Ruby consoled her as best she could. These were the kind of moments she struggled with. It was difficult to compartmentalize crimes when she saw loved ones like this, mourning the loss of family. She had been there. It made her feel raw and feeling raw made her feel weak.

“It's okay. It's going to be okay,” Ruby said, over and over.

She had to believe that it would be okay. It was her job to make it so.

“It's not right,” Sylvia said. “He's getting away with it. He's still out there.”

“I know,” Ruby said. She did understand, possibly better than anyone else could. She too had someone she loved killed in a brutal way. The difference between them was Ruby had the power to stop the cycle. It was her responsibility.

“He's going to do it again. He's going to kill someone else.”

“I understand,” Ruby said. “We’re doing everything we can.”

Gabe shifted awkwardly, running over the notes he’d taken throughout the conversation just to give himself something to do.

“Thank you for talking to us,” Gabe said, after a few moments of silence. “We will let you know if we have any further questions. It was very brave of you to come forward.”

It took a moment for Sylvia to compose herself, drying her eyes on her sleeve. She adjusted her hat and turned to leave.

Ruby pondered it all as she watched Sylvia walk away. So many thoughts raced through her head--how biased was Sylvia? How obsessed was Brett?

“What do you think?” Gabe asked, looking a little relieved now that he could be blunt without having to tip-toe around Sylvia’s feelings. He watched Sylvia until she disappeared completely into the throngs of people walking the riverside.

Ruby turned and looked at him and could see he was wondering the same thing.

“I don't know,” Ruby said. “He sounds like he's capable of it.”

Statistically speaking, the majority of women killed in America were killed by romantic partners. Although Ruby focused on serial killers, killing strangers wasn’t the norm in crimes.

“It feels like she's trying to pin it on him, to get revenge,” he said.

She wanted to believe that it was someone random, with no connection to Alannah. Someone who hated her, but had never met her. Someone with no motive to hurt her.

“I'm not sure,” Ruby said. “She has a point. He could have done it. That doesn’t explain our other victim, but after what Sylvia told us, we have to look into the ex.”

“Maybe the first victim was practice before he struck against his real target,” Gabe suggested. It was an argument Ruby had to seriously consider. There was nothing but her gut instinct to cast doubt on it. Not until they dug further into the lead.