But the twitching thirty-year-old refused, or was unable, to elaborate or provide names, details, anything of value, and after thirty minutes Cruz and Reddick left empty-handed. They’d been putting in long hours and were grabbing a late lunch at the Denny’s east of the Palmetto Expressway by the airport.

Cruz, frustrated at Taft’s cryptic, all-but-useless information, went back to square one with a vengeance as she worked on her iPad.

Earlier that morning, Frances Thorne, a crime analyst, had provided them with a fantastic geo-statistical timeline breakdown of burglaries that were similar to the Taylor case. Thorne drew upon data from Miami-Dade and those supplied by other jurisdictions. Her analysis covered Palm Mirage Creek, Coral Terrace, Coral Gables, South Miami, Pinecrest west to Olympia Heights and south to Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay.

“You think we’ll pull something from all of those pretty maps, graphs, pies and summaries?” Reddick bit into the first quarter of his club.

“It’s another tool we need to use, Joe, because so far we got nothing solid.”

Cruz stabbed her salad, shaking her head as she inventoried the status of the case. The video of Shadow Man—the name Cruz had given their suspect—had yielded nothing so far. The lab’s analysis of Lisa Taylor’s nightgown resulted in detailing some fibers but no DNA, nothing promising. Study of the Taylors’ phones, computers and list of contractors had not led to any leads, nor did the warrant on phone communication in the area for the time of the crime. No hits or flags from any of the regional or national databases so far.

“But the analysis we got from Frances this morning is custom-made specifically for us.” Cruz turned her iPad, giving Reddick a better look. “It’s very good. Thorne’s analysis went back three years, two years, one year, six months, then one month, breaking it down with dates, addresses and details, but only cases that have key aspects similar to the Taylor case.”

Cruz swiped through the information showing residences with no security system, then those where point of entry was a sliding door, those where it was a back door or window, those where little or nothing of value was stolen. She showed Reddick how they could superimpose any of the maps and data over any of the others. She noted that, of all the cases, the Taylor case was the only one where the residents confronted the intruder.

“Go back three years.” Cruz was chewing thoughtfully. “House in Cutler Bay, no security, side door, bedroom dresser rummaged, nothing stolen. Resident was away. Go back two years. Olympia Heights, no security, back window, nothing stolen, but while residents slept, house was messed up, even a girl’s bedroom while she was away.” She swiped. “A year ago, Palmetto Bay, residents absent, no security, side door, house ransacked.”

“But we don’t know if it’s the same guy. No evidence linking these cases,” Reddick said.