“I’ll be okay. It’s like going on a fairground ride—you get tipped up and down and rolled around, but when it’s over your stomach settles.” It’s true. Her equilibrium is returning. “At the end of the day, he’s still in there and I’m out here. And he completed the questionnaire.”

“What?”

“Here.” She hands it to him. “Don’t give it to Cooper before we’ve had a look at it.”

Bell stares at the folder in his hands, holds it as carefully as she did. She’s suddenly, forcefully relieved that he didn’t come in with her to the interview. The memory of Gutmunsson’s taunts brings up an uneasy vision of Bell, enraged, leaping the sawhorses, putting himself within arm’s reach.…

“Another thing. Simon Gutmunsson knows something about Pennsylvania. I was right—the whole interview was a sting, and Gutmunsson is a part of it somehow. I need to talk to Cooper about—”

“One second.” Bell touches her arm lightly. “We’ve got the car ride with Cooper. Pitch it to me first.”

“Gutmunsson talked about the Pennsylvania killer’s purpose,” she says. “Suggested it might relate to the way he chooses victims and prepares the bodies. I need to know the details of the case before I can put it together.”

“I can fill in the gaps with what I know.”

“This might all end up leading toward an active case, Bell, and we were told to steer clear of anything other than our assignments. Are you comfortable with that?”

He glowers at the asylum, returns his gaze to Emma.

“I can’t go in there. But I can support you out here. If you want to get involved, I’ll back you up.” Bell spares another glance toward the asylum’s doorway, where their boss is still talking to the superintendent. “Let’s go sit in the car and figure this out before Cooper’s done.”

They crunch across the gravel together. The interior of the Plymouth is warm, almost stuffy. It’s still better than standing outside the asylum, feeling the building loom.

Emma rubs a hand across the bristles at her nape. “Okay, tell me.”

Bell dumps the folder on the seat between them like it’s heavy. “Everything I’ve got is from the media. There’s four victims in the case so far. The first was in Crozet, three months ago. The second was in Luray in April. The most recent victims were found in Pennsylvania, between Harrisburg and Carlisle—two in one hit. All the victims are under twenty-one. All the bodies were found in garbage dumps.”

“What other commonalities?”

“All of them had their throats cut.”

Emma tries not to flinch. “Anything else? All women?”

“No—and he’s crossing racial lines as well. Two of the victims were white, but the boy in Luray was African American and one of the Carlisle victims was Puerto Rican. The first two were still dressed, but the most recent victims were found in their underwear.”

“So they were tied up? What about sexual assault?”

“I don’t have information on that. Evidence of ligature use, but they’d been untied before they were dumped. No fingerprints. This guy is very careful.”