“Yes, sir.”

“You sent the information to Dr. Jones?” he asked Ryder.

“Yes. She hasn’t responded yet.”

“Did she read the email?”

He heard clicking in the background. “Yes.”

“She’ll respond when she has something,” Matt said confidently. “When’s Harris getting in?”

“He lands at sixteen hundred this afternoon.”

“Bring him up to speed, including the dive in the morning. I’ll be briefing the Spokane PD this afternoon and will head back to the hotel when I’m done in Spokane. What, if anything, did you learn about the witness, Kara Quinn?”

Ryder didn’t get much more than confirmation that Quinn was a detective with LAPD Special Operations, but he’d put in a call to her direct supervisor and would let Matt know when he heard back.

“Run her name by our people down there, too. If there are no flags, I might want to tag her. We’re shorthanded.”

He hung up. At this rate, he’d use anyone and everyone the next two days if it would stop the Triple Killer before he took his next victim on Saturday.

Matt looked at his GPS and realized that the Spokane FBI office was only a few minutes south of police headquarters, which gave him just enough time to call Tony while he drove.

“Greer,” he answered.

“It’s Costa.”

“And here I thought you were the one who knew how to make friends and influence people.”

Matt wasn’t going to take shit from his boss about the waves he was making. “Twenty-four hours ago I was going through files of agents to staff this team, and now I have to pussyfoot around and play politics with my own fucking office?”

“Explain.”

“The SSA of Spokane’s Resident Agency gave Ryder an earful—thinks we’re swooping in because her office is under investigation or on probation or some such nonsense.”

“I smoothed things over with the main Seattle field office, learned that even if Spokane wanted the case, they don’t have the resources. Torino’s staff is spread thin with other investigations. Plus, I implied that you have experience with this case.”

“You lied,” Matt said flatly.

“You have more information and experience than anyone else.”

Matt almost laughed. Twenty-four hours more experience counts? But he was still too irritated to find much humor. “Tony—we’re going to have to figure this out before the next time, I don’t want to be battling the locals and our own damn people.”

“You’re right. I should have reached out to Seattle initially. But if you can appease Torino, it would go a long way.”

“I’m on my way.”

“I know you’ll fix it—you always do, Matt.”

Didn’t mean he enjoyed it, especially when he would rather have been at the Sheriff’s office pushing them to drag the lake.

“Shifting gears,” Matt continued, “if I can’t get the Sheriff’s department help with dragging the lake tomorrow, what’s my budget to bring in a civilian crew or rent equipment?”

“Loaded question.”

“I need an answer.”

“We have some discretionary money in the MRT budget. You and Ryder can authorize spending up to a certain amount—I believe five thousand, but Ryder will know. Over that, call me.”