“A few seconds later the guy in the pickup got it started, and the guy with the shotgun said something to me in this really freaky voice.”

“What’d he say?” Coletti asked.

“He said the war had already begun, and he told me not to pick the wrong side, because if I did, I’d be dead in a day.” He looked Coletti in the eye. “That’s why it took me so long to report it. I was afraid he might be right.”

Coletti looked at Mann, who stood up before asking a final question.

“Was there anything about either of them that stood out? Anything you might’ve forgotten when you filed the stolen car report?”

“Yeah,” he said. “There was one thing I forgot to mention. The guy with the shotgun had a tattoo on the back of his right hand. It looked like some kind of skull. Right underneath the skull it said, ‘Daniel 10.’”

It was midnight when Lynch walked into homicide with a Box o’ Joe from Dunkin’ Donuts. Smiling, he opened the door to the captain’s office, where Mary Smithson was at the computer, scrambling to put together a profile on the killer.

“How’s it going, Lieutenant?” he asked pleasantly.

She looked up at his smiling face and thought of all the things he’d implied the last time they spoke. She remembered the way he’d glared at her when she returned from Graterford with Coletti. She didn’t trust him.

“I’m…fine,” she said warily.

“That’s good,” Lynch said, pouring a cup of coffee and taking a large gulp. “Want a cup?”

She wanted to refuse it, but Smithson was as tired as everyone else. She’d been going since early that morning, and her eyes felt like they were ready to shut. “Yes, thank you.”

Lynch poured the coffee and handed it to her. Then he sat down. “I didn’t get a chance to say it earlier, but we’re glad to have you working this case,” he said.

Smithson decided to slice through the pleasantries. “Why are you being nice to me?” she asked in an icy tone.

Lynch laughed. “I guess I deserve that for being so rough on you earlier. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve never seen an attractive woman pay attention to Coletti. It seemed a little strange.”

She took a sip of the coffee. “Oh, I get it,” she said with a grin. “You think I’m attractive, so you want me for yourself.”

“No, I’m married, and since the kid’s finally off at college, I figure I might as well stick it out with the wife.”

“That doesn’t answer my original question,” she said. “Why are you being nice to me?”

“We need you now,” Lynch said frankly. “That’s the first reason.”

“What’s the second reason?”