Clearly just as frustrated, Diana said, “What’s the point of a heads-up if it doesn’t help us at all?”

“Who told you the Universe was fair?” Quentin asked dryly.

“You did.”

“I said it was balanced; I never said it was fair.”

“Balanced means we catch a break now and then, right?”

“One would think.”

“The crows could be a break,” Hollis pointed out. “They’ve certainly been visible today. Tia said they’d look for Simon specifically tomorrow and keep patrolling the valley.”

“Which could be a big help,” DeMarco agreed.

“Yeah, but . . . the crows don’t figure into the profile, right? I mean, however they’re able to help, we still need to figure out this unsub, and sooner rather than later.”

There were nods all around.

Bishop said, “We know he’s physically strong, he’s mobile, and he knows the area.”

“He’s a sadist,” Quentin contributed. “The victim that may be Cole Ainsworth was certainly tortured before death, his body dismembered and defiled after death. Broken bones stuck into the ground like some weird . . . I don’t even know what to call it. Megan’s remains were more or less intact, but basically skeletal, so we don’t know what he did to her, or whether he returned to her body after she was dead. Maybe to experiment.”

Hollis stirred. “Finn said there’d been no reports of animals going missing or being found dead or inexplicably hurt, right? And no reports of arson in the valley, not even small fires?”

“No,” Bishop replied. “None of the early signs we might expect from a budding typical serial.”

Diana said slowly, “Can we even consider him a typical serial? I mean, killing a series of people, yeah, but chances are better than good that he knows some if not all of his victims, right?”

“Given the size of the valley, the population, the time period we’re talking about, it’s likely,” Bishop agreed.

“Which affects the profile.”

He nodded. “They used to be called stranger killings; it was what made them so difficult to solve, because the killer had absolutely no connection with his victims, unlike in typical murders where connections and motives are usually pretty obvious. In this case, we’re all but certain he’s a part of the community here, the town, but victimology will likely be filled with too many overlaps to be helpful. Same church, same gym or grocery store, same doctor or clinic.”

“So again, all we can be fairly sure of so far is that victims are chosen from among the five families,” DeMarco said. “Which tells us he has a grudge and a plan.”

“And doesn’t tell us much more,” Bishop agreed.

“I wish Megan had told me more,” Hollis muttered, voicing a common complaint because she’d learned through bitter experience that spirits were seldom very helpful. “If she was his trigger, why? Just because she was leaving? People had left Salem before, for jobs, school, just to move away. What was it about Megan, about her leaving, that made her his first target? That’s what sticks out to me. Megan. And the way Diana and I were alerted in the gray time.”