“You’re right,” Adam said, looking apologetic. “But if we’re right, and this is the same killer, we will get him this time.” He smiled and reached out across the table to squeeze her hand. “We have more than forensic science on our side this time. We have tools others don’t. Katie, we’re going to get this guy. Now, there is one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You may be in danger.”

“Me?” she asked, surprised.

“The killer missed you once. You weren’t on the boat when your parents were killed. If we’re right, the killer might want to finish off what they were doing.”

She shook her head and smiled.

“Did you miss the fact that while the dogs aren’t mine, I basically live with three giant animals that would tear you to ribbons if you tried to hurt me?”

Dan looked at Adam. If there was one thing he had learned in his years in and out of law enforcement, it was that kind of killer was not working with a full deck. Any rationality, an agenda, anything... Such a killer could be obsessive.

Determined to carry out a job.

“I’m okay,” Katie insisted at their worried faces. “I’m right next to Monty. He’s a great guy. If I was in danger, he’d be right there for me.”

“But doesn’t he work the carriages himself sometimes?” Adam asked her.

“Yes, but the dogs don’t go with him.”

“We’ll get someone to keep an eye on things around here,” Adam said, nodding at Axel. “All right, here’s one thing we need right away—”

“Sketches,” Dan interrupted. “We need a sketch artist, and Katie has to give us some kind of likenesses of the mystery couple who were on the boat when her parents were killed.”

“I was thinking about dinner. It’s gotten very late, and I’m not a young man,” Adam said.

“The four of us? Go to...dinner?” Dan sputtered.

“Yes. It’s a meal one eats at the end of the day,” Adam said, smiling.

“But I should get back to work,” Katie said.

“Katie, I’m sure you do fine. And your company will do well enough without you for a night,” Adam told her.

“Uh...”

Dan could see she was worried about forging any kind of an alliance with them.

She might not have been so worried if he hadn’t been there.

“Katie,” he said, wincing inwardly, “I am serious. I will stop trying to prove George did these things and look elsewhere. It’s best if we can both help on this...”

“All right, all right. I know a place that’s local, the owner is local,” Katie said. She stood. “Let me just tell Monty I won’t be working for the rest of the night.”

She was still wary; there was no way for her not to be wary of Dan Oliver.