Now, there was a recent murder to look at and, perhaps, clues to be gained.

  Cop cars lined the quiet suburban street, lights flashing, and Cami heard urgent voices shouting as she climbed out. There was already a number of onlookers crowding around, including a man, holding a dog on a leash. The man was in his sixties, with graying hair and a shocked expression on an otherwise round and pleasant face. The dog, a German shepherd, sat obediently next to him, its nose and ears twitching as it took in the sights and sounds of the panicked scene.

  Cami climbed out, taking a deep breath, drawing on all her courage and doing her best to lock the memories and worries away. It was difficult because the old memories of her sister’s disappearance and the recent trauma surrounding Ethan flared up like flames, hot and destructive inside her.

  Pushing back the thoughts, she doused the flames, using all her self-control to do it.

  "I … I just glanced to the side, and there she was!" the dog walker was telling the cop next to him as well as a few onlookers who were listening, with concerned expressions, to this account of the body being discovered.

  "At first, I thought she'd collapsed, but when I got closer, I saw all the blood," he added, causing one of the women nearby to shake her head, a sickened expression on her face.

  "Sir, we need to speak to you in private and get an official statement from you. If you could come this way?" the police officer said, a hand on his shoulder.

  At that moment, the knot of people that were along the garden path moved aside, and Cami drew in a harsh breath as she saw the corpse. There was a lot of blood. It stained darkly over the bricks, spilled onto the grass, and pooled in the victim's long, dark hair. Cami didn't want to get any closer, and in any case, she didn't think she'd be able to because the coroner, wearing his gloves and mask, was already on the scene, with a stretcher standing nearby.

  But that small glimpse had given her something else. Something that had immediately struck her as a strange detail and one that was out of place in this otherwise tidy yard.

  "Connor, do you see what I saw?" she asked, finding to her surprise that curiosity was overcoming her unease.

  "What did you see?" he asked.

  "The hedge. It's got a sort of step cut in it, a couple of yards away from the front door, on the right-hand side. And there are some hedge clippings on the ground there."

  She pointed. Connor looked that way.

  With her theory now gaining momentum, Cami asked him, "Do you think that this killer—whether it's a woman or a man—was pretending to be a garden services person, waiting for her to get back?"

  "Now, that is interesting."

  Connor paced toward the uneven hedge, staying back from where the forensic team was at work but looking at the clippings carefully.

  "It does look freshly cut, and it's out of line with the rest. If a garden services team had done this yesterday, they'd have finished the job and swept up. And if they did it this morning, where are they?"

  "I'm sure it was this killer," Cami emphasized. "He, or she, is smart. Enough that he, or she, knows the victim's routines. I bet she uses a landscaping firm."

  "This means that the killer must have watched this place for a while, getting an idea of the routine, and where and when she comes and goes. For sure, he knew how to get close to her," Connor agreed.

  Even though she was still shaking inwardly with horror at being on a murder scene, Cami felt glad that she'd been able to notice that little detail and consider it relevant.

  "Does this killer have a job?" she wondered aloud. "Because watching someone like this so closely and figuring out this routine would take a lot of days. He's killed three women so far and that's a lot of homework."

  She looked around for any sign of a camera that the killer could have hacked into or used for his or her own purposes but couldn't see any that would work. There hadn't been a lot of cameras at the other homes, either. And she was sure that the killer’s careful research would also have included noting any other cameras along the way.

  "Something else to take into account," Connor agreed. "He, or she, could have a job that requires them to be out and about, and they could have been using that as a cover."

  "Maybe the neighbors noticed?" Cami wondered aloud.

  "Let's go and speak to them right now," Connor said. "We need to ask if anyone has seen someone suspicious, lurking around, or any other sign of trouble."

  "We also need to find out if the garden services company she used was supposed to come today," Cami added. "Maybe they saw something as they were leaving. And the neighbors might have cameras that picked something up."

  With no other common factors to consider, a lot would ride on what the neighbors or people associated with this property had seen.

  Cami could see one of the neighbors, leaning over the fence, a look of mesmerized horror on her face. She was a lady with neat, permed hair in steel gray, wearing a gardening smock. Cami felt hopeful that she seemed to be retired and might have had the free time, out in her own yard, to notice things.

  As Connor headed over to speak to her, Cami gathered her own thoughts, deciding on the questions she wanted to ask.

  This killer had been here, right here, watching and observing.

  She wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste, Cami decided. Asking the right question might get the answer that would unlock who this person was.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The neighbor looked shocked, worried, and deeply uneasy, Cami thought, as she and Connor approached her. She looked exactly the way an innocent person might look if her life had been turned upside down by a violent tragedy playing out next door.

  Cami saw the fear in her eyes and the tension in her body, though the woman was doing her best to keep herself composed.

  "Morning, ma'am," Connor said, starting the conversation gently. "We're with the police, investigating this recent murder of Sammi Jackson." He paused, glancing at the woman, to see if she needed any clarification.

