“What’s the time frame on the completion of the investigation?” said a reporter from CNN, who’d managed to squeeze past the local media.

“We’re working around the clock,” Lynch said.

“Is Detective Coletti still involved in the investigation?” asked the reporter from the Inquirer.

“Several detectives are working on the case,” Lynch said with a warning glance.

“Does that number include Detective Coletti?” the reporter pressed. “I mean, if the killer was writing notes to him, it seems improper to have him working on the case.”

Lynch took a deep breath and pursed his lips in an effort to hold in the stream of profanity that had made its way to the tip of his tongue. Then he looked at the reporter and spoke in a calm, steady voice.

“I’ll make a deal with you,” he said. “I’ll decide what’s proper in this department, and you can decide what’s proper in your paper.”

The reporter shrunk back in the face of Lynch’s withering stare, but another rose up to ask the most salient question.

“Does this young man’s death mean that the killing spree is over?”

“No comment,” Lynch said.

Then he got in his car and drove to headquarters. He had a few questions of his own.

Chapter 13

Coletti, Mann, and Smithson tore through the handful of files pertaining to the homicides that took place in Philadelphia on December 30, 2005.

When none of them fit the pattern, Smithson went into the captain’s office to search online police records, while Coletti sat at his desk and searched his soul.

Mann could see the pain in his partner’s eyes, and though he wanted to tell the older man not to blame himself for all that had happened, the young detective first had to deal with himself.

Mann needed time to reflect on the life he’d taken at the train station. He needed time to check on Sandy after chasing angels and demons. He needed time to hold her and whisper things a man says to a woman. But when Mary Smithson came out of the captain’s office with a printout, he knew, just as they all did, that time was a luxury they couldn’t afford.

“I think I found our other murder,” Smithson said, tossing the sheet of paper onto the desk in front of Coletti.

Mann joined them at the desk.

“It wasn’t in the records here because it didn’t happen in Philadelphia,” she explained. “It happened in Darby, right outside the city, in a storefront church.”

“So where did you find it?” Coletti asked.

“State police records.”

“Any press on it?”

“A one-paragraph mention on page 20 of the Daily News. Frankly, I’m surprised there was that much coverage, considering it happened between Christmas and New Year’s and the victim was a drug addict.”

“So what were the details of the case?” Mann asked.