But the one thing she wasn’t confused about was her vocation.

She knew she could get into the mind of the Triple Killer and find out what made him tick. And if she did so, she would be able to give Matt what he needed to stop a brutal killer.

And maybe, just maybe, she could prevent another family from suffering like she suffered.

5

Thursday, March 4
Liberty Lake
7:45 a.m.

Matt stared down at the lake near the spot where the victim met her violent end. She had been identified as Victoria Manners, a nurse from Spokane.

It was a cold but clear morning—exactly as it had been the day before. According to the Liberty Lake detective in charge of the murder investigation—and the only detective in their small police department—he’d called for the Spokane crime scene investigators to collect and process evidence. They had transported the body to the Spokane morgue, and Matt planned to view the autopsy and talk to their ME at nine this morning.

But he wanted to walk the crime scene first, to give himself some grounding and a place to start. At least, to start on this case—he was already well versed in the previous victims of this serial killer. He’d read those files on the plane flying out here last night, including Catherine’s preliminary profile.

There was no doubt in his mind that Catherine would be working the case; he’d pushed their argument out of his head. He’d deal with Catherine’s guilt later; for now he had a killer to stop.

He looked around the area, getting a sense of how it might have appeared at night. Dark—there had been minimal moonlight on March 3. Why had the killer picked this spot? Not just Liberty Lake—though that might be as important to the killer as Portland and Missoula were in the first two sets of murders—but why had he picked this exact spot to kill Victoria Manners? Convenience? Privacy? Did it hold a special meaning for him?

Matt took a few pictures on his cell phone, even though Detective Knolls was putting together a complete file for him. Just being here, in the middle of the woods next to a gorgeous lake—hell, just being outdoors—made Matt happier than he’d been since he’d been forced into that tiny office at DC headquarters. He thrived in the field. And this case—if his new team could identify and arrest the killer—would give the MRT major points among their detractors at HQ who thought the creation of such a team was a waste of resources. Matt needed a win—but he needed a solid win, fast.

Victoria Manners was the seventh known victim of the Triple Killer, though it wasn’t until after the fifth victim three years ago—almost to the day—that law enforcement had made the connection. Then the bastard gutted an off-duty cop and slipped away. Disappeared for three years.

Because of the pattern, the FBI had sent a warning in advance to all law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for any victim who might have been similarly mutilated on or around March 3 of this year.