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any leads?”
    He shook his head. “It’s early times. She was apparently taken right out of her bedroom, with her parents asleep next door and kept for several days. A hiker tripped over her body behind a church.” His face hardened. “She was ten years old, and all her immediate family members have alibis. She was assaulted. What the hell kind of human being feels attracted to little girls?”
    She was breathing uneasily, her arms folded tight over her chest. “Inadequate men,” she bit off, “who want control.”
    Her reply surprised him. He glanced at her. “Excuse me?”
    â€œMen who can’t make it with grown-up women,” she said tautly. “And they hate women because of it. So they victimize the most helpless sort of females.”
    â€œYou’re good,” he murmured with a faint smile.
    â€œYes, that’s my take on the case, too.” His eyes were still on the road. “You’ve got potential. Ever think of law enforcement for a career?”
    â€œI hate guns.”
    He laughed. “You don’t have to have a gun. We employ civilians at the Bureau,” he added. “Information specialists, engineers, linguists…”
    â€œLinguists?”
    He nodded. “In the old days, you had to be an agent to work for the Bureau. But now we’re more laidback.”
    She smiled in spite of herself. “You’re not laidback, Mr. Grier,” she returned.
    He glanced at her curiously. “How old are you?”
    Her eyebrows lifted.
    â€œTell me,” he persisted.
    â€œTwenty-four.”
    He smiled. “I’m thirty-six. That doesn’t qualify me for a rocking chair. You can call me Garon.”
    She gave him a long look. “That’s a name I’ve never heard before.”
    â€œMy mother had four children, all boys. My father says she used to sit on the porch and go through baby name books for hours. At that, my name isn’t quite as bad as Cash’s.”
    â€œCash isn’t all that unusual,” she pointed out.
    â€œHis real name is Cassius,” he replied with a smile.
    â€œMy gosh!”
    â€œThat’s why he uses ‘Cash,’” he chuckled.
    â€œAre the two of you close?”
    He shook his head. “We’ve had some family problems since my mother’s death. We’re in the process of getting to know each other. Cash went off to military school when he was about eight or nine years old. Until this past year, we didn’t really speak.”
    â€œThat’s sad, to have a family and not speak.”
    He wondered about her parents, but it was too soon to start asking personal questions. He didn’t want any more contact with her than necessary. He was married to his job. On the other hand, he’d just talked to her about his work, and that was something he’d never done before. She had an empathy about her that was hard to resist. He felt at home with her. That was dangerous, and he wasn’t going to let anything develop between them.
    Â 
    G ARON DROPPED G RACE OFF and went back to work. Marquez’s captain had called and the senior ASAC called Garon into his office and authorized the Bureau’s assistance. Garon would head up the task force as they searched for a murderer who killed little girls. Nobody was saying it out loud, but it was very possible that they had a serial killer on their hands. At least four cases shared the same basic pattern of death.
    â€œI’ll get started, then,” Garon told him.
    â€œMarquez’s captain said the case needs to be solved as soon as possible,” ASAC Bentley remarked. He was older than Grier, near retirement and had asked for assignment to San Antonio, where he had relatives. He was a kindly man, with a good heart, and he was a superior agent. Garon respected him. “The captain has an open mind, but Marquez’s lieutenant doesn’t. He thinks it’s all