“Take a walk with me,” he said as he put his hand on the small of her back and started down the sidewalk away from the building. “I want you to show me where the kids found the body.”

“Can’t Detective Mendez do that?”

“He’s otherwise engaged and not nearly as pretty.”

“What’s going on?” Anne asked, falling in step with him, ignoring the compliment. He was a natural flirt. He couldn’t help himself. “Have they found the missing woman yet?”

The weight of his hand felt good against her back, but shouldn’t have. She wasn’t in the habit of letting people touch her, but she made no effort to stop him.

“No,” he said. “Not yet.”

“But someone’s been arrested, right?” she asked looking up at him. “I saw that on the news this morning.”

“Yes,” he answered, his face carefully blank.

“But?”

He cocked a brow at her. “I’m not at liberty to discuss an ongoing investigation.”

“Oh. But you can feel free to recruit me into it.”

He dodged the barb. “Did you speak to the boy?”

“Yes, and I feel like a creepy sneak, thanks for asking.”

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, Anne.”

“He thinks his father was home that night because they watch Cosby together. A boy and his loving, caring father sit down together and watch a wholesome family comedy.”

“What about Mom?”

“She has no sense of humor. But I would certainly buy her as a serial killer before her husband.”

He chuckled at that. “I heard she was a little upset this morning.”

“I’ve discovered this week that Janet Crane does not become a little upset.”

“Gee, and she was so pleasant to me today. Must be my charm and stunning good looks,” he teased.

A little smile tugged at the corner of Anne’s mouth as she looked up at him. “Must be. Here we are.”

The area around where the body had been buried was still corralled with yellow tape. Vince ducked under it and walked into the shallow grave. He stood there for a couple of minutes, saying nothing, looking very serious as he surveyed the area for 360 degrees around the spot.

“How well do you know this park?” he asked.

“I grew up six blocks from here.”

“Is there another way to get to this spot other than the way we just came?”

“There’s a service road about twenty yards over that rise,” she said, pointing in the general direction behind him. “The sheriff’s office is maybe a quarter of a mile beyond that.”

Even though there was probably two hours of daylight left, it was growing dark in the woods. And cold. Anne hugged herself and tried not to imagine what it would be like to have some evil monster carrying her in here to plant her body in the ground.