“I did too. Do me a favor and hold off for a short time on removing bodies. The mother of one of the vics is next door, and she doesn’t need to see that. Malone is sending over additional patrol officers to move the press back too.”

“Gotcha. I’ve got plenty still to do here anyway. There’re three more in the back bedroom.”

“More?” Sam said with a gasp.

“Back here,” Gonzo said grimly, leading Sam to a bedroom where another couple had been stabbed, possibly midcoitus. The young man was sprawled on top of a female victim whose throat had been slashed, their bloodied bodies twisted together grotesquely.

Based on the description of Todd Brantley, she decided that he was the male victim. “So there’re eight all together?”

“Nine.” He pointed to another naked girl on the floor at the foot of the bed.

“And the rest of the house has been checked?”

“Yes, the incident appears to have been confined to the basement.”

“Do you have any gloves?”

Gonzo pulled a set of latex gloves from his coat pocket and handed them to her.

After Sam gloved up she went around to the other side of the bed, stepping over the body of the ninth victim as she went. She raised the comforter and took note of the fact that there was only one white sheet on the bed—the fitted one that covered the mattress. The flat sheet was missing, and the comforter was hanging off the bed as if someone had pulled hard on it.

She told herself that none of this meant the sheet from this bed had been the one wrapped around Brooke. All she knew for sure after her inspection was that there wasn’t a second sheet on the bed.

“What do we have in the way of identification for the victims?” she asked Gonzo, who had watched her inspection of the bed without comment.

“Crime scene has found several wallets and cell phones.” He gestured to the pool table where evidence bags were accumulating.

Her heart pounding with fear and dread, Sam went to the pool table and took a look at the bags. Would she recognize a purse, wallet or phone that belonged to her niece? Probably not. Like most girls her age, Brooke had all kinds of bags and phone cases and other such accessories.

“Have you kept a list of victims’ names and addresses?”

Gonzo handed her a notebook with a list of nine names and nine addresses.

Sam scanned the list, relieved not to see any names she recognized. “Good work. Where are we with notifications?”

“Carlucci and Dominguez are handling that.”

“What does it say about me as their lieutenant that my first thought upon hearing that is, thank God I don’t have to do it?”

“Their sergeant had the same thought. What does it say about both of us?”