The younger woman was named Kristen Marshall. The older woman was named Liz McDaniel, but she went by Sister. The man with the bushy beard was named Devin Longman. Nick’s last name was Campbell.

He’d already gotten their full names from Mary Riley, who required full names from everyone who spent the night at the facility, but he’d wanted to start a conversation, and asking people their names was always an easy start. Everyone knew the answer. He went down the line, and they each said their names and spelled them for him.

“Got it,” Archie said. They were all kids, no one over twenty-five.

“What happened to you?” Nick asked. Even in his donated homeless shelter sweats and Colorado Rockies T-shirt, he held himself with easy confidence. The man in charge.

Archie ran a hand through his wet hair and coughed. “It’s raining.”

Did he look that bad?

“Thanks for helping us out with the dogs,” Nick said.

Archie had done this next part more times than he cared to remember. In the Beauty Killer days, when the body count challenged the imagination, Archie had always felt that he needed to be the one. The family deserved that—to get the news from the head of the task force himself. Besides, Archie wouldn’t wish causing that kind of pain on anyone else.

“We found a body today, in the river,” Archie said. He paused to let that sink in, but as he glanced from face to face he saw that they instantly knew; they always did. And as much as they knew, they hoped they were wrong. “I saw him with you last night. The kid with the braided goatee.”

The younger woman, Kristen, lifted her hands over her mouth. “D.K.,” she said though her fingers.

Archie wrote down D.K. in his notebook. Then asked, “Do you know his full name?”

“Dennis something,” Nick said. He turned to the others. “Keating? Keller?”

“Keller,” Kristen said behind her hands.

Archie wrote that down. “You know where he was from?” he asked.

“K-Falls,” Bushy Beard said. Klamath Falls was a high desert town near the Oregon-California border. Archie checked his notes. Devin Longman.

Kristen let her hands fall from her mouth onto her lap, in tight fists. “His mom lives there,” she said. “And a stepdad. They didn’t get along.” She squinted at Archie skeptically. “He’s dead?”

“I’m sorry,” Archie said.

“I left him,” Nick said. His gaze was fixed on the floor, but his eyes shone with fierce intensity. “Last night, I left him behind.”

“What happened?” Archie asked.