“Yes, young lady, and that word arrogance is interesting, isn’t it? Ninth-grade Religious Studies class. Fifty years ago, and I still remember it. Sister Anne-Marie taught us the Latin root—rogare, which means to ask or beg. Rogation is prayer. But ar-ro-gance is the inverse; it means to presume to not need prayer. What does that tell you? To not need prayer. That’s the sort of killer we’re looking for. But man, of course, is imperfect. He always makes a mistake, and that’s where someone as smart as you comes in.”

Eden stared at Woodhouse. He had the same intelligence as her FBI mentors. But he was gentler, too, and not possessed by the need to prove his indifference to the horror of the work. “But we still don’t have any hard evidence.”

“My late wife, Linda, was a spiritual person. Not a churchgoer as such, but she prayed every morning before she started her day. After thirty-five years of police work, I found it difficult sometimes to believe in the grace of God. Linda had the faith, even after the chemotherapy. She told me once she believed the souls of homicide victims are at work to help cops like us to see what we need to know. You think that’s possible?”

Eden blushed. “It doesn’t feel like it today, Mr. Woodhouse. I guess I’m not sure where I’d go to find what they had to tell me.”

“They come to you, Miss Somers. They come to you. According to Linda, we just need to have faith. You’re still young. You can afford faith.” Woodhouse looked at Eden. “But you’ve already seen something in another case, haven’t you? Something dark, was it?”

Eden ignored the question and drank from her cup.

“As the newest member of Eddie’s team, what do you think your contribution will be?” Woodhouse asked. “Each of us has a gift. What’s your gift?”

“I’m not sure I have one. I was trained to look at evidence, that’s all.”

“That’s a rare gift, believe me. You’re different from the ones Eddie usually hires. When I see you, I think Eddie hasn’t given up.”

“I honestly don’t know why Lieutenant Mahler hired me. He doesn’t seem interested in my background.”

“Oh, he’s interested, all right. If he wasn’t, he would have already reassigned you.”

“He sure doesn’t say much.”

“The Susan Hart case did a number on Eddie. In this job, you see a good deal of loss, terrible things done to people, families who’ll never be the same. But that case was different. Somewhere in there, I think Eddie forgot what his job was. Thought he was supposed to save people, not catch their killers.”