Captain Stokes read the report and nodded. “It’s okay with me if it’s okay with Jacob.”

“He said he might have a lead on the third guy—a pimp by the name of Anton Chase. I can check in with him now and then—”

“I said yes, Chris. Jacob is more than capable of handling it. He could have had his gold shield a long time ago, but fool that he is, he wanted to stay in uniform.”

“But why?” She couldn’t understand anyone not wanting to be a detective.

Cappy shook his head. “I can’t say as I understand it myself. He tried to explain it to me once. Something about his brother and how he died on the job. You did know his brother was killed in the line of duty?”

“I heard.”

“It has something to do with a promise Jacob made to him before he died; something about taking over for him. You know how serious Jacob takes stuff like that.”

She nodded. If Jacob said something, you could lay money on it being true. If Jacob promised something, all nine hells would freeze over before he broke it and that was a fact.

“If Jacob chose Goodchilde to train,” Cappy went on. “The kid must be something special. I had better keep my eye on him. I don’t want to lose him to Newton or Hollenbeck.”

“Not very likely surely?”

“I’m not taking the chance. Meaweather knows Jacob, and he’s pulled some stunts in his time. I could tell you stories… but I won’t.”

Maeweather was currently commanding officer of Newton Community Police Station. There was friendly rivalry between them and most of the other captains.

“Do you want me to tell Jacob?”

“I’ll do it. I haven’t spoken with him in ages. It will be good to see him again.” He put the report aside and leaned back. “How are we doing on the Ghost?”

Chris sighed. “Do we have to call him that?”

“Not if you can give me his real name. No? Then the Ghost he shall be, unless you have a better suggestion.”

“How about Mister X?”

“Don’t like it.”

“Or the perp?”

“Too many perps around here already.”

She scowled. “Okay, Ghost it is. Raz has been working with a guy he knows over at Valley College. I’ve got to say that I don’t like the way things are going there.”

“In what way not like?”

“Jenny Lovett was murdered in a room at the Sutton Hotel. She was ripped to pieces and her blood used to write all over the walls.”

Cappy grimaced. “I read your report.”

“Raz recognised some of the graffiti as coming from this Book of Revelations thing, only it didn’t. When he showed his friends the photos—”

“He did what? Are you telling me Raz has been showing evidence to someone outside the department?”

“I gave him the okay, Cappy. We weren’t getting anywhere. I’ll take responsibility. The guy’s name is Radthorne, Michael Radthorne. He’s a professor of anthropology over at Valley College. Radthorne brought in Jennifer Lockstone to help him. Raz says we can trust them. He’s over there right now.”

She shifted uncomfortably at the look Cappy gave her. He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair in silence and she began trying to think of an argument strong enough to placate him. Before she could come up with anything, he stopped the annoying drumming and leaned his elbows on his desk.

“Okay, I’ve heard of Lockstone, but I want to be notified before you bring in any other civilians on this case. You know what we’re dealing with as far as the media is concerned. The more people you bring in, the greater the risk of a leak.”

“Okay. We really do need them on this. Radthorne seems to think that we might be dealing with more than one perp.”

Cappy’s eyes sharpened. “Oh?”

“I don’t say I agree with him. In fact, I don’t agree with him, but his reasoning is hard to refute assuming he’s right about the writing we found. Statistically it’s unlikely that a serial killer like our Ghost will share his kills. A one in ten chance.”

“There was Charles Starkweather and Carol Ann Fugate,” Cappy pointed out. “What about the others?”

“Sante and Kenneth Kimes, Gary and Thad Lewingdon, Alton Coleman and Debra Brown, and there was Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Lewis.”

“Why does Radthorne think we have a serial team?”

“Because of what was written at the scene of Jenny Lovett’s murder for one thing. There was a lot of weird stuff; ramblings about Satan walking the streets of Los Angeles, dead men coming back to life. All kinds of crazy stuff. It’s not what was written so much as how it was written that has got Radthorne so worked up.”

“The blood you mean?”

“Not that. The handwriting for one, though how he can tell Jenny Lovett’s murderer is left handed is beyond me. Our people are still on the fence about that. They say the sample is too small. They wouldn’t be able to tell much even if the perp hadn’t used blood and his fingers to write with. The thing is, Radthorne says that Sheryl Adams was killed by someone right handed. Patsy Jordan too.”

“Victims one and two. Weren’t they the ones—”

“Yeah,” Chris said grimly. “That’s what has me weirded out by Radthorne’s idea. The Ghost likes blond women. All of the victims were blond except for Patsy Jordan and Sheryl Adams who each wore a blond wig. Added to that circumstantial bit of evidence, is the fact the Ghost rips out his victims’ throat with, the coroner says, his teeth like a vamp.”

