Matt might be looking at himself twenty years from now—but that would still be twenty years from now.

“I know you’re busy,” Matt said, using his most professional and conciliatory tone, “but I need to talk to you before the press briefing about the article in the paper.”

“You should have called me directly about the briefing, not gone through Maddox.”

Matt was having a difficult time containing his temper. “Sir, we’ve been working eighteen-hour days since I arrived, and I apologize if I’m not up to speed on your jurisdictional protocols.”

“Maddox said you have a statement. I’ve called in print, radio, and television. There are also two neighborhood watch organizations who are concerned—that’s why I was late. I met with the groups. The public should be concerned. They need to be diligent to protect themselves and their families.”

“This killer has a very specific agenda. We’ve been here for two days. We don’t have all the information we need, but we have a lot more than we did when he hit in Montana three years ago. Our top profiler briefed my team an hour ago on several key facts, which has led us to finding a connection between the first victim in Portland and the most recent victim, Ms. Manners.”

“You had an internal briefing and didn’t include me?”

“Sir, with all due respect, you’re missing the point here. Someone in your department leaked information to the press without vetting it through me.”

“Agent Costa, you are making an unverifiable leap that it was my department that spoke to the press. You’ve also been working with Detective Knolls and Liberty Lake. And a detective from LA has been riding along with Knolls. You have the FBI all over town, and a not-so-discreet search of the lake. It seems to me that any number of people could have leaked information to the press. Perhaps if you had been more forthcoming from the beginning there wouldn’t be this need to play catch-up.”

Matt knew it was the chief, the way he averted his eyes, cast blame everywhere but himself. But if Matt called him on it, he would be cut out of all resources and lives were on the line. Swallowing his anger, he said as calmly as possible, “I informed your office as soon as I was assigned this case. My team is newly formed, but we’re working day and night to stop this guy.”

“Everything goes through me, understood? You want to brief my men, you talk to me. You want to use my crime lab, you talk to me first. I found out secondhand that the head of my lab went to Liberty Lake to process evidence retrieved by your diver.”

So that’s what it came down to. Power. The chief wanted to be the damn gatekeeper. Where was Maddox and his promise to fix the situation? But if this was the way Matt got what he needed, so be it. “Understood,” Matt said. “On one condition—you make it clear to your people that no one talks to the press without consulting me. We have to be careful about what we release.”