Since then they’ve had nearly three hours of pedestrian logs and the occasional report when SWAT changes their jogging guy over, or when somebody needs a bathroom break or notes they’re bugging for a cigarette. Bell holds the fort while Emma dashes to the bathroom herself, then she keeps an ear out while Bell fetches water and coffee and cookies. Medhurst is appreciative. The cookies don’t look as good as her mother’s and Emma ignores them.

Now Bell is sitting on a swivel chair beside her, his arms crossed and his chin low as he concentrates. He tilts a fraction, until their warm shoulders meet. “It’s going okay.”

Emma has the edge of a fingernail between her teeth. “I want this to work.”

“I know.”

“More than anything.”

“I know.”

Bell’s eyes hold hers, and Emma feels her own wants rising inside. She wants the Butcher to fall into the net. To see him dangle the way he made his victims dangle. She wants this constant fizz of dread and anxiety inside herself gone.

But she’s been on hunts with her dad and she knows what it’s like to wait in the blind, to sight and fire and still miss.

This time, she doesn’t want to miss.

Just after 1400 hours, Cooper rubs his eyes. The body is a funny thing kept under tension, and he knows to stretch and hydrate and give himself a minute every now and then. He’s familiar with surveillance’s weird combination of boredom and strain, and he’s spent plenty of hours in Dodge Ram surveillance vans just like this one, learning patience.

There are swivel chairs in the cramped interior of the van, plus a tiny desk and low-wattage lamps. Mike Martino has turned on the little internal fan, and the oscillating breeze lifts papers at the desk.

“P4 says we’ve got pedestrian traffic coming through from the hospital.” Martino adjusts his headset to speak to Cooper. “The kids are okay back at the Fairfax County office?”

“Yeah, they’re set up on comms.”

“The girl really kept her cool about that stuff in the letter.” Martino keeps a steady log, watching through the tripod camera and the small Betamax video camera.

“She’s good.” Cooper has worked with Martino a number of times before, shared some war stories. “They’re both good. They’re pretty much the reason we’re all here right now with a solid lead, instead of chasing our tails in Berryville.”

“Glad to hear that.”

“Mike, do me a favor. If I’m caught up elsewhere and Raymond starts pitching curveballs at the kids, you and Carter follow up with them, okay? I don’t want them to get rolled.”

“No problem.” Martino squints. “They’re really that good?”

“I think they’ve got a lot of potential. They’re young as hell, but weren’t we all?”

“True enough. I’ll keep an eye out.” Martino adjusts the camera focus. “Two nurses moving south from our twelve o’clock and a jogger turning in from Woodburn One. And a vehicle coming through from Woodburn Three.”