AS LUKE DROVE TO HIS MEETING with Brenda Harris, he thought about their conversation when he’d initially found her. She was skeptical about him and about the investigation.

“That was so long ago. How can you still be interested in that tip?”

“The crime has never been solved. The young victim is having a difficult time. I’d like to give her the peace of closure.”

Concern for the victim seemed to allay Harris’s reticence, and they made an appointment to meet.

Luke recognized Brenda right away even though all he had was a driver’s license photo. Brenda Harris could be an older version of Molly Cavanaugh. The petite blonde woman entered Panera a little after eleven thirty.

“Mrs. Harris?” He stepped toward her. “I’m Luke Murphy.” He handed her his ID. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”

She looked at the ID, then looked at Luke and shook her head. “No, that’s okay. I don’t drink coffee. I just picked a nice crowded public place to meet you.”

Luke smiled and motioned to a table where they both sat down.

“You’re not an LA County sheriff. Why are you investigating this case?”

He told her about Faye Fallon, her blog, and the cold case.

“If you really think you can solve this, why are you talking to me? I thought Gil was in Iraq at the time of the crime; he couldn’t be your guy.”

“I couldn’t find any record of him serving in Iraq. Who told you he was there?”

Her brows scrunched together. “I don’t remember now where I heard that. It must have been from one of the original investigators.” She looked down and rubbed her forehead. “Yes, I think that’s who told me, a long time ago. I was so sure it was Gil, and he said that it couldn’t be. But it did surprise me that Gil joined the armed forces. He never seemed the type.”

Luke considered that, wondering if this was a waste of time. “Well, we’re starting over from the beginning. There were many tips, but yours was one of the few who left contact information. And you were convinced the composite was Gilbert Barone. I wanted to show it to you again and ask what made you so certain. Do you remember?” He slid the composite across the table.

Brenda took a deep breath and slid it back. “Unfortunately I will never forget. That guy was my personal nightmare. I lived next door to him —rather, his parents —in Northridge.” She shuddered. “It was a wonderful place to live at first. His parents were really nice people. His dad was always helping me out. I’d just moved to California from Utah, got my first engineering job in the valley. His mom was a saint, but she got sick. That was when Gil moved back in. He was in his twenties, I think, twenty or twenty-one. There was some nasty gossip in the neighborhood that he got kicked out of college for some perverted reason, but that’s just gossip. Anyway, Gil was very good-looking. I noticed him right away. Because his dad had been so nice, I just assumed the son would be the same.” She shook her head.

“Not a chip off the old block?”

“Not at all. One day I saw him out in the yard and engaged him in conversation. I guess he thought I was coming on to him. Next thing I know, he’s knocking on my back door. It scared me half to death because I had a fenced-in yard. I answered the door, and he’s asking me if I want to get high with him. I told him no. I was a working person. I had a job that did drug tests. I didn’t get high. But the way he looked at me was so disturbing, like he was imagining me without my clothes on.”

“I take it he didn’t like being turned down.”

“You got that right. That was when the nightmare started. I swear he stalked me. He prowled around in my backyard at night trying to peep in my windows, he vandalized my car, but the worst . . .” Her voice trailed off and she took a deep breath. “The worst was when he broke into my house. I know it was him. I came home and found all my underwear spread around my bedroom and in the center of the bed some of the most graphic, disgusting pornography. I’d never seen anything like it and I hope I never do again.”

“You’re sure he did all of this? You called the police?”

“Of course I did. But I had no proof it was him. I just knew —I can’t explain how, but I just knew. Anyway, after that, I packed up some things and left. It was a rental, so I just moved out. When I saw the composite . . . Well, that’s Gil. It’s as if he posed for it.”

“Did you ever talk to Gil’s dad about his son?”

She shook her head. “That poor man. His wife was dying. I didn’t have the heart to say anything.”

“Do you remember what college he went to? Where he was kicked out?”

“I think Long Beach State.” She frowned. “But if Gil was in Iraq when the rape happened, why do you even care about any of this?”

Luke thought about Gil Barone on the drive back to Long Beach. The college was near his home, so he made a stop there to see if the man had been a student. The only information they would give him was whether or not he had been enrolled. Barone had been a student from 2000 to 2001. What classes he took or why he left was information Luke could get only with a subpoena.

When he got home, he did a computer search for Barone and laughed out loud when he found a match. A Gil Barone owned a computer repair shop in Tehachapi. He clicked on the website for the store. There was a head shot of Barone, but this man was bearded and it was impossible to compare the small square image with the composite. But the details fit: Barone would be the right age, and the name was not all that common. Luke felt confident this was the man he was looking for. Even more so when he saw a small paragraph that said Barone had moved from Northridge five years previous. The blurb was from an endorsement page, a customer raving about the service he got, driving all the way to Tehachapi from Northridge whenever he had a computer problem, being worth the time and money.

Luke read every comment on the endorsement page. Customers loved Barone. But then he certainly wouldn’t put negative comments on his website. He couldn’t wait to tell Woody. They’d add visiting Barone to the list and, he hoped, hit pay dirt.

Luke was sure he was at least Brenda’s old neighbor and quite possibly a vicious rapist. And maybe even a serial killer.