Despite being exhausted, Tess waited for Michael to come home.
"Tell me," she said, eager to hear why Nick had called Michael back in to work.
Michael exhaled loudly, like he was frustrated. "Looks like Eugene has struck again."
"What?" A shock of adrenaline went through Tess.
"Yes," Michael said. "We found a body up near Rimrock Lake."
Michael sat on the bed beside Tess and removed his socks.
Tess sat up in bed. "What do you mean? Eugene killed someone else?”
"Looks like it," Michael replied. "A couple of fishermen found a burning car. They also found a body next to it. A guy with his head bashed in."
Tess frowned. "That doesn't sound like Eugene. Why do you think it was him?"
"The man's daughter was missing from the car. He'd gone to pick her up at school and Eugene must have carjacked them. He killed the father and took the daughter."
"Oh my God," Tess said. "Where was this? Rimrock Lake?" She frowned, imagining a map of the area in her mind's eye.
"Yes. I'm driving up tomorrow to take a look but it's clear that the motive was abducting the girl."
"How do you know that it was Eugene?"
Michael sighed. "The man is one of Phil's best friends."
"Oh, my God."
Tess sat in silence for a moment, in shock. "Eugene had kidnapped the daughter of one of Phil's friends?"
Michael nodded.
"That sounds too coincidental for it to be anything else. It has to be Eugene. I thought he'd wait awhile before he killed another girl."
"I think he's trying to send us a message," Michael said. "Like he's trying to say, try and stop me."
"That means he's been in Yakima watching Kirsten and the boys right? Do they know? Are police watching them?"
"Yes, I imagine police will be watching Kirsten and the boys." Michael finished undressing and got into bed beside Tess. "I don't think he'd hurt them, but he definitely did this to send a message that he could."
"How old is the girl?" Test asked.
"She's twelve."
Tess sighed. "The perfect age for Eugene."
Michael turned off the light on the bedside table.
"This case got a whole lot worse than I imagined," he said.
Tess lay down beside Michael in the darkness. She knew sleep would be a long time coming.
Tess had breakfast with Michael the next morning and kissed him before he left to go into the DA's office.
"Let me know what you find out today," she said. "Whatever you can tell me, of course."
"I will," Michael said. "Off the record, of course."
"Off-the-record," Tess said.
She went into work and went right into Kate's office. She sat down in front of Kate's desk and waited for her to get off the phone.
"What's up?" Kate asked, her eyebrows raised.
"I've got some news about Eugene Kincaid."
"What?" Kate's eyes were wide. "I figured Michael would be good for scoops. What have you got?"
Tess exhaled. "Apparently, and this is off the record, Kincaid abducted and murdered a man and kidnapped his daughter. The man was a friend of Kincaid's ex-wife's husband. My best friend from Paradise Hill, Kirsten Carter. Michael's sister."
"Oh, good God," Kate said. "The man is a monster. It's too bad you didn't kill him when you had the chance."
"I know," Tess said, a sinking feeling in her gut. "But I wanted him to face justice. Besides, I didn't know how many girls he had killed. If I knew then what I know now, I would have killed him."
"Is Kirsten okay?" Kate asked.
"I'm going to call her this morning and talk with her. See how she is. Michael says the police are watching her and the boys to make sure they're okay."
"That's good," Kate said, an expression of sympathy on her face.
"I don't think he'd hurt them," Tess said. "But you never know. Whatever the case, I'll write up an article on what's publicly known."
"Good," Kate said. "Get it to me as soon as you can. We'll put it up on the website."
"I will," Tess said. "I'll talk to you later."
She left Kate's office and went back to her own desk in the main newsroom. For the next hour, she went over all the news reports in the past week while she and Michael had been gone. She called up a few police officers she knew at the Seattle Police Department and got some information on background.
Then, she wrote her piece on the escape of Eugene Kincaid. She couldn't say anything about the abduction and kidnapping yet, but she would as soon as Michael gave her the okay.
About mid-morning, she took out her cell phone and called Kirsten.
"Hey Kirsten," Tess said.
"I figured you'd be calling sometime," Kirsten said. "You must have heard the news about Tom and his daughter Kira. Michael called me earlier this morning."
"Michael told me," Tess said. "Off the record. It's not yet been released publicly. What do you know?"
"All I know is that Tom picked up Kira after school and they never showed up at home. Patricia called the police to report he was missing and wasn't answering his cell. They took her statement and put out a BOLO. She got a call later that night. Tom's car had been found on fire near Rimrock Lake. Kira was missing."
