“What happened?” Mendez asked, pulling his notebook out of his coat pocket.

“The girl was buried in Jane’s garden,” Dixon said. “Same as Lisa Warwick, with just her head exposed.”

“Jesus.”

“Lucky for the girl Jane didn’t just assume she was dead.”

“The dogs were barking,” Jane Thomas said, her voice soft and tremulous. She looked at the floor as if that might help her concentrate. “Last night. Petal woke me up. I looked at the clock. It was three twenty-three. She was beside herself, howling and wanting out. I thought it was just that there were coyotes in the arroyo. I never imagined . . . If only I had gone to look—”

“Jane, we’ve been over this,” Dixon said, his hand on her shoulder. “You couldn’t have known, and you sure as hell shouldn’t have gone out to look.”

“I could have called you,” she said, big teardrops tumbling down her cheeks. “But I didn’t do that, either.”

“It’s not your fault, Miss Thomas,” Mendez said. “This is the fault of the man who took her and abused her, no one else’s.”

“Thank God I had to get up early to meet Steve,” she said. “Where is he? Did he come?”

She looked around as if he might suddenly materialize in the room.

“Steve Morgan?” Mendez asked.

“Yes. He came over at seven. We had a meeting scheduled to plan the press conference.” Her eyes went round. “Oh my God. The press conference! What time is it?”

“I wouldn’t worry about the press,” Dixon said. “Whenever you’re ready, they’ll come running. It’s more important for you to be here. Right? If Miss Vickers comes around, you’ll want to be the first to know.”

“Yes, right,” she murmured, shivering inside the blanket again. “But someone will have to call them.”

“It’ll be taken care of, Jane. And I want you looked at,” he said, giving her a warning eye.

She didn’t object as another tremor rattled through her. “He didn’t help me,” she said.

“Who didn’t help you?”

“Steve. It was like one of those nightmares where you’re trying to tell somebody something, but they don’t understand you. He just stood there.”

Dixon stepped away from her. Mendez moved with him.

“I want everyone in the war room in an hour.”

Mendez nodded. “The media is going to be in a feeding frenzy over this.”

“And we’ve got nothing to tell them. Do we?”

“Is that a question or an order?”

“A question.”

“Leads are being followed. We have no comment to make on persons of interest at this time,” Mendez said. “Vince was right. This guy wants credit for his work.”

“He wants to make us look like fools.”

“So far, he’s succeeding.”

“She didn’t have her necklace,” Jane said, seemingly talking to herself.

Dixon looked at her. “What?”