Cappy nodded. “Except victims one and two showed evidence of a knife being used.”

“Exactly! The coroner says he still used his teeth…” she felt faintly sick at the thought. “He ate some of Patsy and Sheryl’s throat after they’d been cut and they were probably dead. A vampire won’t do that. They can’t digest solids. Vampires can’t eat anything at all or they’ll get really sick. They can die even. The cuts were from left to right on the victims and inflicted from behind. Meaning the perp was probably right handed, but maybe he wasn’t too. Maybe he’s just ambidextrous.”

“Crap on toast. You didn’t tell Radthorne did you?”

“Of course not,” she lied. She had told him, but not until after he had made his presentation.

“So he found the odd ones out just by comparing the writings?”

“It seems like it, but there’s something else. We both know that serial killers escalate right?”

“Right.”

“Our only witness, Karen Sykes, was attacked first—at least we think she was first. Ghost hasn’t tried to hide the bodies and no one else has come forward. Karen was first, but she got away after a brief struggle. The first victim, the first dead victim, Patsy Jordan, was attacked with a knife and killed, but the thing was badly executed. Defensive wounds, blood and flesh under her nails, the whole bit. Patsy struggled and Ghost was sloppy. Patsy died hard. Then Sheryl Adams is attacked with a knife—neatly this time. She dies without a struggle. The third victim, Susan Winslow, is attacked and killed, but Ghost doesn’t bother with a knife. He’s better now, more confident. His learning curve is steep as hell. The fourth and fifth victims died without a struggle. Six and seven were found dead in hotel rooms and so was number eight, but she wasn’t like the others. Jenny Lovett was literally torn apart. I think he might have entered a new phase. We’re behind the game, Cappy. All we’ve learned might be useless if he’s escalated to a new or different level.”

“There’s nothing we can do about that. All we can do is keep working the evidence. When the next body turns up, we’ll know.”

“I hate this.”

“It’s the nature of the beast. We catch serial killers when they make a mistake. So far he hasn’t made even one.”

“Not quite. Karen Sykes survived.”

“Our only witness, but even with the description she gave us circulated by the newsies, no one has come forward.”

Chris shook her head absently. “That still amazes me. How can a guy look like he does and not be recognised? He’s an albino! I mean, I can’t even go down to the local deli without someone recognising me as that cop on the news. He has to eat, right? He must have a job, neighbours… friends?”

Cappy rubbed tired eyes. “I don’t know, Chris, but someone knows him. There must at the very least be a neighbour—someone who is protecting him because he or she just knows it’s all a mistake and their albino friend must be innocent. Such a quiet sort, they’ll say. Never hurt a fly. Helps take out the garbage.”

“Yeah.” She stood and made to leave. “I’ll keep you informed, Cappy. I’ll leave you to tell Jacob about his case.”

Cappy nodded and turned his attention back to the reports he had been reading.

Chris returned to her desk to brood. She idly played with the keyboard of her computer and then shoved it aside in annoyance. She was waiting for another murder she realised. She needed another murder to catch Ghost. It made her mad as hell knowing that without another body on the ground they wouldn’t catch the bastard. He could stop at eight and never be caught, but he wouldn’t do that. She hoped he wouldn’t and that made her feel guilty. Another hooker would die, and she would be glad because it would give her another chance to get him.

No, he wouldn’t stop until she stopped him. She usually had a sense of these things. It was sometimes spooky how she could get inside a perp’s head, but Ghost was different. She couldn’t read him. She couldn’t get a sense of what he was thinking except for the obvious compulsion to kill blond hookers. Maybe he had a wife, maybe she was blond. Or maybe his mother was a hooker and she was blond, or maybe his sister was. Maybe, maybe, maybe!

“Goddess, I need something concrete!”

“Try one of these,” Baxter said gesturing at his lunch. He was sitting at his desk across the aisle scarfing down ham and cheese on rye. “I swear this cheese must be as hard as concrete.”

“Heh,” she snorted.

She rummaged in the drawer of her desk and pulled out a street map. She stared at the eight red crosses not really seeing them but rather seeing the pitiful remains of the Ghost’s victims in their places. She had done this so many times now that she didn’t really need the map anymore. She could see the damn thing in her head.

