Then Lila read that investigators were testing Ms. Vauk’s blood because they believed she had been given a date-rape drug. A shiver ran through Lila’s body. She knew in that second that this would not be just another file. She took in every word of the police report, letting her mind paint the picture of what happened to Sadie Vauk. She read between the lines, searching for the smallest detail, anything that might pull her into the mind of Gavin Spencer and offer up a clue about the monster beyond the page.

Surveillance footage showed an older black SUV near the scene where Vauk had been abducted and also near where they believe she was put into the river. Spencer owned a black Ford Bronco, but detectives had not yet been able to locate it. One neighbor thought she saw Spencer drive by in his Bronco around seven o’clock the night of the abduction, but she wasn’t sure.

They had searched his home but found nothing to link him to the crime. Lila read the reports again, hoping that she may have missed something: some tiny drop of semen on the girl, or maybe a strand of her hair at Spencer’s house, but other than Vauk picking Spencer out of a lineup, the investigators had come up empty. And after his arrest, Spencer invoked his right to remain silent.

Lila typed up a skeletal outline of the complaint and headed to the meeting—hoping the detectives might bring something to bolster the case.

The conference room in the County Attorney’s Office had two walls lined with old law books, decorations from an era when you needed more than fingers on a mouse to find a statute, but it gave the room character. A long oval table took up the majority of the room, and in the corner, a single plant—a dusty silk ficus—stood as a sad witness to the many serious conversations that room had held.

In the months that she had worked under Oscar Hernandez, Lila had never once been asked to sit in on a meeting in the conference room. Her eagerness caused her to be the first to arrive, so she took a seat and waited.

A few minutes later, she heard two voices approaching, a man and a woman, chatting about where to buy the better coffee. When they walked in, Lila recognized the woman and held out a hand. “Lila Nash, I’m working with Andi on this case.”

“Niki Vang.” The detective shook hands with Lila. “And this is Detective Mateo Lopez.”

“Matty.” The detective gave Lila a kind smile as they shook.

Lila turned her attention back to Niki. “I believe we’ve met before—kind of. The Ben Pruitt case?”