“We weren’t near the front windows,” Finn reminded him. “Even if any of us had been looking, we wouldn’t have seen anything.”

“And that’s assuming he was grabbed off Main Street,” Bishop added. “The condos I’ve seen are all at least a block or more off Main.”

Finn nodded again. “Yeah, his is. Two blocks back. One of my patrols was downtown about the same time and reported nothing unusual along Main. We’re trying to get a list of who was still downtown and in the general area and might have seen him. Might have seen anything. As for a hiding place . . . we’re checking every building, looking into storage areas, basements. Again.”

“He has to know you would be.” Diana was frowning. “So . . . the unsub could have just had his car there, right? Knocked Simon out, probably tied him up, dumped him into his trunk. Driven away.”

“That’s probably more likely than having a hiding place downtown,” Bishop agreed. “Nobody’s going to openly carry a grown man any farther than necessary, even after dark, and especially in the downtown area. But he couldn’t have driven all the way up here to get back to this victim; there are some forestry and other service roads on these mountain slopes but none close.”

It was Finn’s turn to frown. “Yet he transports this victim, somehow, into an area with no road access for hundreds of yards minimum. Maybe sometime yesterday, fairly early. Even though your team had people moving all over town and up here on the slopes as well?”

“We hardly covered the area,” Bishop pointed out. “Not even down in town, and certainly not up here. And we got a late start yesterday.”

“Still, do you see a killer taking that kind of risk?”

“We’ve all known killers to take bigger risks. He could see that sort of thing as a challenge. But I’d expect this unsub to be more cautious, at least until he gets a better sense of what we’re doing to find him.”

Quentin said, “From what Hollis picked up yesterday afternoon, the unsub had already started working on this victim by early afternoon, and it’s clear most of what was done to him was done here. So I’m betting this victim was here, at least by then. Whether the unsub was still working on him while we were moving around . . . maybe. Or maybe he knew we were searching and settled in somewhere to watch. Plenty of places all around the valley where he could have kept an eye on activity, then come back here after dark.”

“He may have deliberately left us another sign, something he wanted us to see,” Bishop said. “One battered hand and wrist, one battered foot and ankle. Ligature marks around wrist and ankle. Deep. This victim was held immobile for quite some time. Probably securely enough that the unsub felt safe leaving him here, especially if he knew none of us were near this area or likely to be.”