“Criminal psychology is not perfect, but it does give us a place to start. Hamilton is fifty-five. But what bothers me is that I can’t find him. I’ve found McCafferty, the other guy I was looking at. He’s living in Massachusetts. Is married, has two kids. First thing in the morning I’ll talk to him, but if he’s in Foxborough tomorrow morning, I don’t see him traveling cross-country to be home with his family in between killing a couple of people.”

“But it might not be Hamilton at all. It could be someone else.”

“You’re right. But too many things are lining up with him. I need you to take it seriously.”

“I am.”

“I’m moving in,” Kara said.

Brian sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Look—just let me talk to Julie before you dump this on her, okay?”

“Of course,” Matt said. He gathered up his folder. “And I hope I’m wrong. But if I’m wrong then we have a complete unknown out there and we’ll be starting at square one. I have the box of reports from the pileup. My people and I are going through everything again tonight, along with two additional agents sent in from Seattle. Fresh eyes, to see if something else jumps out. I’ll talk to McCafferty in the morning. And we’re working on tracking Hamilton down. He moved to Montana after the house was foreclosed, but there’s nothing on him for the last ten years. He could be anywhere.”

“Can I go through that tonight?” Brian gestured to the folder.

“Of course. It’s a copy.” Matt handed it to Brian.

“May I?” Kara said.

Brian gave it to her. “Let’s get some dessert,” he said.

They all went inside and Julie Maddox dished up apple cobbler, which was delicious. Kara was quiet—unusually so. Matt was distinctly uncomfortable. He wanted to talk to her about earlier today, but he had a whole bunch of work to do, and it was already after eight.

Brian walked him out thirty minutes later. “You have a nice family,” Matt said. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Your job doesn’t afford you much of a family life, does it?” Brian said.

“It’s why I was picked—no personal attachments.”

“Don’t you miss having a home base?”

“I was in Tucson for five years early in my career and have a little house down there. That’s where I go to relax. For quite some time I’ve been moving from office to office, then working out of headquarters in DC for the last two years. And I have a brother who stayed in Miami, a niece and nephew, and another on the way. Christmas with Dante and Layla and Layla’s huge family holds me over. Dante’s a successful doctor and I have an apartment over his garage whenever I want it. It works for me.”

Mostly. Sometimes, Matt wondered what it would be like if he had something like Dante had. He would get antsy. He always did. It’s why he couldn’t commit to a woman. He’d once cared for Catherine’s sister, Beth, but there wasn’t anything deeper than a basic affection. He saw true love when his brother looked at his bride. That, Matt had never felt.