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“
You’re saying he threatened the two live-ins to get her to react?”

“
I believe that he knew she would put their lives before her own. It’s my belief he wanted to capture her. To play out this fantasy he has created. He needs her in his life as his substitute mother.

“
I also believe this guy not only threatened, but would have had no qualms to have carried it through,” Dr. Levy went on. “If she hadn’t shown up, I have no doubt he would have carried out this threat. He’s playing a game, but has no hesitation in killing. He has found power in killing. He enjoys it.”

Darren shook his head.
“You have me confused. I still don’t see the connection to Virginia. I don’t understand the killing to protect
his mother
…”

“
Dr. Schafer expressed his concern about his patient, a Raymond Duffy. Dr. Schafer worried that Duffy was responsible for the killings in Virginia. He warned us that the killings might stop for a while, but it would happen again,” Dunn answered.

“
If you had this information, you must have a picture of the man,” Darren pressed. “Wouldn’t it be simple…”

“
Ah…simple. It would if we had anything…a picture, a fingerprint…anything. We have nothing. According to Dr. Schafer, Duffy was a sociopath, along with being the most intelligent man Dr. Schafer has interacted with. A freaking genius, according to the good doctor. Duffy’s IQ was documented to have been a hundred and ninety.

“
He bragged to Dr. Schafer he could do anything he wanted to do with computers. When Duffy left, he fried Dr. Schafer’s data…computers, emails, databases—nothing was left. Duffy seemed to have unleashed a virus that tracked down emails and fried the computers that opened it…no one has to download it, only open the email. It leaves the screen frozen with a burning flame emblem. Sound familiar?”

Dunn halted a moment. He pressed his lips together as if he
were contemplating his next words. “This Duffy claimed while at Mansfield, he had committed the murders. The man showed no emotion and no sign of conscience or compassion and never expressed the slightest regret for any action he claimed to have committed. We are looking into the case.

“
We are also in the process of trying to locate Dr. Schafer. He moved out of the country. We believe to Ireland. He’s the only one who can identify the suspect. Otherwise, all we have to go on is a male between the ages of twenty-five to thirty, approximately five ten. Natural hair color—light brown. Brown eyes. Dr. Schafer cautioned that Duffy bragged he was adept at changing his appearance.”

“
So we have to run down the list of suspects. He has to have had access to her apartment,” Brophy cut in. “I’m beginning to suspect he drugged Zach Quinn and Randy Harrison as he did the two live-ins at the Warrens’.”

“
I agree with that assessment, Detective,” Agent Dunn said. “But make a wide net. I wouldn’t put anything past this guy. I have a team working on the cases in Virginia. I will be assigning one here in Boston…to work with you. Honestly, this guy scares me with what he can do with a computer.”

“
So you’re saying this guy is able to hack into all sorts of information?” Brophy asked.

“
I think he proved that. He has hacked into your database, hasn’t he? And if the truth be told, I believe he has ours also,” Agent Dunn answered. “The question becomes what do we do now? Will his killings escalate with his abduction attempt thwarted?”

“
He’s insane. He isn’t supposed to make sense,” Brophy said. “How can you make sense of the direction he’s going, if he’s insane?”

Dr. Levy nodded in agreement.
“I’m not going to argue with you about his mental state, but in his mind, somehow all this is logical to him. He kills without so much as a blink of an eye. Leaves no forensic trail or computer trail. I don’t believe it was luck that we found a computer trail leading to Zach Quinn.”

“
So what are you saying, Doc?” Brophy asked defensively. “We don’t know what we’re doing?”

“
That’s not what I’m saying, Detective Brophy. You found what he left for you to find, but it could be his downfall. In his mental state, he acted illogically. Studying the case, I believe he acted impulsively here. The trail led you too close to what he covets. I believe he wants the girl. If he wanted to kill her, he could have easily done so tonight. He’s outside of a pattern killing, his pattern of killing. He went outside of it. This last killing seems to revolve around the girl in one fashion or another. He wants the girl for a different reason, or in my opinion she would already be dead.” Dr. Levy nodded. “I believe she is the only solid link we have to the killer.”

Darren turned and leaned his back against the window with his arms crossed against his chest.
“Well, he lost his link. I’m ready to charge her with obstruction.”

Agent Dunn coughed in an attempt to hid
e a small laugh he had let escape. Darren eyed him with a cold glare.

“
You have a problem with that, Agent Dunn? If she hadn’t hidden the car, none of this would have happened,” Darren said with conviction. “We wouldn’t be going in circles. God knows what she did with her brother’s computer.”

“
Look, Kennedy,” Agent Dunn said. “You’re right. You could go arrest her. Where would it get you? Nowhere. If she has a halfway decent lawyer, he will point out that she hid the car well before she was served the search warrant. She left the car at a friend’s garage.”

Darren frowned.
“Okay. So what do we do with this information? Put her into protective custody? Take her out of the picture?”

Darren stared back at Cameron in the adjoining room. While they bantered over her fate, she slept. He shook his head. He was having mixed feelings.

“Gentlemen, I believe we have an opportunity here. The killer doesn’t know we suspect him of the killings in Virginia. If we put Miss Quinn into protective custody, the killer, in all probability, will escalate his killings. The best-case scenario for the girl would be the killer goes underground, but we know he will reemerge somewhere and begin again.” Agent Dunn swallowed. “We have an opportunity here to play him by dangling the girl in front of him. I believe we can’t afford to pass on this.”

Brophy shook his head.
“Don’t like it.”

