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still, staring down at the pavement.
    Everyone was silent as Monica took a few long,deep breaths. She closed her eyes.”Nothing …nothing but the stars,”she whispered.
    “What?”Joe asked.
    “Nothing but the stars.”
    Carla moved closer to her.”What does that mean?”
    She didn't answer. She was motionless, head thrown back, facing the gray sky.”It mattered to him,”she finally said.”It mattered to this man.”
    “What mattered?”Howe asked.
    “Nothing but the stars.”She looked at them and shook her head.”Whatever it means.”
    “Okay,”Howe said.”What about his death? Can you tell us anything?”
    She stared at the plastic tarp. “Uncover him, please.”
    Carla put her hand on Monica's arm. “I'm not sure you want to do that.”
    “It would help me to see him,”Monica said. “Please.”
    Howe bent over and yanked the tarp from Murphy's body. If Howe expected a startled reaction from Monica, he was probably disappointed, Joe thought. She stared at the bloody corpse with clinical detachment.
    “Did he hear the voices?”Monica asked.
    Howe shook his head.”Don't know yet.”
    She placed her hands a few inches over Murphy's face. “There was fear. Intense fear.”She slowly drew back.”He
was
hearing the voices, but he couldn't understand them.”
    Captain Henderson reemerged from the studio and watched her.”Did he know his killer?”she asked.
    “I don't believe so, no. I get the sense that hewasn't sure what was happening to him. Almost as if—”She took a sharp breath.”Oh God.”
    “What?”Henderson asked.
    She shuddered. “It's the same feeling as the other night.”
    “How?”Joe asked.
    “I don't think his killers were”—her voice dropped to a whisper—”flesh and blood.”
    “So we're talking about evil spirits again?”Joe asked.
    “Again, I'm not sure. Maybe just one spirit. But I do know this is no ordinary murder.”
    “Anything else?”Carla asked.
    “Yes.”The color suddenly drained from her face. “Whoever—or whatever—it is, they can sense me reaching out for them.”
    “Like in your dream?”Carla asked.
    She nodded.”They know I'm trying to find them. I wish I could be more specific, but I can't understand what I'm sensing. It's clear as day in front of me, but I just don't know what it is. Kind of like trying to read a foreign language.”Her teeth sank into her lower lip. “I've never …experienced anything like this before.”
    Howe threw the tarp back over Murphy's corpse. “Ms. Gaines, we're looking for a solid, living, three-dimensional murderer. We appreciate your efforts here, but you're not giving us anything to work with.”
    “I know that. When we get back to the car, I'll see if sketching helps. And maybe it'll be more clear after we visit the other murder scenes.”
    “We'd planned to take you to see them today,”Carla said.
    “Good.”She shuddered. “The sooner I finish, the better. I don't mind telling you, this is scaring the hell out of me.”
    Derek Haddenfield focused the electronic binoculars and peered through the van's tinted side window. He and the team had found a hilly section of Red Run Avenue that gave them a distant view of the recording studio's rear parking lot. His sound expert, Paul Doyle, aimed a high-sensitivity parabolic microphone toward Monica Gaines and the cops.
    “What are you getting, Paul?”
    Paul adjusted his headphones.”Right now, a whole lot of nothing.”
    “Don't lose her. We need this.”
    “Then we should be closer. We're four football-field lengths away in the middle of a city in the morning rush hour.”
    Haddenfield shot him an icy look.”Make it work.”
    “Remember who you're talking to here. It'll work. But you have to tell me what the hell 'nothing but the stars'means.”
    “Your job is data collection. Others will handle the analysis.”
    “Others including you, right?”
    “Never mind that. Just make sure you get everything you can.”
    Haddenfield glanced toward the front