  "She moved in about a year ago," the woman said, nodding in agreement.

  "Your name is?" Connor asked.

  "I'm Hazel Addison. It's just so terrible. I can't believe it happened right here. My husband and I have been living here for years, and nothing like this has ever happened before. I'm just so shocked. Are we in danger here?"

  "It appears to be a serial crime targeting women of Sammi’s specific appearance," Connor said, putting her worst fears to rest.

  He paused, giving her time to gather herself, and yet again, Cami felt surprised and reassured by his innate compassion. While it might have been hidden when she and Connor had first met, she was now noticing that it was an integral part of him.

  "Were you out in your yard this morning?" Connor asked, glancing at her gardening smock.

  The woman nodded. "Yes, I was."

  "Did you notice anything?"

  "I was working around the back. I did notice out of the corner of my eye that she had a garden services person working today. I think I saw the hedge being clipped, and they wear those green canvas jackets."

  "Was that normal? Any sign of a vehicle? What usually happens when they arrive?"

  She frowned. "Now, I think they usually do come in a truck, and it parks outside the house for a few hours. And it's normally on a Monday and Friday that they're here, a team of two or three. It is unusual for anyone to be here today, now that I'm thinking about it. You think that was the killer?" She sounded horrified.

  "Did you notice anything about this person?"

  She shook her head, now looking distressed all over again. "I so wish I had. How could I not have noticed? If I had, I could have stopped this from happening! But it seemed such a normal sight."

  "You can't blame yourself," Connor said. "This was thoroughly preplanned. If it hadn't been today, it would have been some other time. What matters now is that we figure out when, and where, this person was here."

  But as Connor spoke, Cami had a bad feeling that this would not be the easiest trail to follow because this killer was smart. Smart enough to have observed the routine and gone in for the kill at a day and time when the victim, but nobody else, was there. Perhaps even observant enough to see that this victim hadn't really taken note of the service providers working in her yard and that if they posed as one, they would be invisible.

  Cami was sure that he, or she, would have been clever enough to park far away, figure out where the neighborhood cameras were, and bypass them to arrive on foot.

  The killer had bought a green canvas jacket to look exactly like the garden services worker. Most probably, even Sammi had been fooled, at any rate, for long enough to allow the killer to get close.

  And she’d checked into the gym. She went there every weekday, according to the glance at her social media that Cami had done in the car. It would not have been difficult to find out when she was due to get back.

  "I didn't notice any other cars around. And I do notice those," Hazel said, confirming Cami's thoughts. "I mean, it's a safe and peaceful neighborhood—or so I thought—but my late husband always used to say if you want a safe neighborhood, keep an eye out for strange cars. And honestly, I didn't see any."

  But as Cami glanced around, she saw lots of walkers. People out for a stroll, people with shopping bags, people with their dogs. There was a park opposite the neighborhood. It wouldn't have been too difficult at all for this killer to have watched, and waited, until the time was right. With so many people on foot, another one would have blended in.

  They were dealing with someone patient. Someone who'd taken the time to get a full picture of Sammi’s situation and how they could blend in and had then struck again.

  Cami shook her head, feeling angry and ineffectual that this was happening, and that they still had no leads, no evidence. All they knew was that this killer was determined and fueled with a desire to destroy.

  The victims' bodies, at least, not the faces. Their faces hadn't been touched. Cami had seen, in that unwanted glimpse, that the destruction was all from the neck down, and she remembered it had been the same in the other crime scene photos.

  Faces, face recognition. It was coming back to that. And she couldn't get the thought of that software out of her mind.

  Moving away from the scene, while Connor walked over to speak to the passersby, Cami got out her phone.

  She went and looked on Wave Management's website, looked at what they offered, and who their clients were. It was surely their next step, this company that had engineered the best available facial recognition software so far.

  Standing near the car, she pored over the website, getting a better picture of this bright, successful tech startup, and what they’d done so far, and who their clients were.

  "What are you looking up?" Connor asked, walking back toward her. She guessed none of the passersby had seen anything of value.

  "I'm finding out more about this company that owns the facial recognition software that Gatherings used. It's based in Boston, and I'm thinking that makes a difference. They already have a lot of clients, they’re new and super successful, and they’re going to have a huge pool of faces on their files because the Ts and Cs state all the captured facial images have to be shared with them."

  "What about someone from the company itself? Could someone from there have used the software and accessed this big pool of data?"

  "That's what I'm wondering," Cami said thoughtfully, scrolling through the website. "Because now that I'm looking, I'm seeing a lot of functionality here that could be very useful to a killer."

  "Such as what?" Connor asked.

  "There's this option here that allows you to reverse search any group of images, or even embark on a search for you, with specific features as a setting."

  "So, if you need high forehead, blonde hair—or dark hair, oval face, or whatever—you can somehow program this in?"

  "That's right. They call it a Likeness Search. I'm experimenting with it now on the free trial that they allow you to have and look at this."

