Dealing with the press was taking its toll. Not only the entire state of California, but the nation was watching this case with a magnifying glass. The national press had moved in. The story of the beautiful artist murdered in the beautiful setting was made even juicier by the back story of Oak Knoll with the sensational See-No-Evil murders and the upcoming trial of Peter Crane.

Throwing gasoline on an already hot fire, the story of the delivery of Marissa Fordham’s breasts to Milo Bordain had been leaked by someone to the hungry media pack.

Vince didn’t envy Dixon his public relations job on this. Dealing with the press and the public was like trying to satisfy a multitude of two-year-old children who wanted what they wanted NOW. None of them wanted to hear that this case wasn’t going to be solved overnight.

“And nobody has spotted her car,” Dixon said.

“No, sir.”

Dixon stared out the window for a moment. “What do you think, Vince?”

“She was pretty shaken up yesterday,” Vince said. He had claimed a seat for himself on the credenza built in along the outer wall of the office. Mendez and Hicks stood, nobody taking the much lower positioned chairs in front of the desk. Cops.

“She definitely knows more about Marissa and what got her killed than she told us,” he went on. “My gut tells me they were in something together. Marissa would have been the leader. Gina probably got dragged along for the ride.”

“We’re thinking blackmail,” Mendez said. The Lidocaine had finally worn out of his face so he didn’t have to talk out the side of his mouth. But his lip was still fat beneath his mustache. “There’s a reason why nobody seems to know who Haley’s father is. And we still haven’t located a birth certificate.”

“That would explain how she came to have that much money in the trust account for the little girl,” Dixon said.

“That would also make sense looking at the crime,” Vince said. “The personal quality of the attack, the amount of rage involved, the concentration of stab wounds to the lower abdomen, removal of the breasts—”

“Right down to the knife in the vagina,” Mendez added.

“Exactly,” Vince said. “The killer’s rage was focused on everything that made Marissa a woman—every body part related to reproduction.”

“And we have plenty of candidates for the title of Dad, don’t we?” Dixon said.

“The list goes on and on,” Hicks said. “And those are just the men we know about. It’s just as apt to be somebody she didn’t date openly, right? I mean, the guys she was seeing casually are single men. It might be embarrassing for one of them to have a kid pop up, but it wouldn’t ruin anybody.”

“Steve Morgan isn’t a single man,” Mendez pointed out.