The map was creased and worn where she’d folded it and refolded it trying to make it cough up some answers, but she just couldn’t see it. She flipped open the little electronic notebook that she kept with the map. It had notes taken from reports the task force had assembled on the victims and their deaths. Cappy had given them Interview Room 4 to use as an incident room, and ordinarily she would have made use of it, but Raz and Matt were still with Radthorne over at Valley College. John was attending the autopsy of Jenny Lovett and Chris was happy to leave him to it. She had attended the others with him, but Cappy had wanted to discuss Jacob’s case and her report. She was grateful for the excuse not to go. She had seen enough autopsies to know they gave her bad dreams for nights after.

So then, the task force, such as it was, was otherwise occupied and the incident room was empty. At least out here she had company. Besides, she knew all the data the room contained intimately well. She had helped compile it. She watched Baxter eating and contemplated picking a fight with him. If she snatched the apple from his lunch, he was sure to get upset. No, she didn’t have the energy to fight. All she wanted to do was pound the street for an hour or two like her uniform days. See the sights, chat with old acquaintances, and breathe the pollution for a while. John would go ape-shit if she went alone though. Her eyes narrowed and she quickly swept the map and notebook into the open drawer. She locked it and rose to her feet.

“Hey!” Baxter snarled. “Give me that!”

Chris held the apple out of his reach. “I’ll trade you for it.”

“Gimme it before I hurt you.”

“Nuh-uh, the apple for an hour of your time.”

Baxter grinned. “I knew that you secretly lusted after me. I knew you couldn’t hold out forever.”

She snorted and tossed the apple to him, and then sat on the corner of his desk. “Want to go bust a few heads with me?”

Baxter beamed. “What a charming offer. Is this a date?”

“In your dreams. The others are all busy and I’m going stir crazy in here. We could walk around some dark alleys, maybe hassle some pimps, a few pushers—”

“Hookers?” Baxter said eagerly.

“There might be one or two early risers, yeah,” she said with a grin. It was early yet for the lot lizards to be out, barely after one in the afternoon and most worked nights. “What do you say?”

“I say: lead the way.”

“Great.” She grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair.

They made their way out to the parking lot. Chris instinctively headed for her car and Baxter went along. Everyone knew she got nervous when others took the wheel. They climbed in and she pulled out of the lot and into traffic to head south. Karen Sykes had been attacked and pulled into an alley while walking along South Union Avenue. She headed that way without even planning it.

“Can I ask you a question?”

She glanced at Baxter. “Sure.”

“Why didn’t you pull me into the task force?”

“No reason. I already had John on the Patsy Jordan thing with me. When more bodies started turning up and we knew that we had a serial on our hands, Cappy told me to take Raz and Matt.”

“Cappy told you, you’re sure?”

“Sure I’m sure. Baxter… Dave, what’s this about?”

He didn’t comment on her use of his first name. He watched traffic behind them in the door mirror for a long moment in silence then said, “I’m thinking of retiring.”

She swerved a little. “You’re kidding!”

“No.”

“But you’re too young!”

Baxter grinned. “Thanks, but I’m heading for forty. I wouldn’t stop working. I’d just retire from the force.”

“And do what?”

“I’d find something to do.”

Goddess, he was serious! She stared hard at the road ahead trying to see Baxter doing something else with his life and just couldn’t. Baxter behind a bar flashed into her thoughts, but the familiar suited figure polishing glasses didn’t work. In her mind’s eye he threw down the glass and pulled a police issue stunner. Now he looked right. Baxter was… Baxter! Who would she fight with when she was bored? John was good, but he couldn’t banter with her like Baxter could. He was too serious. Baxter had been a permanent fixture in the department since before she came on the scene. He couldn’t leave. She wouldn’t let him.

“Did I do something to bring this on? I’ll promise not to steal your candy anymore.”

He chuckled. “You couldn’t keep a promise like that, Chris.”

“I would try real hard.”

“It’s not you, or anyone else in the department.”

Not in the department. That meant outside it then. “Is it Mary Pat?”

Baxter nodded. “When I got shot last year,” he said still watching the mirror. He frowned. “When I got shot, Mary Pat freaked. I shouldn’t have told her, but I was wearing my vest right? So no big deal I thought. Wrong! It was a huge deal to her. I had a walloping big bruise over my heart. It took weeks to fade and every night she cried in the bathroom. She doesn’t think I know, but I could hear her over the sound of the shower. She got over it, but I see her looking at me sometimes as if she can still see that bruise through my shirt.”

“Oh that’s nothing,” she said, trying to make light of it. “Women look at guys just as much as guys look at women.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. We’re just usually subtler about it. A guy gets fixated on your tits, right?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Baxter said self-righteously. “I only look at my wife’s tits.”

“I’ve caught you looking a time or three.”

“Never happened.”

“Has too!”

