Green peeled the wet fabric of the dead girl’s dress up over the girl’s hips. She wasn’t wearing underwear and her genitals were waxed. Exposed like that, she looked so bare and vulnerable that Archie had to resist the urge to take his jacket off and cover her. Green indicated the girl’s waist. Archie and Henry peered forward to look. Above her bony hips, carved into her cold pale flesh, a purple line encircled her midsection like a belt. A ligature mark. Like she had been bound. “My guess is she was weighed down with something tied around her midsection,” Green said. “Thrown in the lake. Then maybe came loose, or someone had a change of heart.” She pulled the blue fabric back down over the girl’s legs.

“Was she sexually assaulted?” Henry asked.

Green looked at him hard. “What do you think?”

Archie glanced over at Henry. Major Case had a lot of discretion. The task force could claim almost any case they wanted. That had been the deal. Archie had given up his health and his sanity in pursuit of the Beauty Killer, and in exchange his team got the pick of the litter moving forward. “I want this one,” Archie said.

Henry looked neither especially surprised nor especially enthusiastic. “You think that’s a good idea?” he asked.

Green’s eyes widened at something behind them, and Archie turned to see Raul Sanchez heading down the dock. He had changed out of the safari jacket into an FBI windbreaker and FBI cap, the white lettering bright against blue.

“Oh, goodie, more cops,” Green said grudgingly.

Sanchez had his badge out, which seemed redundant considering what he was wearing. “Raul Sanchez,” he announced to Green, as he stepped between Archie and Henry. “FBI.”

“I can see that,” she said. She didn’t sound impressed.

“So?” Sanchez asked Archie. “What do we have here?”

Henry gave Archie a look.

“One of the party guests from last night turned up dead,” Archie said. “Major Case is taking over the investigation. We’re going to need any surveillance footage you have of guests arriving or leaving last night.”

Sanchez squinted. Archie could see him considering his options. If they had footage of the girl coming onto the island, and no footage of her leaving, that was probable cause. They could get a warrant to search the entire island.

Sanchez groped for a phone that was clipped to the waistband of his pants. “I’m going to have to make some calls,” he said. He turned and took a step on the dock, almost lost his footing, recovered, and then continued gingerly toward the yard.

Green stood up. “I better go tell the others what we’re dealing with. Get some crime scene techs out here.”

“We’ve got this,” Henry told her. “We’ll have her transferred to our morgue.”

Green gave Archie and Henry a long look. “You have kids?” she asked.