“He waded in,” Matt said.

Jordan shot him a dirty look. “No brainer, Mulder.” This wasn’t the first time Matt—or dozens of other feds—had been called Mulder after the popular ’90s television show, but the joke had worn thin years ago. “And he was barefoot. But there’s not enough detail in the mud to get an actual print. The area is too rocky.”

“That’s good,” Andy said. “What else?”

“So I processed the blood on the rock and it was definitely the victim’s blood—I don’t have a DNA match yet, but all the major points match and we’ll get it confirmed at the state lab.”

Matt cleared his throat. “If you can’t process the evidence in-house, send it to Quantico, not the state lab. This is our case.”

Jordan glared at him, then turned to Andy. “You okay with this, Andy? With the feds?”

“Like I told you this morning, it’s a federal case. They have more resources than we do, and they have more bodies.”

“And you put me in the middle of this?”

“I don’t understand,” Andy said. “In the middle of what?”

“Your boss called my boss and my boss called me and reamed me for not telling him the feds were jerking us around.” Jordan glanced at Matt. “His words, not mine.”

Andy said, “When?”

“Last night. I was having dinner with my sister, and you know how she hates when I answer my cell phone at the table, but when the chief of police calls—it was fucked. He’s pissed, and my sister is pissed.”

Matt asked Andy, “Do we have a problem, Detective?”

“I didn’t think so—I’ll straighten it out.”

Matt was skeptical. It seemed Andy wanted the help, but maybe the political types in charge were going to be an issue. Andy was a detective, not the chief of police.

Matt’s phone was vibrating; it was Ryder, and he sent the call to voice mail.

Jordan said, “You know, our lab is one of the best in the West. I can handle most everything you need here.”

“We can prioritize the evidence,” Matt said. He didn’t want to deal with jurisdictional bullshit when the timing of this killer was so tight. “If your lab can put this case to the top, you run with it. If not, we’ll take it.” Jordan still looked skeptical. “Andy is a major part of my investigation,” he added. “He’ll be working with me.” One reason Tony asked Matt to head the MRT unit was because he generally worked well with local cops. Tech guys? Politicians? Not so much.

Andy nodded. “Matt’s been up-front from the beginning.”

Matt was relieved Andy was backing him up on this; it could mean the difference between total cooperation or complete shut out. He hoped he had the same success with the chief of police.

“Victoria Manners is the seventh known victim of this killer and we have evidence from previous crime scenes,” Matt said. “Two of the victims were cops. That means another cop may be in danger here.” He glanced at Andy. “We’re going to have to alert law enforcement in particular. The two cops killed were both off-duty and out of uniform, but my instincts tell me they were specifically targeted because they were law enforcement. We don’t know why yet. And I’ll tell you something few people know—if we don’t find something soon, he’ll kill again in less than forty-eight hours on Saturday, March 6. He hasn’t deviated from his timeline yet.”