Barnes nodded grimly as he got up from the chair and flicked the last of his cigarette into the yard. You want to talk about Mercy as a suspect without letting too many people know about it. Is that right?

I think its foolish to rule it out as a possibility without looking into it, Kate said. And while we look down that path, yes, youre right. The fewer people that know about it, the better.

Ill make the call to Foster on our way to the station.

He walked down the steps, staring down the reporter and her cameraman. It made Kate wonder if hed had at least one bad altercation with a news crew sometime during the last two days.

As she and DeMarco got into their car, she also gave the news crew a distrustful glance. She knew that in communities like Deton, a murder like this could be earth-shattering. And because of that, she knew that news crews in these areas would usually stop at nothing to get their story.

It made Kate wonder if maybe there was more of a story here than she was seeingand if so, what she might need to do to get all of the pieces.

CHAPTER THREE

The Deton police station was about what Kate had expected. It was tucked away on the far end of the main stretch along the highway, a plain brick building with an American flag billowing at the top. A few patrol cars sat parked along the side of it, their meager numbers a reflection of the town itself.

Inside, a large bullpen area took up most of the space. A large desk sat at the front, unattended. Actually, the place looked basically deserted. They followed Barnes to the back of the building, down a thin hallway that boasted only five rooms, one of which was labeled by a placard on the door with Sheriff Barnes. Barnes led them to the last room on the hall, a very small room set up as a conference room of sorts. An officer sat at the table inside, rifling through a small stack of documents.

Agents, meet Officer Foster, Barnes said.

Officer Foster was young man, probably creeping up on thirty years of age. He wore his hair in a buzzcut and had a scowl on his face. Kate could tell that he was a no-nonsense officer. He would not be cracking jokes to ease any tension and probably wouldnt bother with small talk to get to know the agents sitting in front of him.

Kate decided that she liked him right away.

Officer Foster has basically served as the hub for this case ever since we got that call from Pastor Poulson, Barnes explained. Any piece of information that has come through here has gone through his ears or eyes and hes added it to the case files. Any questions you have, he can probably answer.