Anne was the first of many, which told Matt that the killer had an agenda. Revenge. The kill itself—violent but efficient. He didn’t play with his victims, he didn’t torture them, but the murder itself was brutal and bloody.

There were easier ways to kill someone.

But the killer chose a knife.

The killer chose the method.

Kill—the first, fatal slice.

Mark—the three horizontal slashes.

Gloat.

Watch the investigation from afar.

Relish his superiority.

His intelligence.

Seven dead and he hadn’t been caught.

He would bask in that fact, Matt thought, no matter what Matt had said to the press today—and to the killer he hoped was listening.

Maybe taunting him had been the wrong move.

But there was no going back now.

22

Spokane
8:30 p.m.

Matt walked into the war room to touch base with Ryder, when all he wanted was a shower, a double shot of Scotch, and a good night’s sleep. He’d settle for four hours, uninterrupted, but hoped for six. He needed a clear head in the morning and already planned to be up before dawn.

But before he did anything, he wanted to make sure again that Andy’s people had reached every teacher and administrator in Liberty Lake.

He was surprised to find Kara, Michael and Ryder in room 310 eating pizza and drinking beer. Well, Ryder wasn’t drinking beer—he was drinking bottled fizzy water or some such thing.

“Eat,” Michael told Matt.

He was starving, and there was more than enough. He grabbed two slices and sat down. Ryder looked nervous that he’d been caught relaxing.

“Do you need something, sir?” Ryder asked.

“We’ve done everything we can, Ryder. Andy Knolls and his staff are personally reaching out to every educator who works or lives in Liberty Lake. He expects to be done by ten-thirty. If we can just keep them safe for the next twenty-four hours, we’ll go a long way into screwing with the Triple Killer’s head.”

“And get him to fuck up,” Kara said. “I like the plan.”

Matt did... And didn’t. The unpredictability could put more people at risk, yet it might be the only way they could stop the killer. “For my team, we’ll be starting early in the morning, so eat and drink and get a good night’s sleep.”

“As much as we can in six hours,” Michael said.

“I’m sure your SEAL training prepared you for times like this.”

“Yes, sir, it did.”

Matt narrowed his eyes at Michael, who grinned. Matt almost laughed. He needed this. Just an hour to decompress.

“You talk to Andy?” Kara said. “He okay?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t he be?”

“Well, I may have created a problem for him with his fiancée, and he wasn’t really happy with me. Andy brought me over to her sandwich shop tonight—I had to go back to Liberty Lake to pick up my car after the press conference—and she said something about how she was worried about him getting shot, and I said she didn’t need to worry because our killer prefers knives. My joke didn’t go over too well.”