“
What choice do we have, Detective Brophy? We have no leads other than the girl. He has all the advantages. He could be out right now plotting another killing in retaliation for this botched attempt,” Agent Dunn argued. “We have to come up with a plan. I don’t think we have a choice. Before she leaves here, we need a plan.”

* * * *

Darren navigated his way down toward the South Shore while Cameron sat quietly staring out the window. He had asked for this assignment. Already he realized the time grew near that he would have to withdraw from the case. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the case had become personal…way too personal.

He had wondered briefly why Cameron hadn’t mentioned their prior relationship. Did she think he would go easy on her? Somehow, he didn’t think that was the reason.

He gripped the wheel tighter, wondering what her silence meant. Was she questioning her decision? Did she trust him? Could he trust her? His stomach began to churn queasily. Brophy had begun to suspect there was more going on here than met the eye. He stated emphatically how much he hated the plan.

“
When did you become such a cold-hearted bastard?” Brophy demanded.

“
There has to be a means to an end.”

“
No, Darren. You’re pissed she lied to you. Didn’t break down, confessing to you. The great ADA. No one stands up to you without a price to be paid. So you are willing to risk her life.”

“
Her life is already at risk, which has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

“
What’s got into you?” Brophy shook his head. “It’s your call, bro. Just remember, I thought this was a bad idea.”

Darren took the off
-ramp headed toward the home that Cameron had grown up in. The day was dawning and opened up the drive along the ocean front. A majestic orange-red tinge lit up the ocean line against the morning sky. The ocean waves slammed against the shore. The beauty of the morning was seemly lost upon his passenger.

A quiet voice broke the silence.
“Do you believe in God?”

He glanced over at her. Her face stared out the window stoically. She didn’t wait for a reply.

“When I was young, without question I believed. I believed everything my mother told me. She said that here, right now in the light before the dawn, she could feel his presence. She had so much faith. I lost my faith, Mr. Kennedy. I’ve tried. I can’t seem to find it. You try and try to do everything right, to be a good person, and it’s not there.”

She pointed to the curve they had begun to drive around, a beautiful spot as the road hugged the shoreline. The sunlight
shone down on the rocks.

“
It died here the night my mother lost her life. So senseless. It destroyed so many more lives than just hers and Bernie Luciano’s. My father has never been the same. You know why he didn’t sue the state after finding out about the deception of the state troopers in blaming him for the deaths? He lost everything he had worked for in his life. Was put in jail. You know why? Because it wouldn’t bring my mother back. He’s not living, only existing.”

Darren
nodded. “In a way I understand how you feel. I lost my wife, Sara. Cancer. She was only twenty-six years old. A recurrence of sorts. She had childhood leukemia. Officially they listed it as bone cancer, in all probability due to the treatment she received as a child.”

“
I’m sorry.”

“
Don’t be. Nothing anyone could have done, but yes, Cameron, I know what loss is. I watched her agonized with pain, wasted away to nothing. Struggling to survive because she wanted to live. Do I question a God? Let’s just say it’s been seven years and there hasn’t been a day that goes by that I don’t remember the pain she went through. I don’t know how a God could let someone so young, so innocent, suffer the way she did.”

Cameron nodded silently. They continued in that silence until the GPS signaled the last turn down a narrow street lined with shingled
, old fisherman homes. He parked in the driveway.

“
I have your word?” Cameron asked before she opened her door. Her eyes stared straight into his.

Darren
nodded. “You do.”

“
Okay,” she said and exited the car.

He followed behind her as she gave a slight knock before entering the back door. He stepped into a quaint
, old-fashioned kitchen. It didn’t look as if it had been updated since the seventies. Cameron’s father sat at the kitchen table, waiting for their appearance. Immediately, she hugged him.

“
I’m fine, Dad. I would tell you if I wasn’t. I told you I was bringing ADA Darren Kennedy. He’s in charge of the case.” She separated from her father so he could meet Kennedy.

Daniel Quinn wasn’t a tall man
, standing five eight at the most, balding with a touch of gray around what remained of his hair, a prominent nose. Darren could see where Cameron got her eyes.

“
I’m not sure if I like this,” Quinn started.

“
I have explained everything to your daughter, Mr. Quinn. There’s an agreement in place. No charges will be filed against Cameron if she produces the computer. We are in the process of determining Zach’s involvement, if any. If it is determined he has had no involvement, then I have agreed to try to make it right with Eastern University.”

“
But that would mean that you think the killer has some connection to Zach, if you want his computer. That the killer would have contacted Zach…” Quinn stated his distrust, evident in his tone. “Someone would have had to intentionally tried to set Zach up.”

Darren shrugged.
“That’s a possibility.”

“
Dad, don’t worry. I will take care of everything. It will prove Zach’s innocence.”

Darren glanced over at Cameron. She disappeared down the stairs to Zach’s room in the basement
, leaving Kennedy awkwardly alone with a man who stared a hole through him.

He looked around the small area. Dirty plates lay soaking in the sink. The coffee pot was steaming with a full pot. Pictures
were clipped to the fridge. The one in the middle caught his attention: Daniel Quinn, standing with his arm around a smiling woman—a beautiful smile and dancing eyes; a younger Cameron, smiling, with braces on her teeth; Zach, looking straight up at his father. The sun shone brightly on a happy family.

“
Are you being on the straight up with Cam?”

Darren
turned his attention back to the man who sat back down at the worn kitchen table. “Yes, sir.”

“
You better be. Cam trusts people too much. She believes in the best of people. She got that from her mother. She’s been on a mission to save the world since she was a little girl. Is that what she’s doing now, Mr. Kennedy? Is she saving Zach?” Daniel Quinn stirred his coffee.