Fantastic, Matt thought. One more piece to the puzzle, and one he could use in this briefing.

Matt looked out at the crowd. Forty plus people congregated, some tight together near the front, others loosely in the back. He couldn’t see Kara. Had she bailed on them? In hiding? What was her game?

Packard then introduced Matt.

Matt presented the timeline of the Triple Killer succinctly, outlining the three murders in Portland then the three murders in Missoula.

“Victoria Manners is the seventh victim of this killer. We believe she was targeted because she was a trauma nurse. We also believe it’s not a coincidence that the first victim—Anne Banks—had been a trauma nurse also at Spokane General before leaving to raise her family in Portland, and that the fourth victim, Sophia Kwan, was also a trauma nurse.

“At this point, we have a working theory that I’m ready to share with the public in order to promote public safety and vigilance. This killer kills in threes in three different cities. Three victims in Portland. Three victims in Missoula. But we want to stop him here, in Spokane. We believe he chooses his victims at random, though with a clear methodology. The first victim in his chosen city is a nurse. The second victim is an educator. The third victim is in law enforcement.”

He let that sink in. He looked out into the crowd and still didn’t spot Kara.

Matt continued. “If you are a teacher, an administrator, a college professor, be diligent over the next few days. Do not leave work alone. If possible don’t go out alone, and if you have friends or out-of-town family you can stay with for the weekend, all the better. Change your routine. If you jog every morning at 6:00 a.m., jog at eight. And change your route.

“To date, this killer has chosen victims who were alone and isolated. Driving on a quiet road late at night. Living alone in a remote home. Leaving work by themselves after dark. I do not want to cause alarm or panic. I do, however, want everyone to be aware of their surroundings.”

He focused on what Catherine believed would set the killer off. Matt was always nervous about taunting a killer, but this time he agreed with Catherine—it would likely cause him to make a mistake. Catherine had told him privately, “The killer believes he’s in charge, that he is smarter than the police. Talk about how weak he is. How inferior. Make him seem like a brute, a bully, but powerless. The more we can get under his skin, the greater chance he’ll slip up.”

“The killer targets victims who are alone because he is a coward,” Matt said. “He drugs his innocent victims—telling us that he’s physically weak and unable to overpower most of his victims.”

True, they only had confirmation on Manners, but it reasoned that if he drugged Manners, he drugged the other victims—outside of Anne Banks, whom they knew he had killed quickly. The press didn’t need to know all the details.