“Maybe Sadie misunderstood him.”

“Or he gave her a wrong name.” A picture popped onto Niki’s screen of a man with a round face, baby cheeks made rough with acne scars, and neatly trimmed hair. “I’m sending his DL photo. Ask around the plaza. See if anybody saw him.”

“You got it.”

Niki switched screens on her computer and brought up vehicle registration information for Gavin Spencer. “Well, son of a bitch.”

“What?”

“Gavin Spencer owns a black Ford Bronco, 1986.”

“Of course he does,” Matty said, and Niki could almost hear him smiling through the phone.

“He lives on Franklin, near the top of Lake of the Isles.”

“I’ll check for cameras between there and the salon,” Matty said. “There’s got to be a stoplight camera or two along the way.”

Pleased with the turn of events, Niki let Matty get back to work, and she returned to the Halloway home. She found Janelle sitting on the couch crying into a pillow, a picture of Sadie on her knees.

“What did he do to her?” Janelle asked.

Sadie’s ordeal was an open investigation, confidential, so Niki dodged the question. “She’s at the Hennepin County Medical Center.”

“Did he…?”

“Mrs. Halloway, I can’t comment on a person’s medical condition, but I can tell you that Sadie could use a friend today.”

“I’ll go as soon as we’re done.”

“I just have a couple more questions. Did you ever see Mr. Spencer driving a vehicle?”

“He came here to meet with us when we hired him. He drove a nice car, beige, I think, but I don’t know what kind. I didn’t get a good look at it.”

“You never saw him driving any kind of SUV or truck?”

“No. Why?”

“One last question.” Niki mentally crossed her fingers as she asked. “Did Mr. Spencer have any kind of speech impediment?”

Janelle’s eyes lit up. “Yes. He couldn’t say the letter S. It came out like…” Janelle tried a few different iterations of a lisp, shaking her head after each one. “I can’t do it, but it was really bad.”

It was all Niki could do not to pump her fist. “Thank you, Mrs. Halloway. You’ve been very helpful.”

Niki was about to stand when Janelle reached out and put a hand on her arm. People never touched her like that. They usually went out of their way to keep her at a distance, as though shunning the messenger might stop the evil from happening.

“Is it my fault?” Janelle asked. “Did I bring someone bad to my wedding?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Niki said.

“I’ll never forgive myself.”

“We’ll find out who did this. You should go be with your friend. Focus on helping Sadie.”

Janelle nodded. “Okay. But if Gavin Spencer hurt Sadie…promise me, you’ll make him pay. Don’t let him get away with it.”

Niki didn’t like making those kinds of promises. If she was right, Spencer had raped and murdered at least three times before. Low priorities, Lieutenant Briggs had called them. Bodies washed up along the river. But now Niki had a lead. No proof, but her gut told her this was her man, and if she had any say in the matter, Gavin Spencer would never again add another woman to his tally.