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“I don’t know. She hightailed it out of the M.E.’s office after that damn press conference. Have you heard any more from the FBI today?”

“No, Charlotte Douglas never checked in with us, as 192

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far as I know. Baldwin said she’s deep into her own inves

tigation about the previous murders. I’ll ask the boys about it. Anything else I need to be aware of?”

“No. That should do it. Keep me apprised of the situa

tion, okay?”

“Righto. Are you coming tonight?”

“Miss your bachelorette party? Never.”

“I think we’re skipping di

Price sighed loudly. “Okay. I’ll see you guys there.”

They hung up and Taylor went back into the bullpen. Baldwin was finishing a rundown of the scene they’d just come from. Taylor pulled up a chair, turned it backward and straddled the seat.

“That’s it from me. I’m going to go check on Charlotte, see what’s happening with her, okay? I’ll see you later.”

Baldwin nodded at the boys and gave her a small kiss. She smiled at him.

“Don’t get yourself too riled up. You need to go watch naked women dance tonight.”

He rolled his eyes at her and waved as he went into the hall. Taylor turned back to Lincoln and Marcus, leaning her chin on her hands on top of the chair back.

“So. How are you guys this lovely afternoon?”

“Fine. Did you see Frank Richardson leaving?” Lin

coln gestured toward the door. “He just split, right before you came in.”

“No. What did he have to say?”

“Just that he had some information you might find interesting. He spent the day going through all of his old stories. Too bad you missed him.”

“I’ll call him later. Where are we with the Baptist shooting?”

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Marcus stood up and paced the room. “We’re nowhere. Guy disappeared into thin air.”

Lincoln scratched his head. “Why would he shoot the place up and run away with the girl, only to end up shooting her, anyway? Why didn’t he just kill her in the hospital room?”

“Baldwin and I talked about that. She told me one helluva story. She was an asset, a trained asset. I have to assume that the shooter went in with instructions to take her back alive. We happened upon him at the exact wrong time, and we got her killed. I’m not happy about that.”

“Can’t say I blame you. Listen, we talked to Remy’s grandparents again. They weren’t aware that she might be sneaking out, don’t know who she could have gone with. According to them, she was a sweet, obedient little girl. We’re waiting to hear back from the school about who she hung out with. The canvass of the bars is getting us nowhere. We’ve got a couple of patrols passing out the pictures of all four girls, but no one remembers seeing them. I think we’d be wise to go to the media with it.”

“Damn. I think you’re right. Without help, it’s needlein-a-haystack time. Thanks for handling that for me. And let me know what the school says. If they give you any guff, let me know. I’ve still got friends in the administra

tion. They’ll talk if we need them to. What about Jane Macias? What’s happening there?”

Lincoln reached over his shoulder and neatly snagged a laptop off his desk. “Got her computer. I haven’t found anything yet. Most of her work is password-protected, and she used rotating binary generator accounts to give random pass codes. Based on the Bernoulli equation.”

Taylor shook her head. “Huh?”

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“Bernoulli’s principle? Increases in velocity, decreases in pressure create lift. Commonly taught as why airplanes fly, though it would have to be a perfect world for that par

ticular equation to work. It’s just easy to explain. The binary generator uses the velocity equation from Bernoulli to—”

Taylor started laughing. Despite the urbane exterior, Lincoln was a computer genius, a regular geek at heart.

“What you’re saying is this is pretty sophisticated stuff for a reporter?”

“For anyone, actually. There’s something in here she doesn’t want anyone to read, that’s for sure.”

“Nothing on her family? I’m absolutely shocked we haven’t had a frantic call from someone who knows her.”

“Not that I’ve found. Once I have the pass codes cracked, I’ll be able to get into her address book. Waiting on a call back from Google about the warrant to get the password to her e-mail.”

“If Snow White got to her, why haven’t we found her body?” Marcus asked.

Taylor raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. Maybe he didn’t take her. Maybe she was working on something that got her into trouble. Or we just haven’t found her body. What about the boyfriend? Think he might have anything to do with it?”

Marcus snorted. “Skip. Kid couldn’t find his ass with a lamp and a map. He’s so moonstruck by her, I ended up wishing I had her phone number. No, I’m betting he had nothing to do with this. You just can’t fake that kind of distraught.”

“So where is she?”

No one answered her. She straightened, redid her 14

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ponytail and gave the men a half smile. “Great. That’s just great. No signs, no paths, no clues. Clean trails, but the physical evidence should lead us somewhere. Either we’re missing something or this guy is brilliantly calculating. Though, the massage girls seem to be a step down for him. There wasn’t any of the anointing oils on these new bodies, at least none that Sam could visibly identify. Baldwin thinks he might have been interrupted. Or maybe he’s finally screwed up.”

She stood, turned for her office. “I’m going to nail some of the shit that’s piled up today. Linc, tell me when you get into her laptop, okay?”

Lincoln whistled Lohengrin’s “Here Comes the Bride”

after her, and she shot him a bird. That broke the tension; they all started laughing.

A loud cough jerked them from their revelries. Captain Price stood in the doorway. Lincoln’s whistle switched to a low-pitched version of the theme song to Dragnet. Price just shook his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. His luxurious Yosemite Sam mustache moved ver

tically, more than making up for the lack of hair on his head.

“Boss, you need to give these boys a raise.” Taylor tipped her head toward Lincoln and Marcus. “They’ve almost got this case cracked.”

Price glanced at his watch. “I’ve got time now, if you want to brief me.”

Lincoln stood. “Sure thing. Taylor, you go on, get caught up. Little man and I got this covered.”

She flashed him a grateful smile, saluted Price and ducked into her office. She wished she felt like things were coming together. They were ru

Baldwin watched Charlotte Douglas pace as she talked on her cell phone. She was wearing a slim, cream-colored sheath of some silky material that swished every time she took a step. He glanced at his watch—nearly 8:00 p.m. It was time to get out of this hotel room, get on with his life. Taylor and the rest of the crew would be at VIBE, waiting for him. He needed to get this done and get out of Dodge. She’d called him here, to her suite, refusing to meet him at the field office. He knew exactly what she was about, wasn’t going to fall for it. He wanted her gone, the sooner the better. He had his whole life in front of him, and Char

lotte damn Douglas wasn’t a part of any scenario he could imagine.

Charlotte was stalking in front of the plate-glass window, obviously upset. “You really need to work with me here. There’s nothing else I can do at the moment. That’s right.Yes, sir.Yes. I’ll be back this evening. Good. I’ll talk to you later.”

Charlotte hung up the cell phone and stopped dead in the middle of the room. She looked at Baldwin and smiled, cocking a hip forward, her legs tensed so the calf muscles stood out and her arms folded behind her back. He knew 14