“Thank you, Rod.” McDade said. “I understand you’ve been assisted by Greg Rayner, one of our resident agents in Burlington. Greg, are you on the line?”

“Yes. In keeping with chain of evidence procedure, we’re arranging to collect the video and deliver it to the computer forensics lab at the Boston Field Office for further analysis and enhancing.”

“That brings me to the next steps,” McDade said. “At the end of the call, we’ll be issuing assignments and requests to members of the task force, FBI squads, and other agencies. And we’ll be dispatching additional FBI resources to join VSP in the missing-person case. Are there any questions?”

For the next 20 minutes, McDade addressed questions concerning the Hydra. Most dealt with timelines and details relating to specific jurisdictions. Then a question came from Curt Benko, a New York State Police investigator McDade didn’t know.

“Agent McDade,” Benko said, “didn’t your pursuit of the Hydra Killer personally involve you in the Starving Wolf murders in upstate New York?”

The room fell silent. McDade’s face whitened. Her mind flashed with images of Alison, and she was overcome with the desire to hold her at that very moment.

“That’s correct,” she said, recovering her voice. “That case was reported on extensively by the media,” she said. “For those of you who know, and those of you who don’t, the Starving Wolf case taught us a great deal, but it has no direct bearing on what we’re dealing with now.”

A ripple of nods went around the table just as McDade’s phone vibrated.

It was a call from Jen Geller.

McDade switched off her phone and cleared her throat.

“Finally, before we wrap up,” McDade said, “We’re going to go to Len Resher with the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico. Len, your observations on what we know so far?”

“Thanks, Jill. Up to now, all the Hydra cases, the ones we have confirmed, have been geographically located in or near major metropolitan areas. This time, the act has been far removed from a large city.”

“What does that tell us?” McDade asked.

“Little that we can decipher so far,” Resher said. “When measured against the previous crimes, we’ve got a long cooling-off period. The Vermont case could’ve been a matter of an opportunity, or a challenge that he couldn’t pass up.”

The sound of pages being turned could be heard as Resher continued.

“Another element here is the mystery vehicle stalking the student in the time leading up to her disappearance. Was that the Hydra? We don’t know. But if it was, why not attack then and there, in the situation where the victim was most vulnerable?