  Cami had gone into a few groups of faces online, using social media to create the search pool, and she'd found three people who looked uncannily like her. Same eyes, same face. The software had been intelligent enough to go beyond her hairstyle and look at the underpinnings of the face itself, although it had kept the search confined to people with dark hair.

  "It's a very clever program, and it's interactive with other programs and with social media. And it's in Boston, and although they have clients all over, they get access to every single one of those photos because it’s in the testing phases. And this likeness search would be what the killer needed to find these lookalikes. "

  "So, you think we should go there now?" Connor asked.

  Cami nodded. "I really think that we'll find something," she said. "It seems to be the logical place."

  "Okay," Connor said. "Let's take a drive there and see if we can make some headway."

  ***

  Cami felt relieved to have left the crime scene, but she knew that a bigger challenge lay ahead as they pulled up outside the offices of Wave Management.

  The building was a sparkling white, three-story setup. Shiny and new, in a recently refurbished part of town, it was certainly an impressive sight. There was no shortage of money in this establishment, and Cami guessed that with facial recognition being such a hot topic, they must be doing exceptionally well.

  Cami and Connor walked up to the main entrance, surrounded by leafy plants and trickling fountains, and headed inside. There, the reception area was vast, white floored, with mirrored walls and greenery that gave it a lush feel, more like a hotel than a business premises.

  Before they went inside, they had to turn their faces to a camera. Then the turnstile door moved to allow them in.

  A young man, dressed in a smartly pressed suit, with a short, immaculately trimmed beard, had activated the door, Cami saw. He welcomed them from behind the lobby desk.

  “Afternoon. How can I help?”

  "FBI," Connor said, showing his badge. "It's in connection with the serial murders. We're seeking information and need to speak to your CEO."

  Cami felt glad they were starting right at the top. But of course, a lot rested on how cooperative this CEO was. The young man got on the phone, and within a minute, he nodded.

  "Marius Diederick says that Wave Management is all about fighting crime, and he will see you," he said. "He's in a meeting, but he's excusing himself from it to speak to you. I’m going to log you as guests, which will allow you to access the conference rooms and also the elevator if you need to."

  He led them up a flight of stairs to a double door marked with the company logo. The man opened the door and ushered them into a bright, modern boardroom with a large window overlooking the city.

  A moment later, there were footsteps outside, and Marius Diederick walked in.

  He was tall, with broad shoulders and a strong jaw. His blonde hair was slicked back, and his eyes were a startling sky blue. He had an air of authority about him and a piercing air of intelligence.

  Looking at him, Cami knew that a year ago, she'd have longed to be in his shoes, the owner of an ultra-successful tech firm, with money rolling in and the world at her feet.

  Now, she wasn't so sure anymore.

  "I'm Marius Diederick," he said. “I understand you need information?”

  "FBI Agent Connor and Cami Lark," Connor introduced them. "It's in connection with the serial murders. We believe that your software may have been used to pinpoint victims."

  Marius frowned. Now, Cami could see he didn't like the direction this was taking.

  "My software? We’re very strict about its use. Our clients only have access to their own records. Here, at head office, is the only place where all the data is available.”

  Connor nodded. "That's what's making us think it's possibly someone right here. An employee of your firm."

  Marius’s eyebrows rose incredulously.

  Cami knew, in her gut, that this wasn't going to go well, that this powerful man would protect his business and make life difficult for them. That she'd need to use stealth yet again, and that this time, she might not be so lucky.

  Then Marius took a deep breath. She might have expected the worst, but what he said next shocked her.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  "Alright," Marius said, and he glanced at Cami as well as at Connor, with an assessing gaze that surprised her. Normally, as Connor’s second in command, she was mostly invisible, and he was the go-to person. She waited for Marius to continue, now feeling more hopeful that this might give them a break.

  "Let's assume you're correct and someone within the company is using this software to target victims. I'm not going to deny it because our software is the best. We're streets ahead of everyone else, we've turned down four serious offers to buy us out, and that's just this month. And, of course, as you probably know, we have a huge pool of faces in our archives.”

  Cami nodded.

  “So yes, I guess we have to accept that if we hired a psychopath without knowing it, they might misuse it." Marius sighed.

  "Can you track who was using your software and when?" Connor began with the most important question.

  Cami held her breath, hoping for a positive answer, but Marius shook his head. "We have a policy that anyone can log in to our test stations and test out the software at any time," he said. "We have a company login that can be used by anyone. Any bugs in the system or ideas have to be sent through. So, the basic usage is open to all. We have a test station on every floor."

  "How many employees do you have?" Connor asked.

  "We have 140 that work here in this building and about forty others in our satellite offices in New York and LA."

  Cami watched as Connor took a deep breath, acknowledging the job that lay ahead. "That's a lot of employees. So, the sooner we can make a start, the better," he said. "With your permission, we need to start screening all of them."

  Marius narrowed his eyes. Cami thought, with a clench of her stomach, that he wasn't going to agree to this. But then, he nodded.