Ava smiled back at him, her attention clearly piqued by the reporter who had no filter between his brain and his mouth. Brody had the sharp instincts of a hawk, but resembled a surfer who never left the beachfront bar.

“Because you have a reputation for ignoring or harassing authority.”

“Only when it suits me, or when someone doesn’t behave as I think they should,” answered Brody.

“Exactly,” muttered Mason.

“Have you identified the third body you found this morning?” asked Brody.

“If you’d been paying attention, you would have heard Special Agent Wells say we haven’t,” said Mason.

“I listened. I didn’t like his answer. I think you’re holding something back.”

“Of course we hold back,” answered Ava. “It’s how we separate the nut jobs from the real tips.”

“But you truly don’t know who he is?” asked Brody.

Mason sighed. Brody had a way of asking the same question over and over until he got the answer he wanted. But this time they didn’t have a name.

“We don’t know,” said Mason. “We’ve released a general description and we’re hoping someone will report a missing coworker or brother.”

“Age approximately thirty-five, black hair, blue eyes, three hundred fifty pounds,” Michael recited without looking at his notes. “That’s a big man.” His green eyes turned speculative. “That’s a very big man for one person to single-handedly hang off a bridge. So you’re looking for more than one killer?”

Mason glanced at Ava, who was looking at the reporter with a touch of respect. “Don’t let his brain fool you,” Mason warned Ava. “He can put random facts together faster than a computer, but his manners and tact are seriously lacking.”

“It’s possible we’re looking for more than one person,” agreed Ava. “We haven’t ruled that out yet.”

“And you haven’t found a connection between the three men yet,” Brody stated, not questioning.

Ava glanced at Mason and gave Brody a small shake of her head. “An identity on the third will help.”

“I’ll see what I can do through the paper,” Brody offered. “But I’m surprised no one has come forward yet with a solid identification. Maybe he’s not from around here and the story needs to circulate wider.”

Mason pointed at a camera. “That’s CNN. How much wider do you want it to go? I hate to say this, but we’re almost fortunate the first victim was a public figure. It’s given us the needed publicity . . .” He trailed off, his brain jumping ahead.

Brody was nodding. “Scott was chosen first on purpose. It wasn’t ‘fortunate.’ Your killer may have had several men on his list to take care of, but he chose Scott first because of who he was and what he knew it’d bring to the case. If you’d found the tire store employee first, would the FBI be involved?”

Ava shook her head. “You know as well as I do that Scott being a congressman pulled the FBI into this case. Our radar would have skipped over the death of Aaron King until more bodies started showing up.”

“No doubt your BAU agent already noticed this fact,” muttered Mason to Ava. The briefing with Special Agent Euzent from Behavioral Analysis was scheduled to start in an hour. He’d met the brainy young agent when he’d been called in to consult on Mason’s ex’s stepdaughter’s kidnapping. He prayed the agent had some helpful insights on their serial killer.

“Have Samantha Givens and her husband been questioned in Carson Scott’s murder?” a reporter shouted at Zander from the back of the room.

Mason glared at the reporter who’d highlighted the sensationalism of the congressman’s death by bringing up last fall’s affair investigation. Brody rolled his eyes.

Up front, Zander managed to project his annoyance at the reporter without uttering a word, and politely replied, “Samantha and Russ Givens have given statements. We do not consider them to be suspects.”

“But you questioned them,” argued the reporter.

Zander gave a half smile and scanned the rest of the audience. “I didn’t say that. I said they gave a statement.” He zeroed in on the reporter and repeated firmly, “We do not consider them to be suspects.”

“Why not?” came the ridiculous question. “Why haven’t you questioned them? They should be at the top of your list.”

Mason wanted to give the pushy reporter a kick in the ass. There was a code of conduct to press conferences. Heck, there was a code of conduct to prove that you weren’t stupid, but this young reporter had clearly skipped both classes.

Zander gave the audience an apologetic smile, and then he looked straight at the young man, all pretense of kindness gone. “I’m not going to describe every step that’s been taken by the dozens of officers working these three deaths. I’d be standing here for the next twenty-four hours to recap all their work.”

Brody snorted and said quietly, “Samantha Givens is undergoing an aggressive cancer treatment back East. Neither she nor her husband has been anywhere near Portland in two months.”

“How did you find that out?” asked Ava, not mentioning that the FBI had discovered that fact the day Carson Scott was found.

Brody shrugged. “It’s what I do.” He gave Ava a winning smile. “Think you could sneak me into your briefing with the BAU agent tonight?”