“I bet she’s not going to be in the system. I’m not a profiler, but I’ve attended enough lectures. I see Jennie as someone who first came to New Orleans as a lost soul. Maybe she ran away from home, maybe she had an abusive parent or guardian. She wanted to get away from home as soon as possible. Somewhere in the city, she came across Neil Browne, charming and charismatic, and who seemed to be the answer to her prayers. She fell for his doctrine, for his promise of power over others. But she was a pawn, nothing more.”

“If that’s the case, George Calabria is truly innocent. He wasn’t in New Orleans back then,” Axel said.

“No. Neil Browne is a separate entity. We know that from Katie.” He was quiet for a minute. “What we don’t know is whether there is someone else behind Neil Browne. In other words, Browne may be nothing more than a patsy, too. Someone may have been pulling the strings from here all the time, staying safe, even, or waiting for the right time in New Orleans for his end game.”

“That’s a scary thought. But one way or the other, we need to find Neil Browne. And if Jennie was here in the city, so is he.”

“I agree.”

“Do you want to come to the autopsy?” Axel asked Dan.

“No, but I’ll be waiting to hear what you learn.” He hesitated. “I don’t think we’re even going to go to the archives. I want to get Katie talking. I’d even like to spend time with her and George Calabria and try to find out anything either of them might know about Katie’s father.”

“Maybe you should bring Jeremy into that conversation. He’d know more about anything that might have happened when Lou Delaney was in New Orleans after the storm.”

“True. I’m going to take it step by step. And hope for something.”

“All right. We’ll keep each other in the loop.”

“Axel, that letter. Did the paper print it?”

“No. While it would be the sensation of the year, the paper seems to value human life. They’re staying mum on it.”

“Wow! Amazing. And great. Except that it’s going to infuriate the killer.”

“Yes. But we’re keeping this as tight as we can be. The city has been warned. I talked to Ryder this morning, too. He was out last night, patrolling until the wee hours. You know what he told me?”

“That all you could hear was jazz?”

Axel laughed. “Right, and jazz is great. But a lot of venues like to blast out rock and pop, old and new. The killer wanted a panic. He wants people to believe the old Axeman was a supernatural being, and that he’s returned.”