The younger reporters glanced around the group; the older ones laughed. In the front row, one reporter didn’t change expression at all. Paul Decker worked as a stringer for WRTL, a struggling young affiliate trying to hang on to a thin sliver of viewership in the competitive top-ten market of Washington, D.C. WRTL couldn’t afford the top talent that stations like WRC-TV could—the really hot-looking anchors working their way up through the smaller markets along the East Coast—and they couldn’t afford their own helicopter like FOX 5. WRTL didn’t have the deep pockets or the power or the prestige to go toe-to-toe with the larger stations; what they did have was reporters like Decker, hungry and ambitious men working on a pay-per-piece basis who would kill for a regular salary and benefits. WRTL said they wanted local news, but Decker had been around long enough to know that nobody wanted a story about the new Smithsonian exhibit or the latest demonstration on the mall. The stories that sold were sensational— the more sensational the better—and Decker thought that a presidential candidate with his own personal graveyard had definite possibilities.

Decker pressed closer and pointed his microphone in Donovan’s face. “Mr. Donovan—Paul Decker, WRTL. How many more of these double graves does the FBI expect to find here?”

“There’s no way to tell, Mr. Decker, until we finish the excavations.”

“But two of the first four graves contained additional bodies—doesn’t that suggest that you’ll find more?”

“If you win the lottery, that doesn’t suggest you’ll win it again. As I said, there’s just no way to tell.”

“Do you have any theories yet about why these people were murdered?”

“We don’t know for certain that they were murdered.”

“Can you offer any other explanation for the way they were buried?”

Donovan paused. “No, I can’t.”

“So are we talking about a serial killer here?”

“Whoa, let’s slow down a minute. The FBI is involved here because of the discovery of two bodies buried in a similar way—and yes, that raises the possibility of a serial killer, but it’s only a possibility. The problem is, these bodies are old—we have no idea how old yet. We’ve brought in both a forensic entomologist and a forensic anthropologist to help us solve that problem, but we don’t have an answer yet.”

“Can we interview them?” Decker asked.

“They’ve been instructed to keep me apprised of any new developments, and I’ll be more than happy to pass that information on to you.”

“In other words, no.”

“In other words, no.”

“How do they know where to dig?” a Washington Times reporter asked. “Is there a map of this place? A list of the people buried here? Can we get a copy of it?”