“That’s correct,” Morrow said. “Our task force concerns an ongoing investigation into a series of unsolved homicides across the US committed by one individual. Loften’s a person of interest. I’ll background you, but this is highly confidential.”

Morrow began swiping at her tablet and, for the next twenty minutes, provided a detailed history of The Collector case, showing them geo-timelines, case summaries and key-fact evidence.

Then she highlighted factors in Loften’s arrest, his use of a serrated knife, his possession of condoms and women’s underwear; how it was believed he stalked and studied his targets online; how Loften appeared to be a drifter who’d traveled to a number of states; how they could place him in Indiana and Kentucky within the time of two attacks; and many other points, like the type of cord found in Loften’s motel.

“That’s a lot of cherries coming up for him,” Reddick said.

“A disturbing number,” Morrow said.

“But our guy collects underwear; your guy collects driver’s licenses. That’s a distinction,” Reddick said.

“Yes, but the trophy-collection element fits with the pattern,” Morrow said. “And here’s another one of our challenges that prevents us from ruling him out. Going back to the case in Louisville, Kentucky, we got a partial thumbprint, but the quality was poor. When you grabbed Loften and printed him, we ran his prints against the partial, but it doesn’t give us enough for our examiners to suggest consistency with Loften. So we’re thinking about his serrated knife. What have your people pulled from it?”

The detectives traded glances. “Still being processed,” Cruz said.

“All right,” Morrow said. “But you collected Loften’s DNA when you arrested him, right?”

“We did, but we haven’t submitted it to CODIS or the other data banks yet because it’s still being processed, too,” Cruz said.

Thinking, Morrow tapped her pen on her file. “What have your forensic people found on his laptop and phones? Anything showing how he stalked targets and others?”

“Not much so far because nearly all of his devices are locked,” Reddick said. “It’s frustrating for us, too. We got three homicides from an arson in South Miami-Dade and four homicides from the warehouse shooting near Cutler all being processed ahead of us. It’s going to take time.

“And it wouldn’t be a good idea for the FBI to pull our Loften material out of the queue to process it yourselves because, if nothing comes of it, it could muck up chain-of-evidence when things get to court for the case we do have.”

“No,” Morrow said, “I agree.”

“We could try to push things, but it would be futile,” Cruz said. “The other cases are multiple homicides with grieving families waiting.”

“I understand, believe me,” Morrow said.

“Besides,” Reddick said, “Loften’s in the Dade county jail, or what we now call the Pre-Trial Detention Center. He’s not going anywhere.”