Packard nodded. “Do you have a statement for this afternoon?”

“Yes. It’s a well-crafted statement to prompt both public diligence and let the killer know that we’re close.”

“Are you close?”

“No.” Matt hated to admit that they didn’t have a handle on the guy. Knowing the profile was not knowing who this bastard was. “However, we believe that the first victim—Anne Banks—was a personal target. She worked at Spokane General, where Victoria Manners also worked. I have an associate in the audience who is going to watch the crowd. There’s one thing I want to keep in-house.”

“What?”

“That we found the gloves. My diver found the gloves in a bag weighted down by a rock in a different location from the other evidence. My forensics guy thinks that’s the greatest possibility of getting viable DNA from the killer—hair or blood if he nicked himself.”

“Very well. I’ll lead. This is still my city.”

Matt nodded, and hoped he wasn’t making a huge mistake. “My profiler suggests that we hold the conference outside, that the killer might show up and stay if the venue is outdoors and he see us.”

“Front steps. Give me five minutes and I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

A dismissal? Matt wondered what Packard planned on doing in those five minutes.

He strode toward the lobby and found Michael chatting with the desk sergeant. When Michael spotted him, he pulled Matt to the corner, where there was some privacy.

“What’d you learn?” Matt asked.

“The PIO is hot,” Michael said.

Matt wasn’t in the mood. “And that’s relevant how?”

“Just a comment. She wouldn’t tell me squat, only that she didn’t talk to the press at all yesterday, which is odd in and of itself because she’s the PIO. She gave them the brush off, trying to get a statement from the chief, so when she saw the paper she was stunned. Doesn’t know who leaked the information, but implied the chief is buddies with the crime beat reporter.”

“Did you see who was out there?” Matt gestured toward the front steps.

“About forty people, not all press. Two television crews. A couple radios. A group wearing some American flag insignia—looks like an anticrime group.”

“Neighborhood watch or something, per Packard. We need a unified message, and more important, I need to control what gets out there. The killer is going to be watching the news, reading the papers, checking the internet. Hell, he might have a Google Alert set up so he gets informed of every damn tidbit as it happens. Did you know there’s already a Twitter hashtag? Ryder told me about it. Hashtag Spokane Triple Killer.”

“Welcome to the new era of policing.”

“It sucks.”

“It has its advantages. Maybe the killer is monitoring Twitter. Maybe he’ll interact with someone.”

“He’s been smart—would a smart killer do something that could get him so easily caught?”

“To gloat? Because he knows he’s smart so he creates false accounts? To correct the record?” Michael shrugged. “I don’t know.”