“Has not!”

Chris snorted. “Have it your way, Baxter, but we know.”

“We?” Baxter said a little nervously.

“Women’s Union of the Republic.”

“Oh, them.”

“Right. So, men fixate on your tits and their brains leak out of their ears. They don’t even know they’re doing it. Women don’t do that. We have bigger brains. When we look, we get everything in one glance and file it away for later. We don’t need to stare usually. Mary Pat is just lusting after your body. She didn’t ask you to retire did she?”

“No, she wouldn’t do that.”

“There you are then.”

“Seriously Chris, I think my time’s up.”

“You haven’t told Cappy have you?”

“Not yet,” he said with a frown. “You think I should?”

“No!” she gasped, and then more calmly, “No. Don’t tell him. If you tell him, you’ll be relegated to a desk! He’ll have to find someone from outside to take your place. Goddess knows where from. I certainly don’t and I doubt he would either. With Lou gone, we can’t lose you too.”

“We?”

“Me and the guys,” she said, looking at him as if he were dense. Her eyes narrowed as she thought of something. “When did you start thinking of retiring?”

“I told you—”

“No, I mean when did you seriously start thinking about it? It was around the time Lou got his promotion wasn’t it?”

Lou Debono had been Baxter’s partner for years before he was kicked upstairs. Lou was Captain of his own station now.

Baxter turned to her angrily. “If you think I’m jealous—”

“I don’t!”

“—then you don’t know me at all!”

“I said I don’t think that! Settle down. I’m just trying to understand that’s all. You know we’re short-handed. Cappy has been yelling about it for years! We need you, dammit!”

“And Mary Pat needs me still breathing!”

“I told you what I think about that.” She would have a chat with Mary Pat when they all got together over the weekend. It was her turn to bring the chips, she remembered. She would have to stop off and get some on the way home. “Mary Pat knew what she was doing when she got hitched to your wagon. Her dad worked the streets for almost forty years! She knows what it is to be married to a cop. What, you think she doesn’t know her own mind when her mother brought her up in a cop’s house?”

“She knows but—”

“But what?”

“She’s pregnant again.”

“Oh.” Her mind went blank for a second. “Is it money?”

Baxter shook his head. “Junior’s college tuition is covered and he’s raring to go.”

“Takes after his dad.”

“Yeah,” Baxter said with pride. “He’s already found an apartment to share with his buddies and a little part time job for extras. I’m not worried about him. Beth and Carla have years to wait yet. It’s not money.”

“I can always do with more money.”

“Me too, but this has nothing to do with that.”

She wasn’t sure she believed him. She would have a private chat with Mary Pat over the weekend. The barbecue would be crowded with all the guys and their families along. It shouldn’t be hard to spirit her away for a minute or two.

“You’re just feeling old, Dave. What you need is a snot-nosed kid for a partner, someone to make you run after him. That’ll get you back into condition.”

“Says you. I work out three times a week and my times are better than ever.”

“Still can’t shoot straight though.”

Baxter was frowning at the mirror again and didn’t seem to have heard her.

“I said you still can’t shoot straight.”

“Take the next right,” Baxter said in a distracted voice.

“Why?” she said, already making the turn.

Baxter was watching the mirror intently. “Change lanes.”

She did that while watching her own mirrors for manoeuvring cars. “Is it the black Ford?”

“Yeah. I think we have a tail. I saw him pull out after us when we left Central. Take a left.”

She did and was rewarded by a black Ford, the same one, following her. She tramped her foot on the brake and the car skidded to a stop. In a heartbeat, they were out of the car with their guns pointed at the Ford’s windscreen where it had skidded to a stop. Cars beeped horns at them and swung wide around the obstruction they caused.

“Get out of the damn road you freaks!” a driver yelled as he sped by, his engine roaring.

“—goddamn road hog!” another driver yelled leaning on his horn.

Chris ignored them. “Police! Hands… show me some hands… out the window! Do it now!”

A pair of hands appeared out of the driver’s window. Another pair appeared from the other side, but Baxter had that door covered. Chris eased forward. There were two men sitting in the front seats. The back of the car was empty. She kept her gun on the driver and worked the car’s door handle.

“Out slowly. Keep your hands where I can see them. No! Work the seatbelt with your other hand.”

“There’s no need for this, Detective,” the driver said. “I have my I.D in my pocket—”

“Freeze!” she snarled and nearly pulled the trigger.

The driver froze with his hand reaching into his inside jacket pocket. She could see the gun as plain as day.

