As they waited, Niki thought about something that had been bothering her. She had worked in the Sex Crimes unit for years before moving to Homicide, and in that time, she had handled scores of lineups, but the weight of this one seemed out of proportion. Rapes tended to be impulsive and sloppy, a crime of opportunity driven by urges and anger. This case had none of those hallmarks.

If Niki’s theory held true, Gavin Spencer had never laid eyes on Sadie Vauk until the wedding, and in the span of a day, he had stalked her, kidnapped her, assaulted her, and tossed her into the river. Gavin’s speed and proficiency made him a whole new order of evil. And he was smart. She and Matty had yet to find a single piece of corroborating evidence: no DNA, no witnesses, no footprint or fingerprint.

All they had was a tire track from Nicollet Island and some grainy camera footage of a Bronco near both the island and the salon. And if he had been this careful with Sadie, how were they going to prove murder in the other cases, going back six years? If Sadie failed to pick Spencer out of the lineup, the case would fall apart. It would become just one more unsolved file. Niki couldn’t let this be shelved next to the other “low priority” women pulled from the river.

As the jailer escorted the men into the lineup room, Niki went out of her way not to focus on Gavin, just in case Sadie could see Niki’s reflection in the glass. Each man stood facing Sadie, who again twisted her fingers together in a knot, pressing her hand tightly to her stomach. She studied the faces of the men, going from left to right. Niki watched as Sadie glanced at Gavin and moved on.

The jailer spoke. “If you want, I can have them step forward.”

“Maybe number two…and four.”

Two and four, but not five? Niki thought. “We’ll ask them to each step forward, one at a time,” she said. “What we asked of one, we have to ask of them all.”

The jailer pushed a button on an intercom beside the window. “Number one, take a step forward.”

The man did as he was instructed and Sadie gave him a look, her head moving, almost imperceptibly, from side to side in a no, before she whispered, “Okay.”

“Number one, step back. Number two, step forward.”

Sadie narrowed her gaze on number two, looking hard at the man as though struggling to connect his face to a memory. The jailer reached for the button on the intercom and Sadie said, “Wait.” The man remained ahead of the line for several seconds, an eternity that caused Niki’s pulse to quicken.

Then Sadie nodded to the jailer. “Okay.”

The jailer returned number two to his place in line. Number three’s turn came and went quickly and Sadie paused again when number four stepped out of line. Sadie scrutinized his face the way she had with number two.