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rule about keeping the deaths far removed from his home, anyway. NO KANSAS KILLINGS! He had told himself that a hundred times.
    He turned the page and read the next clipping, smiling to himself. Luck. Just pure dumb luck. You couldn’t beat it.
    Police still have no clues in the rape and attempted murder of a young K.U. coed last month. The victim is still hospitalized, and has not been able to aid the police in any way. Captain Miles Welling issued a statement early this morning confirming that because of the extreme trauma suffered by the victim, she has—at least temporarily—blocked most of the horror from her mind, and can give them no physical description of her assailant. Captain Welling hopes when the victim recovers fully from her wounds, she will be able to work with a court-appointed psychiatrist and perhaps unlock some memory that will aid in their investigation.
    His hand reached down and kneaded the brown corduroy slacks he was wearing. Up and down. Over his thighs. It wasn’t until his hand grew warm from the friction, that he realized what he was doing. He stopped, looked at his reddened hand, and swore.
    It always made him a little nervous when he thought about the girl. The girl who got away. The girl who tricked him, pretending to be dead.
    But it was all right. She had never remembered. He was positive of that. And so what if she did? They would never be able to track him down. Not in a hundred years. He laughed out loud. Stupid people. Stupid, stupid people. He was smarter than them all. They would never catch him. He had an airtight, ironclad alibi.
    He turned to the back of his book, noting as he did so, that he had only two more pages to fill, then he would need to start another scrapbook. He hoped he could find one of this quality. People didn’t seem to take as much pride in their workmanship nowadays. He studied the last two entries.
    OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
    DECEMBER 1995
    Police today unearthed the body of seventeen-year-old Sheila Cartwright in a wooded area near Lake Hefner. Miss Cartwright had been missing since November, and her parents had spearheaded a massive search effort in and around the Oklahoma City area for the last few weeks. Sheila was the daughter of Congressman Griffith Cartwright. Preliminary results show that Miss Cartwright had been raped, and the cause of death was a single shot to the head. Sheila was a freshman at Rose State College.
    It was so clever of him to vary his techniques. He had no desire to leave a calling card announcing to the world that one man was responsible for the killings. He had never even used the same gun or knife twice. Sometimes he was tempted. Just to see if anyone was smart enough to track him. But better sense always prevailed.
    His hand trembled as he caressed the last clipping. Lisa. What a darling young woman she had been. A joy. He had chosen well for both of his last kills. Important families. Important young women. Dead important young women.
    COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
    JANUARY 1996
    The townspeople of Colorado Springs are in mourning today with the discovery of Lisa Grimsley’s body. Never in the history of this city, has the disappearance of a young woman captured the hearts of so many.
    Lisa, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Doctor and Mrs. Harold Grimsley, had been missing for eleven days from Colorado College. Hundreds of people had participated in the massive search for young Lisa, who suffered from a serious heart defect, which required daily treatment.
    We are saddened to report that Lisa Grimsley had been brutally raped, and the cause of death was multiple stab wounds, including a wound to the heart.
    This city will not soon forget the beautiful young woman who had struggled all her life to live, only to have her life snuffed out in so horrible a fashion.
    Yes. Lisa. Lisa the psychiatrist, the social worker. She had been different from all the others. She had even tried to convince him that her father could