Zach saw the quick flash of shock in Liz’s eyes when they told her they knew about her late uncle. They’d taken her into the living room to talk but they had other teams on the premises, looking for Shauna.

Liz covered her surprise almost instantly with a confused air. “He died long before I was born. I never knew my uncle.”

Zach sat in front of her and studied her, tilting his head. It was all he could do to stay calm right then. He was pulling on every ounce of control he had not to reach out and grip her neck in his hand and squeeze until she told him where Shauna was.

It was odd, really. He’d stopped seeing her as a teenage girl. As the kind of girl who could have been one of his niece’s friends, the way he saw all the girls involved in this case.

Right now, when he looked at Liz Gordon, he saw a monster. He could see the cold callous calculation beneath the façade she projected to the world.

He focused on doing his job. On questioning her until she gave up where Shauna was. “Did you find the rope and lipstick? Was it stashed someplace in the house?”

Liz shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

Zach counted in his head, willing his breath to stay even and his face calm. They each had a part to play here now. She was committed to her performance, he’d give her that. “I think you do. Tell me, Liz, did your mother tell you what he’d done? Was it common knowledge in your family that he’d killed all those girls, or was that something you only discovered recently?”

He could see the gleam in her eye and he was disgusted by it. She almost seemed to want to talk to him, to tell him what he wanted to know. To describe her uncle’s involvement, and maybe to brag about her own. To tell him how she’d done it.

He played on that. “You were smart, Liz. You had us fooled for a long time. In fact, I have to think if your mom hadn’t hyphenated her name, it would have taken us even longer to figure it out.”

As it was, he hated that it had taken them so damned long.

Liz’s mouth twitched, like she wanted to speak, but she didn’t.

Zach continued, willing away the urge to lift her off her feet and throw her against the wall. It wouldn’t get them anywhere, but it might get their case thrown out of court. Then again, what the fuck did he care about court if he couldn’t get to Shauna in time?

“Why don’t you tell me how Sawyer’s involved? Were you working together?”

Liz’s whole body jerked at the suggestion and she wasn’t able to hide the venom in her eyes then. “Sawyer is a pig.”

It wasn’t enough. She’d said nothing to implicate herself yet. He needed a confession, so he could press her to tell them what she’d done to Shauna.

He saw Ronan step out of the house, presumably to check with the officers that were scouring the property.

Zach focused on Liz and pressed her weak spot. “What happened, Liz? Did Sawyer drug you?”

Her eyes blazed. “He didn’t need to. Sawyer and I were different than what he’s got going on with those other girls.”

Zach opened his mouth to press the issue, but the front door opened, and an officer moved to the side to let a tall woman in her fifties in. It couldn’t be Liz’s mom.

“What’s going on here?”

Zach stood. “And who are you?” He asked the question of the woman, but let his gaze slip to the officer who’d let her in.

The woman squared off with him. “I’m Julia Tiede. I cook for the Gordon family and I live on the property. Why are their officers on the grounds? And what are you doing with poor Liz?”

She looked past Zach to Liz and Zach turned to see the girl had transformed. She now wrapped her arms around herself, tears streaming down her face.

The cook circled around Zach, to draw the girl into her arms. “What is this? One minute you’re protecting her from this killer and now you’re grilling her?”

“Were you in the main house this afternoon when Detective O’Rourke arrived with Liz?” Zach asked.

“Oh no,” she said, and her chin went up in defiance. “Neither of us is answering any more questions without the family attorney present.” She turned to Liz. “You don’t say another word to these men, Liz. I’ll call your parents’ lawyer.”

“Fine,” Zach said, signaling to one of the officers to take Liz into custody. “We’ll go ahead and transport Ms. Gordon to the station in the meantime, and begin processing her.”

“What? On what grounds?” Julia Tiede’s indignation was clear.

Zach didn’t know if they could make a murder charge stick, but he was too far down this road to turn back. “Murder. Liz Gordon, you’re under arrest for the murders of Adrienne Edwards, Carrie Anthill, and Candice Jordan.”

They took her from the room while the cook began to make calls.

Zach spun and stalked down the large hallway that went from the front of the house through to the back. He hit the door and kept moving, letting out a grunt of frustration when he got to the yard. He looked out over the lawn and let loose with an almost animalistic cry.

Where the hell was Shauna and was she even alive?