Dave Thompson had over twenty years on the force, and naturally he’d seen things and done things no one should ever have to see or do. When he was a patrolman, the single worst assignment had been delivering bad news in person. There is nothing quite like the look of horror a cop gets when he appears at someone’s door unannounced and asks to be admitted in order to convey some information. Several times people had slammed the door in his face, or, after letting him in, they had run away and hid in the house before he could speak. The task was always awful, but when it concerned the death of a child, it was brutal. His wife knew it took a toll because she would hear him rise some days at three in the morning.

Dave had a son right around Evan’s age. When he entered Evan’s room, and turned on the overhead light, he saw the same Cleveland Browns poster that James had hanging above his headboard, in almost the exact position Evan had placed his.

The child in the bed looked as if he had been tucked in for the night, but his face was almost unrecognizable, and the blanket covering him was soaked a sickening purple. The people around the table now staring at him expectantly hadn’t seen him lurch outside the Turner residence and lose his breakfast yesterday morning. They looked at him with a mixture of fear and anticipation, needing to know, but wishing to leave. He didn’t think he would ever be able to escape the image that was embedded in his mind. Now, for the first time in his career, he wanted to bolt. Instead, he asked for directions to the bathroom, and excused himself.

When he returned, the discussion abruptly stopped. It was evident that Evan would be the next topic of discussion. “I do not think it’s necessary,” he started, “to go into the degree of detail I did in the case of Rachel’s death.”

Everyone around the table agreed.

“Officer,” Carolyn began, “do we know why Danny killed Evan?”

“We can only speculate on that matter, of course, but based upon the physical evidence, and some comments from Evan’s brother, it appears that Evan attempted to stop Danny while he was attacking Rachel, and he lashed out, possibly because he thought it was Logan Vonda behind him.”

The detective was hopeful no one would ask the next obvious question regarding the amount of injuries the boy suffered, which were very similar to his mother’s. Thankfully the next question moved on to Christopher.

“Dave,” Tom said quietly, “do we have any idea why Danny didn’t harm Christopher?”