“Her name is on the luggage tags; the luggage itself will be taken back to the law enforcement center so the contents can be searched and catalogued by your people. That diamond ring should be traceable.” He paused, adding, “You’re thinking about notifying her family.”

“I’m thinking I need to. Before rumor spreads around the valley at warp speed. We need to be more certain of the ID of this victim, but Megan . . . Rumor and conjecture isn’t the way her family needs to find out, not when they believe she’s living somewhere safely outside the valley and didn’t want to get in touch with them. It’s going to be a hell of a shock.”

Bishop knew what he was being asked. “I’m as sure as I can be without a DNA test that it’s her. Her family should know. And there’s another reason they should be told.”

Finn was already nodding. “Now that we know she’s dead, family and friends have to be questioned. Her movements last summer traced as well as we can trace them. That’s going to be a really cold trail, Bishop.”

“But still an important one. She was his first victim. And he buried her in a spot we might easily have missed without the help of the crows. Hidden well enough that she remained undiscovered for months. Maybe she was never meant to be found. Chances are good she knew him. Or that he believed he knew her. He may have lived near her or even worked with her. And even in a town as small as Salem, with all the overlaps, not everyone knows everyone else. It could help us narrow the field, give us a place to focus.”

“Yeah, okay. As soon as I’ve notified her parents, we’ll start interviewing friends and family, get as many as we can today, start again tomorrow.” Finn sounded restless now. “I don’t want to pull too many off the search for Simon, though. We might still be able to help him.”

“How far can you stretch your resources?” Bishop asked bluntly.

“Not as far as I’d like, especially having to send deputies out in twos to search or just to canvass. Even once we’re absolutely sure of his—his victim pool, I don’t want any of my people out alone, members of the Five or not. Right now every deputy is out either searching for Simon or still canvassing to try to trace Cole Ainsworth’s movements and determine when and where he was grabbed; I’ve got administrative people manning the phones at the office, helped by the two agents you have there. The office is still chaotic, but they’re managing. I have barely enough manpower to run a third shift patrolling in town and the rest of the valley overnight. Everybody’s getting overtime and nobody’s complaining, but I just don’t have enough trained people to keep this up for long.”

Quentin said, “Let’s hope it won’t have to be for much longer. We have to catch this monster sooner rather than later.”