“No,” Miranda said, “we can’t. Wiping out the families as a goal, an endgame, for this unsub doesn’t make sense, if only due to the sheer scale. Wiping out just the elders doesn’t make sense because Megan Hales wasn’t an elder, and if Cole Ainsworth is the second victim, he isn’t an elder either.”

Bishop said, “Megan could turn out to give us a lot more information than any other victim might. He killed her first. But the gap in time between her and the second victim has to be significant in some way in terms of his motivation—though not necessarily negating whatever the endgame is. Maybe she was killed because of convenience, or because something about her or his response to her triggered his initial need to kill and in her case he acted impulsively. Maybe he’s spent the time since he killed her developing his plans.”

DeMarco said, “Plans we can’t yet know.”

Bishop nodded. “No sane killer could hope to eliminate even a substantial number of the five families without being caught.”

“Which begs the question,” DeMarco said.

“I doubt he’s clinically insane. He was careful after he killed Megan. He buried her in a remote location not likely to be found, waited to find out if anyone suspected she’d never left Salem. Waited during everything that happened with Duncan Cavendish. And if what Megan told Hollis is true, he waited and watched while this whole area was crawling with law enforcement weeks ago. He’s patient.”

Quentin said, “If he snatched Simon Cavendish when and where we believe he did, that was planned and efficient. Coolheaded.”

“Agreed,” Bishop said.

Hollis stopped chewing on a thumbnail to say, “Two men and a woman. Is that significant?”

Miranda said, “Megan was the first, and I think we’ve all agreed his motives for taking and killing her could have been different from whatever drove him to grab the men. More impulsive, without real planning. Megan really could have been opportunity and circumstance. He knew her or watched her or both, realized she was leaving, and took advantage of that opportunity.”

“Or,” Diana said slowly, “she gave him some kind of reason. Something personal.”

FIFTEEN

“Definitely possible,” Bishop said.

“Okay.” Hollis was nodding slowly. “So Megan is impulse. Something about her triggered him. Possibly something she did or said. Something personal. Which would mean he knew her.”

“Possibly very well,” Miranda said.

“Yeah. We really do have to talk to her family, people who knew her. Look for somebody else in her life around about the time she was being jilted by Paul Ainsworth.” She blinked. “Um . . . how was Paul related to Cole?”

“Cousins,” Bishop answered. “Not especially close, according to Finn.”

Hollis nodded again. “So we look for somebody in Megan’s life last summer. He knows her, something maybe happens between them, he kills her. And he’s very lucky or very good, because he gets away with it. It was his trigger, and now he has a need to kill again. Months later, and not long after a pretty bright spotlight was shining on this town for weeks, our unsub takes another victim. Most likely it’s Cole. He stormed out after a fight with his wife, and she was too mad to care that he—she assumed—was staying somewhere with a buddy for a day or two. So he wasn’t missed right away. Just like with Megan. So maybe a second victim chosen for opportunity, because nobody would immediately realize he was gone.”