Lindsay did her best to mirror the other woman’s matter-of-fact attitude. “If he did have an accomplice, he’d be pretty old by now. That would be rare, wouldn’t it?”

“There’s a theory that some serial killers just stop—they age out. But there are exceptions. If your theory panned out, my guess is that the accomplice would be a younger person. Almost like an apprentice. Summer could have even groomed a vulnerable child he had access to in some manner. Exposed him to violence early on. Encouraged him to inflict it on others. If the accomplice was in his early twenties during Summer’s killings, or even a teenager, he’d only be in his forties today, max, and could definitely still be active. You said your dad managed to get this information from that detective in East Hampton. Have either of you contacted the WPD?”

“My father did. They wouldn’t give him the time of day. That’s why I called you. From what I can tell, you really poured yourself into the case. I’m very sorry, by the way, about your father. Having a cop as a dad isn’t easy. Luckily, mine never had to deal with anything so gruesome.”

“But he did the job,” Ellie said. “It’s more dangerous for an officer to go out on a domestic call or initiate a traffic stop than to work a homicide investigation. You know what it’s like to see someone you love leave for work and know that it could all go south.”

“Though to be clear,” Lindsay said, “I’ve learned as a defense attorney that a whole lot of Americans who aren’t cops have to worry that this might be the day it all goes south—for selling loose cigarettes, having a barbecue, or asking some lady to put her dog on a leash while watching the birds at a park. All because someone calls the police on them.” Lindsay immediately wondered if she might have sabotaged any chance she had of forging an alliance.

“You’re not wrong,” Ellie said.

“Hope wasn’t vulnerable to that danger in the usual sense,” Lindsay said, “but I’m still worried about her.” It was why Lindsay had not taken up her father’s suggestion of reporting the Honda Civic stolen.

“You really don’t have any other theories as to what happened to your friend?” Ellie asked.

“I have a million theories, but this is the one I keep coming back to.”

“Humor me with one of the others.”

She knew Scott’s leading theory. She dumped everything from her past, including me. That one she wasn’t willing to share.

“It’s possible that she had been running from trouble before her car accident, and it finally caught up to her.”