“We’re all at risk, every morning we strap on our gun.”

“Not all risk is the same,” Andy said.

Maybe not, but they were still cops, and Kara was surprised by Andy’s comment.

They had planned on canvassing the lake, and since Kara was riding with Andy this morning, he put two other cops together to start at the other end. Like in Spokane, Andy didn’t want anyone riding alone until they caught the Triple Killer.

“What happened with the victim’s car?” Kara asked.

“It’s at the crime lab. Miles will go over it, along with someone Agent Costa is bringing in. I canvassed everyone near where we found the car, but no one saw or heard anything.”

“Par for the course.”

“Not here, remember? Neighbors watch out for each other.”

“Wasn’t it found in the middle of nowhere?”

“Vacation house in Newman Lake. But the Madisons live on the same road full-time. I thought they might have heard the car coming, another car going. There’s only one way to get to that house.”

“One way? Really? Seems pretty dumb for the killer to drive in and out when he didn’t have an alternate route.”

“The ATV came from that vacation house.”

“How do you know?”

“We contacted the owners last night—they live in Las Vegas. This is their second home. They own two matching ATVs. Only one was in their garage.”

“You have a description?”

“Yep—sent out a sheet of what we’re looking for. And ATVs are loud—we found a trail we think he went, away from other properties, which could explain why no one heard anything. The tracks are there, but unclear, and Miles doesn’t think we’ll get any usable evidence from them.”

“So he took the ATV, somehow strapped her unconscious but breathing body on it, and rode through the woods all the way to Liberty Lake.” Kara frowned.

“What are you thinking?”

“Why not kill her at the house in Newman? No one would find her body anytime soon, inside or out. Or anywhere in all that land between the house and the lake. Why drive twenty minutes cross-country with a body strapped to your ATV in the middle of the night?”

Andy didn’t say anything.

“I’m just thinking out loud.”

“I didn’t think of it like that. Maybe to rinse himself off in the lake?”

“Did the toxicology report come back? Do you know what, if anything, he gave her?”

“Not yet.”

“What if—and I’m just throwing ideas out there—he stole the ATV before he kidnapped Manners? Hid it closer to the lake? You can’t get a car down to where her body was found, and the trail is too narrow to drive on. He could have hidden the ATV any number of places, or right in the open. Driven here—or even in a public parking lot, because they’re generally closed after sunset. He could access them, but was less likely to encounter another person. She’s stuffed in the trunk. He transferred her body to the ATV, took her a mile or two to the lake, drove the ATV back, took the car and hid it at the house.”