“He had his back to you at that time, too?” Ava asked. They moved through Audrey’s front door and out onto her porch. Two Adirondack chairs with a small table between them filled the welcoming space. An autumn bouquet in Halloween colors graced the table, and a happy stuffed scarecrow sat in one chair. The number of people on the sidewalk across the street had thinned a bit, but the spectators turned in the direction of Audrey’s home.

Audrey stepped backward as the impact of their nosy stares hit her. “Oh, my,” she muttered. “He ran across the street right where that second patrol car is.” She pointed and moved her arm as she traced a route. “Then he ran up close to the Pearsons’ garage, and I thought he was going to go in their house, but instead he stood in the shadow at the front. I don’t know if he saw me or not, it was too dark to see, but it felt like he looked right at me and that’s when he decided to run. He sprinted across their lawn, keeping close to the house and into the next yard. He did that all the way around the corner.” She pointed to where the street arced to the left and went out of sight. “He was trying to stay out of the streetlights. Those homes didn’t have their outside lights on.”

They had them on now, Zander noticed. Every street on the house was lit up, and faces often looked out the windows.

“I never saw his face,” Audrey said slowly, “But I saw his profile . . . in bad light. It’s more like I have an impression of what he looks like instead of an actual view of his face.”

“You told the operator he had dark hair,” said Nora. “And that it was a medium length. He wore a dark long-sleeved jacket or shirt and dark pants. You couldn’t guess his age and you said he wasn’t heavy or super skinny, but very average build.”

Audrey nodded. “I couldn’t guess at his height, either. I had nothing to compare him to.”

Zander pointed at the garage across the street, ignoring the gawkers. “You said he stood over there. Do you remember where the top of his head was in relation to the panels on the garage door?”

Audrey scowled as she looked. Her shoulders lifted as she took a deep breath and tilted her head, concentrating. “But he wasn’t standing up straight,” she said. “He was hunched over, like he was trying to hide.”

“Good point.” Zander let the question go. “I know you said you couldn’t tell his age, but would you say he ran like someone young or old? Or perhaps like someone who didn’t run very often?”

“He moved smoothly,” Audrey said. “It didn’t look difficult at all. He didn’t hold himself like someone older, either. He bent over deliberately, not because he needed to.”

“What can you tell me about the weapon?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Not much. It was small. A handgun. Not a rifle or shotgun.”

Zander figured they’d be able to find the bullet below the kitchen. He hadn’t opened the cupboard door with the bullet hole in it, because the body was in the way, but he knew there was a chance the bullet had gone all the way through the flooring. He was glad he wouldn’t be the one scrambling through the crawl space under the home.

“Will they want to talk to me?” Audrey asked quietly, looking at the news cameras setting up across the street from the Fujioka home.

“They will ask,” Ava said. “By the look on your face, I’d guess that’s the last thing you want to do. Can Officer Layden take you somewhere?” she asked with a gesture at the female officer.

“I think I better go to my sister’s,” Audrey said, moving back into the house. “I don’t want to be a part of this.”

“We have your number,” Nora said. “We might need to talk with you again.”

“That’s fine.” Audrey started to pace in the living room, wringing her hands again. “I need to pack up all Molly’s things. Her bottles, her toys, enough diapers. Who knows how long we’ll be gone.” She grabbed a big diaper bag off a chair and dashed down the hall, disappearing into the baby’s room.

Zander looked at Nora and Ava. “So we have a description of our suspect. A man. A man who is extremely average in every way.”

“Should make our job easy,” said Nora.

He wondered where the long hair on the previous two victims had come from.

The next morning Ava glanced at the clock in the hallway of the morgue. It was seven A.M. and she felt as if she’d barely slept. Probably because she hadn’t gotten home until two A.M. They’d waited at the Fujioka murder scene until Dr. Trask had finished her exam. The doctor hadn’t seen any other obvious evidence on the victim. “I suspect I’ll discover he was hit in the head and then shot,” she’d told the investigators. “He’ll be my first patient in the morning and I’ll know more then.”

Zander had told her and the evidence techs to keep an eye out for any long dark hair.

She and Nora were waiting for Zander before they joined Dr. Trask for the autopsy. “I think the victims have to know our suspect,” said Ava as she put money in a machine to buy herself a cup of questionable coffee. She needed caffeine. There was no sign that she’d be able to catch up on sleep anytime soon. “There’s no forced entry in any of the homes. Although Denny Schefte was lured outside somehow. I wish we knew what’d made him go outside, I have to imagine he got a call or text on his phone that made him step out.”