Zach stared down at the body, the emotions running through him going beyond raging, beyond screaming and throwing shit.

“He’s not even trying to hide the bodies anymore.” Shauna looked around as she spoke.

Ronan agreed. “There aren’t any cameras and not a lot of traffic on this stretch, but the body isn’t even out in the woods this time.”

A jogger had stumbled across the body at five o’clock that morning. The girl lay by the side of a stretch of wooded road only half a mile from where Adrienne’s body had been found. Her face was smeared with lipstick. More than what had been on the other bodies. And she’d not only been strangled, her face had been beaten.

“The beating was postmortem?” Zach asked Dr. Kane to confirm his suspicion.

“Yes.”

“That’s different.” Shauna frowned and knelt for a closer look. She stood a moment later when the photographer came in to take photographs.

“Any idea on ID?” Shauna asked.

Dr. Kane nodded. “Her identification was on her. That and a few dollars. Name is Candice Jordan.”

Zach looked to Ronan who was scrolling through something on his phone. He looked up a moment later. “Not a student at Elmhurst. Missing persons report was filed by her father two days ago. She was supposed to walk home from school, but never arrived.”

“Does she have money?” Zach asked, not to make any kind of judgments or anything. He was simply looking for commonalities in the victims. Things that could lead to a hint about where this girl might have run into their killer. It was that kind of thing that could tell them who this killer was.

“Looking at her address,” Ronan said, “I would guess neither rich nor poor. Middle class, but my guess would be they aren’t paying for private school.”

“We should find out where she went to school,” Shauna said. “Could be she’s at a private school on a scholarship. Maybe there’s some overlap in board members or something.”

Ronan nodded, making a note.

Zach heard Shauna’s curse and looked up to see news vans converging. Thankfully, they already had a team of officers at the periphery to keep them back. “Can we get her out of here soon?” Zach asked Dr. Kane.

She gave him a nod, but he walked over to the perimeter all the same.

“Officer,” he said, keeping his voice low, “let’s move this line back.”

The officer nodded and signaled to another officer to help him create another barricade. As they worked, the first of the reporters were moving in from where they’d set up their vans, including Ray Lansing. Zach turned away, but not before Lansing’s voice rang out.

“Detective, does this clear the kid?”

Zach didn’t ask if the kid he referred to was Sawyer. They knew it would get out that they’d arrested Jonathan Sawyer in connection with the case, even if he hadn’t been arrested on the charge of murder. Yet.

That didn’t mean Zach was going to answer Lansing. He continued turning away, not giving the reporter a response.

Lansing didn’t give up. “Is the cold case division involved because of the similarities to the Marsh Murders?”

Zach stopped and turned to Lansing. He narrowed his gaze, trying to gauge how much the reporter knew. There was always what he knew and what he was willing to ask in front of others.

The reporter gave him a flat look. Zach turned away again. The guy didn’t know anything. He was fishing.

And Zach wasn’t about to bite that lure.

He made a mental note to ask Cal Rylan if Lansing was still dating his sister, Joy. None of them had been happy about that little development after the recent case. Well, except for the fact that Lansing actually seemed to be good for her and Joy had been through too much for them not to want to see her happy. Still, every detective in major crimes felt a little sick at the thought it was Lansing that she’d chosen to bring her out of her shell.

He ignored the calls from Lansing and others as he walked back to Shauna. He didn’t look at her and he didn’t lower his head to bring his voice closer to her. He kept his gaze on the doctor and her technician as they worked to clear the scene.

Shauna raised her coffee cup to her mouth. “Does he have anyone inside the department who might talk to him?”

“Not that I know of,” Zach said. “The department is pretty tight right now. We were crucified during the James sniper case. No one’s forgotten that.”

She didn’t respond, but her jaw was tense. He didn’t blame her.

Ronan stepped up to them. “The officers following Jonathan Sawyer say he’s been at home since he was released.”

Zach bit down on the anger rising in him. “Are they sure?”

“Yes.”

“Do they know if the father and grandfather have been at home?” Shauna asked.

Ronan sent a text message, then minutes later, relayed the answer. “Yes. The whole family is in the house. They came home with the attorney after the arraignment and bail hearing. The lawyer left but the family is inside.”

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