Cade had left the child on a park bench, then waited out of sight until a beat cop had come by and taken him to the hospital. Then Cade had taken the old man to the woods at the river’s edge, cut him up while he’d still been alive to feel every slice, and fed him to the fishes.

Now he wondered if the man’s bones would be among those the divers pulled out of the Ohio River. Probably not. It had been four years since Cade had dumped him into the river. Silt would have covered any remains by now.

And even if the cops did find the old man, Cade wasn’t sorry. The piece of shit had needed to die. I’m just happy I was there to do it.

The old pedo had been the first, but there had been others since. The home health nurse in Indianapolis who’d stolen the life savings of her patients. Several other pedos—male and female.

There was also the man who’d beaten his wife nearly to death in front of their son, but who’d been out on bail the very next day, returning home to finish the job a few months later. That one hit far too close to home and he’d taken particular satisfaction in hearing the murdering bastard’s screams.

The cops hadn’t protected any of those victims. So I did.

Not all of the doers had ended up in the river. Some, like Richard, were staged as accidents, especially if they were people Cade knew. Some, like his father, had lived in spite of Cade’s best efforts. Some, like the good doctor last night, were simply unfortunate collateral damage. Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet.

Speaking of which, he was starving. He’d skipped too many meals yesterday. He swung his legs over the side of the bed with a grunt. He’d pulled a muscle as he’d run to his SUV after killing Dr. Garrett.

“I’m getting too old to be jumping fences like that,” he grumbled aloud. But some ibuprofen would take care of his aches and pains. Thirty wasn’t that old.

He fried a few eggs on the ancient stove that had come with the house. All the appliances were tottering on the edge of life, but now that he was leaving town, he was happy that he hadn’t cared enough to replace any of them.

Clearly the old pedo who’d built the place hadn’t cared, either. The man had had money. Cade had found piles of cash in a lockbox in the basement, which was fitting because the basement was where all the pedo’s money had been spent.