“That’s what we said too,” Dani Carlucci replied. She was tall, blonde and stacked, not that Freddie noticed such things. No sir, not when he had the incredibly gorgeous Elin at home in his bed. Dani’s partner, Gigi Dominguez, was a shrimp next to her Amazon-like partner, but every bit as gorgeous with dark hair and olive-toned skin.

“What’ve we got so far?” Gonzo asked. He’d recently been promoted to detective sergeant, which made him the ranking officer on the scene.

Carlucci consulted her notebook. “The home is owned by William and Marissa Springer. According to the maid, who is upstairs with patrol, the parents are at their home in Aspen this weekend. The maid confirmed their seventeen-year-old son, Hugo, is among the victims.” Carlucci pointed to a young man with dark hair and a trim, muscular build who’d been repeatedly stabbed in the back while having intercourse with a female victim, who was dead under him on one of the sofas.

“We found drug paraphernalia and all kinds of booze,” Carlucci continued, gesturing to a pool table that was covered with bottles and pipes and pills. Clothes and cups and bottles were also all over the floor and furniture. “We think they were all so out of it and caught up in the sex that they never saw the attack coming.”

“What I want to know,” Freddie said, “is how you can kill this many people, with a knife, and not have the others hear the first ones being killed.”

“They were high and drunk and getting laid and not paying attention,” Dominguez said bluntly. “Plus the maid said most of the lights were off and the music was blasting when she got home, so whatever happened occurred mostly in the dark.”

“Any sign of forced entry?” Gonzo asked.

“Not that we could see at any of the doors, and all the first-floor windows are locked,” Carlucci replied.

“So it could’ve been someone who was at the party,” Freddie said, his heart heavy with the task that lay ahead of notifying parents. Dealing with victims’ families was one of the most difficult parts of a difficult job, especially when young people were involved.

“We called Dr. McNamara in on this one and requested she bring help,” Carlucci said of the District’s chief medical examiner, who usually relied on deputies to cover for her on weekends. “And crime scene is on the way.”

“The owners of the home have been notified?” Gonzo asked.

“Yes, the maid gave us their number, and we called them,” Dominguez said. “It was horrible.”

“Wonder what they were thinking leaving their seventeen-year-old son home alone,” Freddie said.