"Could help. Could hurt. And you don't know which. So you're stuck. Analysis paralysis, bullshit."
"I'm stuck."
“Bullshit. What you are is scared. Scared of making a mistake, because this boy matters to you more than any other decision before. Welcome to fatherhood, Asher. It’s only going to get more insane as he gets older. These are easy years. Trust me on that.”
He’d raised six boys all by himself, after his wife had died. The younger two were still in their early teens now, he had one just starting to drive, one about to graduate, and two out there building their own adult lives. Rob knew what he was talking about.
He was probably the closest friend Pierce had ever had.
"You know what your problem is?" Rob said. "You think you can plan for everything. You think if you just get all the pieces in the right order, nothing bad will happen. But it doesn't work that way. It never works that way. Especially with your kids."
"I know."
"Do you? Because you're sitting here trying to predict what Texas is going to do to your kid when you can't even predict what tomorrow is going to do to him. Life doesn't come with a manual. You make the call and you deal with what comes after."
"And if I make the wrong call?"
"Then you make another one." Rob tapped the scars on his arm. Where a woman in the midst of a domestic assault had knifed him—defending the husband who had nearly killed her twice. Rob had nearly bled out that night. Pierce would never forget. "I made the wrong call that night. I had it backwards."
"That's not the same thing."
"It's exactly the same thing. What if Texas is good for him? What if he needs a fresh start as much as you do?"
"I don't need a fresh start."
"Don't you? All you can do is muddle through. Now, I know why else you are here. Gibson case.”
“Giving it one last look before I…give up.”
“It’s not giving up to just stop. Sometimes you have to. How can I help?”
“I need more time. I have the FBI for one more week. I don’t know if I’ll find anything at all.”
“I’ll see what I can do. The office is yours as long as you need it. But…you know how the wheels at the ISP turn. I’ll do what I can.”
“That’s all I am asking.”
Chapter 28
She was just working away. Dani had gotten to the lab early that morning. Something had been tickling her brain late the night before, and it had been bothering her while she’d been showering, too.
Everything was far too practiced. People very rarely managed to do anything so perfectly the first time. Yes, Miranda and Knight had already asked her to search for priors—they suspected it was not the guy’s first go-around, too—but…she wanted to dig even deeper today. There was something there. There just had to be.
She’d dialed Miranda first thing.
"I pulled home invasions from Kentucky and Illinois going back twenty-five years before the Gibson murders," Dani said. "Filtered for anything with similar entry points, victim profiles, or attack patterns. Going on by what Dr. Knight said about the unsub most likely being a mature man…I decided to up my search by ten years."
"How many hits?" Miranda asked.
"Hundreds, initially. Most of them were obvious non-matches. Random violence with no pattern. I narrowed it down to about forty that were worth a second look. Which I have sent you—but I had three that really stood out to me."
"And?" Knight asked, leaning down behind Miranda to see her screen. That was Knight—always impatient. But…damn, did he look good in the mornings. So pretty, that one. He was one of her favorites at PAVAD, even if Dani would never tell him that. She half suspected their fearless boy leader might be shy under that scaly exterior. Not quite sure where he fit in.
He and Miranda were so good together. She couldn’t wait to watch them figure it out.
"Three stood out. All within driving distance of Washington. The dates range from eight months before the Gibsons to four years after. There are another five that are could-bes—going back a decade before. I'm still waiting on details from Illinois, but the preliminary information is enough that I wanted to loop you in now rather than wait."
"Walk us through them," Knight said. Of course—Dani knew what was coming. He just liked to give orders.
