What more could they do?

¿A dónde diablos vamos desde aquí?

Where the hell do we go from here?

He called Andy Knolls. It took the cop several rings to answer.

“Knolls.”

“Andy, it’s Costa.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Teachers. Administrators. Do we have the list? Have you started calling them? Particularly those who live or work in Liberty Lake.”

Silence.

“You there? Did I lose you?”

“I’m here. We’re working on the list. It’s not comprehensive because we’re dealing with multiple school districts, plus the university, but we’re close.”

“It’s after seven. He could kill in five hours. I want to stop it. Send me names, numbers—my people will work on this, too.”

“Abigail in my office is taking the lead. She has a dozen volunteers working out of Liberty Lake PD and estimates they’ll be done with the calls by ten-thirty.”

“Oh. That’s good.” But by Andy’s initial tone, Matt was worried that they didn’t have the resources.

“Anyone we don’t reach, we’ll make a house call. Then follow up again with everyone in the morning.”

“Okay. You have it under control then. Thanks.”

“Is everything okay, Matt?” Andy asked.

Did he really sound that lost? Maybe he was. With every passing moment, he felt like they were losing ground. Even though they had gained so much intel in just two days, they didn’t have the killer in custody. They didn’t even have his name. Matt didn’t want to see another victim. He didn’t want to talk to another grieving family.

“Yeah. I’m just making sure we’re doing everything we can short of putting every teacher in protective custody.” Matt could just see his boss’s head explode at the thought of the FBI housing thousands of potential victims just to keep them off the killer’s radar. “If we can stop him this time, he’ll screw up. I’m certain of it.”

“I hope you’re right. I’ll call you if we learn anything.”

“Thanks. And if you need my help, call. Anytime—day, night, I don’t care.”

“I figured that.”

Matt ended the call and felt marginally relieved. Andy Knolls was a good cop, but he was still a small town cop. Knowing that he had jumped on Matt’s suggestion to get the phone lists told Matt that they had a chance. They might just stop the Triple Killer now. Tonight.

Still, there was so much they didn’t know. How did Anne Banks end up on this killer’s radar? Every sign, every interview, pointed to Anne being a good person, a respected nurse, a loving mother, a desired wife. She had friends and family, a normal life. Did it go back to her childhood? Her home life? Her best friend said she was estranged from her parents. Didn’t have a good relationship with them. Was there a sibling? Something criminal in her family? And what did these three cities have in common, if anything? Did the cities mean something to the killer—or was it because specific people lived in these cities?