“Gun here,” she called to Baxter who was covering the passenger. She reached into his coat and took the weapon—a K6 Remington stunner like hers. She was almost certain that she knew what she had here. Feds. The goddess be damned feds were tailing her. “Out!”

The driver glowered but complied and was careful to keep his hands out in the open. The passenger was receiving the same treatment from Baxter who had also found a K6. Baxter pushed the passenger against the fender of the car and searched him. Chris thought that was going just a little far until he came up with another gun. The hold out piece was an old 38 police special. Slug throwing boomers might be old fashioned, but they were still deadly. Baxter dropped it into his jacket pocket and shoved the passenger around the front of the car to join his partner.

“I.D now,” she said deciding not to push her luck with the driver by searching him. She was certain now. He was a fed. She flipped open the wallets they offered. “Well now Agent Barrows, Agent Feinstein. Would you care to explain why you were following us?”

“You know damn well why!” Feinstein snarled angrily taking back his wallet.

“My weapon?” Barrows said calmly ignoring his partner.

Chris holstered hers and handed the K6 back to him. Baxter reluctantly did the same with both of Feinstein’s guns. They quickly holstered them well aware of the scene they were causing. It wouldn’t be long before one of the bystanders called the cops.

“I want some answers.”

“Do you?” Barrows said. “And you think I’ll give them to you for the asking?”

“You’ll answer me, or it will be my captain and your department chief having this discussion.”

“And that will concern me because?”

“Don’t play games,” Chris said with a put upon sigh. “We both know you’re not here officially, tailing me I mean. The feds haven’t been called in on this case.”

“Yet!” Feinstein said and got a very annoyed look from his partner for his trouble.

“We’re within our authority, Detective.”

“To drive around the city? Sure you are, but obstructing a police investigation? I don’t think so. If you don’t want me to take this further, you had better tell me something I want to hear.”

Barrows glanced around. “A little public isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “Okay, we’ll wait for the black and whites,” she said and Barrow’s eyes tightened. He wasn’t as blasé as he wanted to appear. “Don’t like that huh? Tell me something.”

“I, we are investigating a case that might have links with yours.”

“You’re after my serial. The Ghost?” She wasn’t surprised, angry yes, but not surprised.

“Not him, but someone we think might be linked to him. Before you ask, no I won’t give you his name—it wouldn’t do you any good. He has dozens of aliases. He’s been on our books for a lot of years. He moves about, covers his tracks.”

“His crime?”

“Murder.”

“Serial?”

Barrows shook his head. “Not classic, but he’s wanted for multiple murders in half the states in the country. Mass murder on his scale doesn’t happen anymore.”

“Really?” she said with scepticism heavy in her voice. “I have eight very dead people down at the morgue.”

“And the guy we’re after is responsible for more than eighty!” Feinstein snarled angrily.

“Oooh, theirs is bigger than yours, Chris,” Baxter said with a smirk.

She grinned and Feinstein’s face darkened. “You think I’ll lead you to him?”

“Your Ghost will find him, or he’ll find Ghost,” Baxter said with no doubt.

“Why would he do that?”

Barrows wasn’t willing to say apparently. He ignored the question. “When you find Ghost—”

“If she finds him,” Feinstein said.

Chris looked Feinstein up and down. “I don’t like you.”

Feinstein’s eyes popped wide. “You can kiss my arse!”

“Doug, shut your trap and get back in the car,” Barrows said.

“But she—”

“Now.”

Feinstein glared at Chris and got back in his car to sulk. He slammed the door. Barrows watched all this in silence.

“I don’t think he likes me,” she said with smirk.

“I don’t like you either. Have you got any friends at all? No matter. I don’t have to like you to use you. Find Ghost, Detective, and I’ll be a very happy man. Take too long, and I’ll have you removed from the case. Before you say anything, believe me that I do have influence enough to do it. I will have the case under federal authority if I must. I don’t particularly want to do that, but I will.” Barrows moved away to join his partner in the car as two black and whites arrived. “I’ll be watching.”

Chris and Baxter pulled out their badges and held them high as they slowly approached the patrol cars just then arriving on scene. Feinstein glared at her out of his window as Barrows pulled away and back into traffic.

They quickly dealt with the uniforms and tried to get back to work. The story would make the rounds back at Central, but there was nothing they could do about that. They decided between them to keep Barrows’ name and status as a feebie out of it. Cappy wouldn’t be too pleased to learn the FBI was sniffing about without informing him of its interest in Ghost.

“Whoa,” Chris said as she sat behind the wheel of her car and thought about the consequences. The puff of air between pursed lips blew a lock of hair aside. “That was interesting.”

“Interesting? Well yes you could say that. Barrows is afte