“Wait. Do you mind cluing me in here? Me, your partner, the more experienced profiler?” Ruby said.

“It was a party. He killed her at a party. Three dozen people were there,” Gabe replied, sounding dazed.

Ruby blinked.

A party full of people and someone could be murdered, just like that, in the middle of the day? That was an entirely different kind of escalation. The killer went from narrowly avoiding being seen by a bus of people to escaping the scene with 30 potential witnesses?

“They don't have anybody in custody,” Gabe said. “How? How can a person kill somebody and get out of there?”

Ruby grabbed the car keys.

“Unfortunately, we're the ones that have to answer that,” she said.

She ignored the growing knot in her stomach that came from wondering if they ever would be able to answer that.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ruby batted away a balloon as she stepped ahead of Gabe, into the house. It made her stomach drop, the way the first floor had all the evidence of a good time, but that wasn’t why they were there. There was even still the hum of guests, gathered in the backyard, and separated out as police officers gathered statements from the mass of them.

A game of beer pong had been abandoned, ping pong balls floating in red Solo cups. Gold and red balloons bobbed against the ceiling, their spiraled ribbons trailing below them.

It was supposed to be a fun occasion and, instead, it had been turned into a crime scene. Ruby couldn’t imagine the emotional whiplash the guests must have been going through. They started the day off joyous and excited only to be devastated by a sudden loss.

Ruby made her way up the stairs, steeling herself for the grim juxtaposition of the scene they had been called for. Bloody footprints were drying into the carpet. Ruby sidestepped them carefully.

Forensics guys stepped back, out of their way. Sometimes, the local investigators took the FBI’s presence for granted. Here, the CSIs almost seemed relieved.  Ruby turned into the bathroom.

There was their third victim, a red-head tangled in the shower curtain, curled in the bathtub. She wore a light, airy dress appropriate for sitting in the back yard.

There was the same trail of bloody shoe prints, the same bloody footsteps leading away.

The same lack of any other sign of who might have done it.

Gabe gave the bathroom a sweeping glance. “Doesn’t look like a fight happened here.”

At first glance, it looked to Ruby like the killer surprised Pearl and managed to stab her before she was even able to react.

A forensics guy shook his head. “This guy’s clean. Doesn’t look like there’s even any hair or skin under her nails.”