“I have my probable cause motion on the table already, but I drafted a habeas corpus petition to go along with it.”

“Habeas corpus?”

“It means produce the body—your body. It’s a mechanism to get someone out of custody if there’s no basis to keep them there. I want to make sure that if they have an argument to keep this case going, they lay it out today. If not—”

“I’m free?”

“Yeah,” Reecey said, with a hint of regret. “As free as the wind.”

Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Clouds to the west painted the sky in shades of gray and black, promising a heavy rain. For now, though, people moved through the city unencumbered by the impending storm—or the death of a hairstylist named Sadie Vauk. Lila didn’t have that luxury.

After learning that Sadie had been murdered, Lila left the office and walked north, pulled by some need to be near the place where Gavin had thrown the women into the river. She was now his lone survivor. She walked until she found herself in the middle of the Stone Arch Bridge, a structure that looked like it belonged in the Middle Ages, its graceful limestone arches leapfrogging across the river. Originally built for trains, it now supported bicyclists, joggers, and pedestrians.

Lila leaned against the steel rail and gazed up the river at St. Anthony Falls. Beneath her, the river’s coppery foam carried a tree branch past the spot where it had once carried the bodies of Eleanora Abrams, Virginia Mercotti, and Chloe Ludlow. Sadie Vauk would have made that same journey had she not been such a good swimmer.

Sadie’s father had told Niki that swimming laps helped Sadie deal with what Gavin Spencer had done to her. That’s why she had gone to the fitness center, to clear her head of those poisonous memories. They’d found her in the parking lot, one bullet in her head and one in her chest. The night-shift detective identified Sadie by her driver’s license but hadn’t made the connection to Niki’s case until morning.

Niki had brought surveillance footage to show Andi. It showed Sadie leaving the gym and walking to the parking lot. A light-colored SUV pulled up. The view was grainy and the car was near the end of the lot, but they could see Sadie stop as if someone in the SUV was talking to her. Then she walked up to the car and pointed north.

“Probably asking directions?” Niki had said.

Two muzzle flashes sent bullets ripping into Sadie. Then Lila watched Sadie fall to the ground as the car drove away.

“We’re ninety percent sure it’s an SUV, smaller, white or silver,” Niki had said. “It’s just too grainy to get a lock on the make or see the driver. But we all know who’s responsible.”

“But can we prove it?” Andi had asked.