“Yeah. It’s the same doll, same wig,” he said. “But get this…the dude was in clown makeup when he raped her. Not only that, he’s calling her Danielle the whole time he’s doing it.”

“Jesus,” she whispered. “Was the woman cooperative?”

“Oh, yeah. She did great, considering.” He pulled out a notepad from his coat pocket and flipped it open. “She got home around eight thirty. He was already inside. Grabbed her in her bedroom as she was changing out of her work clothes. He was there maybe thirty minutes. Left her on the bed, put the doll beside her, and walked out.”

“Evidence? Sperm?”

“Yeah, they did a workup, but she said the guy wore a condom. Disposed of it in the toilet.”

“Well, that was nice of him,” she said dryly.

“He had duct tape over her mouth, tied her to the bed. Before he left, he untied one hand so she could get free. That’s kinda unusual, isn’t it?”

“In this case, no. He wanted her free so she could report it. So we’d know what he did.” She paused. “So Dani would know what he did.”

“So he’s playing with us? That makes no sense. I thought he was just a stalker.”

“What is ‘just a stalker’?” she asked.

“Yeah, I know.” He put his notepad back, then shoved his hands in his pockets. “Mize wants to meet with us in the morning. But from what I gather, he’s going to let it be your call.”

“My call on what?”

“On what to do with Danielle Stevens.”

“My call? What? Is he afraid to make a decision?” She shook her head. “There’s not much of a decision anyway. Her stalker has turned into a rapist. He’s here now. It’s not like we can cut her loose and let her fend for herself.”

“If this was anybody else, we probably would,” he said. “We don’t make a habit of doing protective custody, you know.”

“You complaining?”

“Well, like you said, it won’t be my bed she’s sharing tonight.”

“You’re a pig, Springer.”

“Nah…just teasing. By the looks of it, she’ll be sleeping on the sofa tonight anyway. But what about tomorrow? And the day after? How long do you keep this up? As we both know, catching a rapist ain’t the easiest thing to do.”

“Is he a rapist? Or is he a stalker just doing the rape to get our attention? It’s still Danielle Stevens he’s after.”

“Yeah, well, our attempt at luring him didn’t work. And you know Mize won’t let you put her out on display somewhere as bait. She was only supposed to be here for a week,” he said. “We both know we’re not going to catch him in a damn week.”