“No, it’s…not that.” Eden waited.

Cipriani turned to Pace. “Give me a minute. Girl stuff.”

Pace shrugged and turned into the lot.

They watched Pace walk down an aisle of vehicles and disappear behind the cars. Eden was aware again of Cipriani’s height and broad shoulders. She found herself looking up at Cipriani’s face. “I’ll try to make this quick. I know you’re headed home.”

“How’s the case?”

Eden hesitated. “It’s…still there. I need to ask you about Fresno.”

Cipriani’s face tightened. “What about it?”

“On Tuesday, you said you worked a homicide tip line when you were on the job in Fresno.”

“So?”

“This is about Sandra Avelos.”

Cipriani gave a low whistle. “You sure you want to do this?”

“On April 18, 2017, two days after Easter, the body of Sandra Avelos was found in Roeding Regional Park in Fresno. Twenty-one years old. Five feet seven inches. Strangled with a cord. Unusual pattern—three and a half times around the neck.”

“I’m familiar with the case.”

“No physical evidence at the scene. The investigators talked to a former boyfriend and a jogger in the park at the time of the murder. But in the end they had no leads. No arrest was made. She was one of seven female homicides that year, the only one strangled.”

“What’s this have to do with anything?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure? Really? And yet you came all the way out to the parking lot to see me.”

“It may be connected to the girls killed in Santa Rosa two years ago.”

“I’m waiting to hear why I’m standing here listening to you.”

“The Fresno medical examiner found an anomaly on Avelos’s body—a two-centimeter cut at the base of the spine. It wasn’t related to the cause of death. The ME made a note in the file, and everybody forgot about it.”

“So what are you accusing me of?”

“The two girls in Santa Rosa and another in a park in Vallejo had the same cut. It’s called a signature. It’s left there by a serial killer. One particular serial killer.”

Cipriani rested her hands on the top of her duty belt. “Are you trying to say something to me, Detective Somers?”

Eden could see Cipriani coming apart. Some instinct arose in Eden to help her. “Why’re you so up in my face about this?”

“None of your business.”

“I’m trying to get some information.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Calm down. I phoned the Fresno PD and spoke to the investigator on the Avelos case, Lieutenant Sandoval. I told him about the signature. He said I should look at a transcript for the tip line on the case.”

“Do you know what you’re doing?”