He had some more planning to do; he was so close to fulfilling his goal. He could picture Brian Maddox dead. That was all the motivation he needed.

40

Liberty Lake
7:30 p.m.

Brian was grouchy now that they were back at his place. Kara checked the outside perimeter, searched the entire house, and secured the doors. “Why don’t you go to bed?” she said. “Your grumpiness is driving me crazy.”

“I should be out there protecting my fellow cops, not locked in here hiding.” He glanced at the clock. “It’s only seven-thirty.”

“Do you have food? Because you don’t want me cooking.”

“We should be on patrol.”

“I agree with the feds on this one. You are one of two possible targets. The other one, Theresa Corrigan, is under lock and key at her place—do you think she should be out on patrol?”

“No, but—”

“You’re the boss yada yada. I get it—you don’t like being sidelined any more than I do. But Glen Hamilton is a serial killer, and he’s got your number. Everything we learned about him today confirms that Hamilton is our guy. You saw his DMV photo, you’re not going to miss him, no matter how ordinary he looks. By the way, you’re sleeping in one of the kids’ rooms tonight.”

“What?”

“I checked the house from top to bottom. Went out back—there are plenty of places to stake out. Tomorrow morning when the sun comes up I’m going to send a couple of cops out there to look for signs that Hamilton has been watching you. Because Costa said this guy stalks his victims, and if I were going to stalk you, I’d do it from the rear.”

“We have a safe neighborhood. We watch out for each other. And everyone here owns a gun. They hunt, they protect their property, they wouldn’t let some prowler just walk around.”

“If they see him. We have to assume he knows where you live. Could have followed you from the station. We have to assume he has probably figured out which room is yours. Maybe he’s like Spiderman and can scale walls. Or a normal human and brings in a ladder. Isn’t one of the kids’ rooms downstairs?”

“Trevor.”

“So if he does get in upstairs, we’ll hear.”

“Fine,” Brian snapped.

“If you’d just have stayed at the hotel with the feds, we wouldn’t be dealing with this bullshit now.”

“I can’t sleep this early.”

He went into the kitchen and rummaged through the refrigerator and cabinets. He brought crackers and salami and cheese to the dining table, plus cans of soda. “I really could use a beer.”

“So could I. But you don’t always get what you want. After this is over we’ll split a six-pack and toast to a job well done.”

“Confident, aren’t you?”

“Always. Rummy?”

“I’ve never beaten you.”

“I promise not to cheat.”

“I wouldn’t even know if you did.”

“You wound me.”

They played cards. Kara won and didn’t even cheat. Then they ate ice cream and watched a movie. It was eleven when Brian said, “I’m going to try to sleep.”