"From what Michael told me, they think Eugene killed Tom and set the car on fire,” Tess said. "He's probably taking her somewhere in the mountains. Police will be searching all the logging roads in the area."
"There's no way they'll find her," Kirsten said, her voice dejected. "There's thousands of miles of forest where he could be hiding."
"Don't give up hope," Tess said.
"Poor Patricia,” Kirsten said. "I can't imagine how she must feel. I feel so guilty, like this is my fault for having married the son of a bitch."
"Don't be crazy," Tess said. "It's not your fault. None of us had any idea what kind of monster he was."
"I know, I know," Kirsten said. "I should have known. I should have known he was a monster. But I didn't. I thought he didn't love me anymore."
"Don't blame yourself," Tess said. "None of us had any idea. You can't blame yourself."
"I'm going to spend the day with Patricia," Kirsten said. "It's the least I can do, considering this is my fault. If Phil and I weren't married, this wouldn't have happened. Eugene wouldn't have picked Tom and Kira."
"Stop it," Tess said. "No one will blame you. Eugene is a monster. All we can do now is try to find him and destroy him."
"I hope you're right. Someone has to kill him. I wish it could be me, but I'm not brave like you."
"I'm not brave," Tess replied, shaking her head. "I was lucky. It's too bad I didn't kill him when I had the chance, but I didn't know what a monster he was."
"You did more than most of us would have been able to do," Kirsten said. "I wish I wouldn't have been so stupid when I was a girl, drooling over an older guy who was paying inappropriate attention to me. I wish Mom would have been a little better at watching over me, instead of her permissive ways."
"We can't go back and change the past, Kirsten. You have to forgive yourself and your mom, because none of us suspected Eugene," Tess said.
"I know, but how stupid do you have to be to live with a serial killer for over a dozen years? I should have known."
"Chief Joe should have known. Cops should have known, but they didn't. Eugene was smart and he had an inside into how police did their work, so he could avoid detection for so long. You have to let it go. You've got your boys, so that's something good that came out of it."
"I know, but they need to find a way to live with the fact their dad is a serial killer. That's going to be hard. Tell me, Tess. How do I handle that?" Kirsten sighed heavily. "I'm going to be afraid until they're adults that they'll have inherited their father's sociopathic ways."
"It's as much environment as it is genetics," Tess said, although she wasn't entirely sure. "They have you and Phil and you're both loving and caring parents."
"I hope so," Kirsten said but she didn't really sound that convinced.
"Let me know how Patricia is," Tess said, glancing at her watch. "I'll call you later if I hear anything."
"Okay, I will. Thanks for calling, Tess. I appreciate it. Tell Michael he should bring the boys for a visit when he gets them. How is that going? Does he get to see them often?"
Tess sighed. "Not as much as he would like. He's been really busy with cases, as you can imagine, but he's getting them next weekend. I'll tell him you'd like them to visit. I'm sure he'd love to come out and see you."
"You come too, Tess," Kirsten said. "I'd love to see you and I know Mom would as well. When are you two going to make it official?"
Tess laughed, for Kirsten was so eager for them to get engaged. "We are, but are keeping it quiet for now, so please don’t tell anyone. Michael's divorce has to go through and then we’ll announce.”
"I’m so glad,” Kirsten said. “You two belong together."
Tess smiled. "We do. Talk to you later."
"Take care."
Tess ended the call and sat staring off into space for a while. She wanted to stay with Michael -- that much was certain. If she was going to join the FBI, if they accepted her, it would be better if they were married. That way, Michael would always be part of every decision she made about her career. As for Michael, he was still planning on attending university to get his PhD in Forensic Psychology, so he could be a professional profiler and teach. However, he seemed to really be enjoying his job working for Nick as an investigator for the DA's Office.
It was a very specialized job, and he wouldn't have to go back to school to continue on in the role. He could work anywhere actually -- even as a private investigator, but he didn't want to check on cheating wives and employees who were defrauding their bosses. He wanted to work in law enforcement in some capacity where he didn't have to use his weapon or defend anyone.
Teaching criminology or working as an investigator for the DA seemed the perfect match.
Whatever the case, she wanted to stay with Michael.
Nothing was certain in Tess's mind except two things: She wanted to find Lisa and she wanted to stay with Michael.
Everything else in her life was up in the air.
Hopefully, she'd find out what happened to Lisa sooner than later, but she had her doubts. It would be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Maybe Michael would have some news, and so she turned back to her work, putting it out of her mind and focusing on her work.