Chosen Prey

"Maybe tells them he's married or something," Lucas said.

"Still, you'd think…"

"Yeah. Somebody would know."

They thought about that for a minute, then Marcy said, "So anyway, that's three people we've ID'd from the graveyard, five to go."

WITH NOTHING SPECIFIC to work on, Lucas had to decide whether to drive down the graveyard-where he wouldn't have much to do-or review paper. The idea of reviewing paper bored him, and after a visit to Homicide to talk to Black, he noticed a shaft of sunlight out on the street.

"Sun's out," he said to Black as he left.

"Today only," Black said. "More rain or snow coming for the weekend."

The sunlight made the decision for him. He was out of downtown ahead of the rush, ru

On the grave-site hill, everything changed. The hill faced away from the afternoon sun, and under the oak trees, there was a river of mud, and men grubbing for bones. The hill, he thought, looked like an old browned photograph of a World War I trench site during a cease-fire, except for the brilliant blue slashes of a dozen plastic tarps.

McGrady had gotten some rest. He was sitting on a camp chair, reading a copy of Maxim, when Lucas climbed up to the command tent. "I always liked pictures of sexy women," he said, almost absently. "Like the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. But somehow, after all the liberation bullshit, we finally got around to the point where women have stopped being objects and have become products. Have you ever looked at this rag?"

"No." But he was amused.

McGrady flipped it over his shoulder onto the ground. "I'm just getting old, I guess. Couple of the younger guys were looking at it, thought it's great."

"Still eight bodies," Lucas said. He didn't care about Maxim, had never heard of it.

"Yeah, still eight. I think that's all it's going to be unless we find a whole new graveyard somewhere. We think one of them might be a girl from Lino Lakes, but we can't track down any dental records. I don't know what the hang-up is."

"Marcy said something about the parents moving a couple of times, and they're still trying to track them down. From what I saw of the records, I'm not sure how good a fit she is."

"Blond, busty, and missing."

"But some of her friends think she was about to run away to California; and she wasn't interested in art."

"If we find the parents, we could do some DNA and skip the dentals," McGrady said. He yawned, and then said, "Another day out here, I think. If we don't find anything new."

"You still got TV…"

"Yup. But they're getting bored, I think. No new bodies." They both looked down the hill at the television vans. The crews were sitting along the edge of the road on blue tarps; two of the cameramen were playing chess and one of the reporters was sprawled out on his back, talking on a cell phone.

Lucas looked up the hill and saw Marshall sitting at the top, looking down. "But you still got Marshall."

"The guy spooks the hell out of me," McGrady said. "Good guy, but a little intense."

They talked for a few more minutes, then Lucas walked up the hill to where Marshall was sitting on a garbage bag. "How's it going?"

Marshall was smoking a Marlboro. He gri

He sounded so mellow that Lucas couldn't help smiling back. "We're making some progress. We reviewed the cases we know about, and decided that our guy is stealing everything he can from the women he kills-everything small and worthwhile, anyway. Jewelry, cash, maybe small cameras. We've got photos of stuff that was taken from Aronson-and maybe another woman-and we're go

Marshall bobbed his head and then said, "I'm starting to worry about what happens when we identify him."

"That could be a while, yet," Lucas said.

"I know the kind of work you guys do-that you do-and I think that sooner or later, you're go

Lucas shrugged. "I believe we will. We always have a few who slip past us, but once we get any kind of a handle on this guy, I think we'll be able to pin him with those drawings. Once we get a name, we can start co

"But what you'll get will be circumstantial: maybe really solid, but maybe not. He could beat it."

"That's always a risk."

Marshall blew more smoke, and his jaw worked. After a minute he said, "That would be… tragic."

"At this point, I don't think it'll happen," Lucas said.

"So tell me what you've got. I've been down here all the time. I keep meaning to come up to see you, but I can't get myself away from…" He looked down the hill, and his jaw worked again. "… all the holes."

Lucas ran the case past him, everything that they had learned. Marshall's eyebrows went up when he heard about the photo of Laura Winton at St. Pat's, and about the death of Neuma

"You think they're all co

"The Neuma

"A cleanup," Marshall said. He pitched his cigarette down the hill. "The fucker ought to be ski

Lucas's cell phone rang a moment later, and he fumbled it out of his pocket. "Yeah?"

"This is Del. Where are you?"

"Talking with Marshall, down at the graveyard. What's going on?"

"We gotta break," Del said. "Get your ass back up here."

"What happened?"

Del explained quickly, and Lucas said, "I'm on my way," hung up, and to Marshall: "Gotta run."

"Something?"

Lucas was already headed down the hill, and he called back, "Maybe."

Marshall said, "I'm coming," and they both scrambled down the wet hill and hopped the ditch, Lucas hurrying to his car, Marshall jogging heavily to his, swinging then through U-turns and accelerating away to the north.

13

LUCAS WAS PORSCHE-TRAINED, and showed it, even in the hippo-like Tahoe; he could see Marshall laboring to keep up as the Du

"Tell Terry what you told me," Lucas said, as Del climbed in the back.

"I was ru

Lucas said to Marshall, "The ring had 'Love Forever' engraved inside."