“No complaints from me,” Matt said. He would have done the exact same thing.

“We cleared the house. I found the body in the master bedroom. Andy called it in.”

“Is the coroner still in there?”

“Yes, but he hasn’t removed the body. I thought you might want to take a look so asked him to hold until you arrived,” Kara said.

Matt wanted to ask who put her in charge of the crime scene, but there was something in her tone that had him backing down.

He walked through the house. It was exactly as Kara had described, in her brief, efficient manner.

But she was right, he wanted to see. He wanted the image in his mind so he could better understand the Triple Killer. This scene—it wasn’t violent. A lot of blood, a dead body, but it was... Simple. Enter the house in the middle of the night, kill a man in his bed—no other assault, neither sexual nor physical—clean up in his bathroom, leave.

Bastard.

The coroner said, “Can I take him?”

Matt nodded and left the house. “Coroner’s done. Do your thing,” he said to Jim. He glanced around. “Where’s Quinn?”

“Helping with the canvass,” Jim said.

Yet Andy was still standing by his truck. While Jim and Miles brought their equipment inside, Matt approached the cop. “Detective.”

“You don’t want me on this case, Agent Costa.”

“Yes, I do.”

“I’m resigning.”

“Like hell you are. In the middle of a homicide investigation?”

“I could have gotten Kara killed.”

Now Matt was confused, though Kara’s irritability made a little more sense. “Explain,” he demanded.

“We got here and she went in, gun drawn, told me to clear the house with her. I smelled his body. The violence done to him. The blood...” Andy wasn’t looking at Matt.

“We knew this was going to happen...yet, I didn’t believe it. And it happened. I couldn’t stop it. I was here last night, I talked to him, warned him. Made sure every door and window were secure. And then I left.”

“That’s not on you, Andy.”

“I froze. I left her in there, alone. What if the killer was still inside, hiding? What if he attacked her and I couldn’t stop him?”

Conflicted emotions rolled through Matt. Andy was a small town cop. Kara was a big city detective. Now he realized why she was mad. She expected Andy to back her up, and he didn’t. Dangerous for anyone, but especially for cops.

It would have pissed off Matt as well. As a cop, you had to trust your partner. There could be no doubt, otherwise you couldn’t do what was needed to save lives—and protect your own.

“That’s ultimately your decision, Detective Knolls, but not now, not when we’re in the middle of this investigation and I need all hands.”

“I don’t know that I can.”

“You can and you will. You sit on this house until everyone is done with their job. Talk to the neighbors. Ask if anyone has seen anything suspicious in the last month. Talk to Ogdenburg’s staff, anyone who knows him. Did he think he was being followed. Have conflict with former staff or students. I’ll notify next of kin.” Not Matt’s favorite part of the job, but he had questions, and right now he didn’t trust Andy to get answers.