Karen Rose - Have You Seen Her?

"No. Of course not." Steven took the tack out of Rudy's picture and slipped the photo into a folder. Mike was innocent, but Steven still needed to run a clean investigation, which meant keeping all leads confined to his team. "What brings you to my neighborhood?"

Mike regarded him soberly. "The Egglestons asked me to bless Samantha's body but the ME said he wasn't finished with her yet. We'll have to wait until her body's released."

Weariness hit Steven square in the chest and with it a sadness that was a palpable ache. "I don't want to imagine what her parents are going through," he said, joining Mike at the table. "But I am."

"You feel it for all of them, don't you? The sadness I see in your eyes right now."

Steven pinched the bridge of his nose He'd had a headache all day. "I do. I don't want to. I try not to. But every name in every folder that comes across my desk is a person that belongs to somebody's family. It never seems to end. So, how bad is it, Mike?"

Mike looked away. "How bad is what?"

Steven leaned forward to catch Mike's eye. "How badly did we tarnish your reputation?"

"I'll live. I have a few people calling me, asking if it's true. More are calling the bishop's office to ask if it's true. I'm not blaming you, Steven."

Steven sighed. "Good. But you know I would have done it anyway."

"I know. It's what makes you a good cop."

"That's special agent to you," Steven said, his heart momentarily lightened by the praise.

"That's why I came by," Mike said quietly. "To tell you I would have been angry if you hadn't checked me out. I want the man who killed those girls, Steven. I want him to…" Mike's voice wobbled and he stopped. Cleared his throat. "I want him to suffer for what he did." He closed his eyes. "I never saw Lorraine's body, but I glimpsed Samantha's on the ME's table. I'll never forget that sight as long as I live." He opened his eyes and in them Steven saw anguish. "I have never felt such hate," he whispered. "I want whoever did this to suffer like Sammie suffered. Worse."

Like Alev's suffering right now , Steven thought, then pushed the thought from his mind. "I don't know that there is much worse, Mike."

"How do you stand it?"

"Like you stand all the suffering you see. One day at a time. Sometimes an hour at a time."

Mike stood up, tugged on his robes. "Well, I need to go. It's Thursday. All-you-can-eat night at Sal's Pizza. You want to join me for a slice or two or twelve? The beer's cold."

Steven smiled wearily up at his best friend, grateful to have him. "Will you believe me if I say I'd like nothing better? But I'd like to get home tonight. I haven't seen Nicky since Monday night and I still haven't squared things with Brad."

Something flickered in Mike's eyes at the mention of Brad.

"What?" Steven asked, hearing alarm bells ring in his head. "What do you know?"

Mike shook his head. "Go talk to your son, Steven. He needs you."

Steven watched as he left the room, then turned back to the board to look at the photo of Samantha Eggleston's mutilated body. She'd needed him, too. Just like Alev needed him now. Pretty soon he'd have to install one of those number machines like they had at the deli counter.

He had to make it stop. He had to catch whoever was doing this. God willing it was Rudy Lutz and they just had to make sure they knew where he went, what he did. That would be the only way they'd save Alev. And the countless other girls Rudy Lutz had yet to victimize.

And there were his own kids, Steven thought . I have to fix my kids . Hell, he had to see his kids.

And there was the small matter of Jenna Marshall. At this point, he just hoped she'd still speak to him when he finally got time to apologize. Whenever that would be.

Thursday, October 6, 7:30 P.M.

"You're not concentrating tonight, Jen."

Jenna picked herself off the floor and pulled at her gi . She looked up at her sensei who stared down at her disapprovingly. "I'm sorry, Mark. I've got a lot on my mind."

"Well, leave it outside. Your concerns have no place on the sparring mat. You'll get hurt."

Jenna rubbed her sore hip. "I already am. You caught me good."

"I caught you napping," Mark snapped. "You're supposed to be demonstrating technique, not volunteering to be the first-aid dummy."

Jenna looked at the rest of the students lined up behind them. Mark was right. She owed more to the students than she'd been giving tonight. Classroom vandalism, juvenile delinquents, Brad and Steven Thatcher aside. "Point taken." She held herself rigid. "I'm ready now."

Mark shook his head, his frown softening from frustrated to worried. "No, you're not. We'll try again later." He motioned to a boy standing at the end of the line. "Bill, you're up. Take five, Jen."

Chastised, Jenna walked to the water cooler and aimlessly she watched cars drive by until one pulled into their parking lot. Her stomach clenched. Lucas's car. No . Whatever it was… Just, no .

Dread made her immobile. She could only stand and watch as Lucas made his way across the parking lot, his normally bronzed face whiter than her gi . He pushed the door open and stood silently before her, his throat working frantically.

"Casey," he whispered and Jenna felt the room tilt. Blindly she lowered herself into a chair.

Lucas cleared his throat. "She lost control of your car and went off an embankment."

Bile rose in her throat, choking her. "She's… alive?"

He nodded. "Barely. Come with me."

Thursday, October 6, 8:45 P.M.

Steven and Davies's follow-up visit to the Rahroohs yielded nothing new. Their telephone records had shown a phone call at nine p.m. the night before. Mr. Rahrooh remembered taking the call. Tears ran down his face as he told them he almost had told the boy, no, it was too late to talk to his daughter. Past house rules for receiving phone calls. But she'd looked so eager. "So beautiful," he'd sobbed, completely breaking down, and Steven and Davies took their leave.

Steven buckled himself into the Volvo. "I'm done for the day," he said, completely drained.

Davies set his eyes on a point outside the car window. "Me, too. I'll need a ride back to the motel. You guys still have my rental car in the impound lot."

Steven chuckled. One very tired chuckle. "Sorry about that."

"Well, at least I can say I know how it feels to be on the other side of the mirror. I guess I'm glad the Parkers' neighbor took her civic duty so responsibly. I just wish she'd done it on Parker."

Steven steered in the direction of Davies's motel. "Speaking of which, how did Rudy get out of his house last night to meet Alev? She was in bed when her mother checked on her at eleven. What time were you watching the Lutzes' house?'"

"After I left the search site last night I went back to my hotel room for a few hours sleep. I got to Parker's house about eleven. William got dropped off by some friends at about eleven-thirty-so I know he was home when Alev was still safe in her bed. I took a break around one or so to fill my coffee thermos and get a burrito from the all-night convenience store. Got back around one-thirty."

"So he had a half hour to get out of the house."

"Yeah, that's how I figured it. Damn coffee addiction," Davies said bitterly. "If I'd kept my station maybe that girl would be in her own bed tonight instead of where Parker's got her."

"And maybe if Mrs. Hitler had claimed a headache on the right night, Adolf would never have been born," Steven responded. "You can't change it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Davies muttered. "Doesn't make it any easier, though."

"No, it doesn't." The car got quiet as Steven mulled over the day. It was almost Nicky's bedtime. He punched the numbers into his cell phone and smiled when Nicky answered.