3

Washington DC
4:30 p.m.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Mathias Costa hated sitting at a desk and itched to get out in the field, but he had a team to fill. He’d been stuck in the DC headquarters since the New Year, when the new Mobile Response Team was officially approved and budgeted, and he and his boss, Assistant Director Tony Greer, could start interviewing agents and requesting transfers.

The MRT was Tony Greer’s brainchild, but Matt immediately understood the value of the unit when Tony tapped him to run it. Many areas of the country were underserved by law enforcement, either because of limited forensic capabilities or lack of trained investigators. Several FBI jurisdictions covered hundreds of thousands of square miles—two field offices covered three states each.

Besides himself, the only full-time hire who’d already started working for the team was Ryder Kim, the team analyst. The kid was smart, fast, and didn’t seem to have the animosity toward bureaucracy that Matt had. Ryder knocked on Matt’s open door.

“Assistant Director Greer needs you in his office immediately, sir.”

“Thanks.”

Ryder’s only problem was formality. Matt had plucked him right out of Quantico. The kid had served three years in the military out of high school, studied criminal justice at SUNY Albany on the GI bill, then spent fourteen weeks in the advanced analyst program at the FBI Academy. He was fucking brilliant, and Matt enjoyed grabbing him out from under three other offices who’d wanted him.

Matt took the stairs up two flights to Tony’s much nicer digs—which included not one but three windows. His secretary motioned him to go right in.

“The Triple Killer is back,” Tony said.

Serial killer. Contrary to popular television, there weren’t many out there. Depending on which report or analysis you read, the figure was anywhere from fifty to two thousand. Matt leaned toward the smaller number, but there was compelling evidence that hundreds were operating completely under the radar.

“The sicko who murders three random victims—including two cops—three days apart, every three years?”

“That’s him. And each of his cycles have started on the third of March.”

“That’s today. We were looped in fast.”

“At the beginning of this year, the Behavioral Analysis Unit sent out a memo reminding all law enforcement agencies what to look for in a Triple Killer crime scene.” Tony handed Matt a slip of paper. “From a Detective Andy Knolls—the only detective in Liberty Lake, Washington.”

“Never heard of the place.”

“Town of seven thousand outside of Spokane—which itself is not a major metro center. Served by a small Resident Agency under our Seattle field office.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“It’s your first MRT case, Matt. I have you and Ryder booked on the last flight out to Spokane tonight—you’re gaining three hours, so you should be able to hit the ground running in the morning. I asked Ryder to print out the complete case files on the previous murders, but they are bare bones—two different states, bodies found at various stages of decomp. But we did a preliminary profile on the case three years ago.” Tony paused, and Matt knew what was coming next. “Catherine wrote it.”