“How young?”

“Eighteen to twenty-five.”

“But he’s crossing racial and gender lines. What makes Cooper think he’s not crossing age lines as well?”

“He needs real physical strength to commit these murders.” Bell points to the bottom lines of notes. “That suggests a younger, more athletic suspect. Cooper thinks this is a young guy with a grudge.”

Emma squints. “Like he got bullied in high school or something?”

“Maybe he got beaten on. It would make sense of why he’s focused on people his age.”

“I can see why Cooper let us in on this.” Emma turns another page. “Here’s the first victim.”

“Carol Lambton.” Bell touches a high school graduation photo delicately. “Found in Crozet. But he got her from Staunton. And they’re all like that. He takes them from one town and dumps them in another. The two kids found in Pennsylvania both came from Martinsburg.”

“So he’s on the move. He’s got a vehicle. He travels up and down I-81. He could be driving back and forth from college, or to see family.”

“Or he could have a job. Musician, delivery guy, junior salesman.”

Emma knows what this means. “He can pass for normal. He’s smart. Organized. And strategic. He doesn’t just do them and dump them in the same town. There’s nothing spontaneous about this. He’s thought about it a lot.” She considers it. “So he’s not impulsive—he’s got a lot of control. Doesn’t that mean older, statistically?”

“Yeah, but I think Cooper’s on the right track. A younger perpetrator would find it easy to attract new victims—they wouldn’t suspect someone close to their age. He could just hang out with the kids in any town and fit right in. And look how strong he is.” Bell turns pages until he finds the second victim profile. “He’d have to overpower them, but look at Lamar Davis—football, athletics, full-ride scholarship at University of Mary Washington. He’s fitter than me.” He glances at Emma. “He’d be hard to take down in a fight.”

Another realization. “So maybe he doesn’t fight them. Let me see the toxicology again?” She checks the report, finds the note she needs to confirm. “It says here he etherizes them. All of them.”

“But then he’s still got to hang them up. Davis has got to be, what, one-sixty? One-seventy? He’s a big guy. That’s heavy work, and there’s no evidence to show the killer used pulleys or anything like that to hang up the victims.”

“He learned from that, though, see? Sienna Ramirez in Carlisle—a hundred pounds. And the other Carlisle victim, Brian Barnes. He isn’t big either. And Barnes is younger. Younger is easier.” Emma is thinking hard. “What does he see in them?”

Bell grimaces. “Different genders, different races, different physical makeup… I don’t know. They’re all young.”

“They’re all young, they’re more vulnerable, more trusting. He can be more opportunistic.”

“Maybe he’s someone they think they can trust? A teacher’s aide, a camp counselor.”

“A college tutor. Or a junior cop?”