“Sneaky.”

He handed her a slip of paper. “We lived in Spokane for a few years when I first took the job, but Julie missed being close to her friends and family, so a few years ago we moved back to Liberty Lake. Never thought I wanted to commute again, but it hasn’t been too bad—except during a blizzard.”

She looked at the address. It was up in the hills, a nice area.

“I know what you’re thinking—we did really well on the Spokane house, bought low and sold high. We were able to afford the zip code.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything.”

He laughed. “Anyway, Andy called and isn’t going to make the briefing—one of his patrols found the victim’s car near Newman Lake. He’s heading out there now.”

“Good—they need a break. Have you met the fed yet?”

“Costa? Seems less dicky than most feds.”

“Dicky? Really?”

“Julie wants me to stop swearing. JP said fucking asshole the other day when a driver cut Julie off and they nearly got in an accident.”

Kara burst out laughing. “I’m sure the driver was a fucking asshole.”

“Yeah, but JP is six. Trevor and Teddy learned early on to keep their mouths clean around their mother.” Maddox grinned. “Trevor got into University of Washington. Full scholarship. Can’t believe he’s moving out in the fall.”

“You know they say this is the boomerang generation—he’ll be coming back, just wait.”

“Worse things could happen. He’s a good kid, though, and smart. Smarter than Julie and me put together. Wants to go into genetic research.”

“That’s way over my head, Chief.”

“Mine, too.” He stood. “We should head into the briefing—don’t want to throw Costa to the wolves just yet.”

She walked into the room with Maddox, but made a detour to stand in the back. It was already crowded and she didn’t want to draw too much attention.

Maddox went up to Costa, who looked from Maddox to Kara. She winked at him, then situated herself against the wall.

Maddox gave a brief introduction of Costa, and gave his blessing to his troops, though not in as many words. It was clear he expected his men and women not only to listen to the fed, but to fully cooperate.

The fed kept looking at her as he spoke, either trying to figure out why she was here at the briefing, or how she knew the assistant chief of police. Good. Keep him on his toes. Even if he was less dicky than most feds.

Costa gave a quick rundown on the current homicide, then explained the connection to the other victims.

“Internally, we’ve been calling him the Triple Killer because he kills in threes. Not very original, but we are mere federal agents.”

He was expecting a laugh, and a few people obliged. Costa obviously expected to be able to work a room. A diplomat? Maybe. Kara’s assessment from yesterday was that he was far more hands-on than he wanted people to think, that he was a sharp tack, and he would do anything it took to cut through any roadblocks. Based on his tone here, he was willing to work with anyone he had to, but if the relationship impeded his investigation, he would mow them down.