana murmured. “I remember reading that somewhere.” She had spent much of her free time the last few years reading virtually everything she could get her hands on, simply trying to catch up on all those lost years. “But we don’t have one here, right? A conspiracy of the other kind? Tia led you guys to Megan’s grave low on the eastern mountain, and we find this—these remains at nearly the same time fairly low down on the northern mountain. It doesn’t mean two killers. Does it?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Bishop replied. “We have too little for a preliminary profile detailed enough to help us, but can make some educated guesses based on what little we do know. Even with months between the first and second killings, we very likely have a single killer. One victim last summer, probably his first, because he took care to hide her remains and because killing her was enough for him—for a while. And he likely would have waited for quite some time to see if he was going to get away with murder. Realizing he had would have emboldened him. But to move like this, to take Simon Cavendish so soon after taking Cole Ainsworth . . . something may easily have changed his plans.”

“Or,” Quentin suggested, “the escalation is because he was forced to wait longer than he wanted to in the beginning, after he killed Megan. Need has to be driving him, because it always drives this kind of killer.”

Diana was frowning. “Or maybe . . . though need drives him, something else is also driving him to move fast, especially now. External more than internal reasons. If this victim is Cole Ainsworth, and Simon Cavendish is in the unsub’s hands now, hidden somewhere or being . . . tortured, then . . .”

Nodding, Bishop said, “If he knows about the Blackwood elder’s farseeing, knows there was any kind of a warning specifically to the families, that we know who to look for, that could easily be additional pressure. He could feel pressed to move faster in order to satisfy his need to kill before we can shut down his victim pool.”