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short wave, grabbed his Member’s Only jacket and headed out the door, his polyester pants sounding like a cat on a scratching post.
    An hour later, Lucy Marquez walked the warrant through the system. The two left the magistrate’s office and were heading out the door to their cars.
    “You ready?” Marquez sounded anxious.
    Jack nodded. “Couldn’t be more ready.”
    “Let’s go get Mr. Burke and see if he’s having sex with little kids.”

    The two split in different directions in the parking lot, and caravanned south on their way to Modesto .

6
     

    Tuesday –
11:45 a.m.
     

    As the haze of a deep sleep faded, Jessica Baker looked for the clock on her nightstand or the moonlight shining through her bedroom window. She couldn’t see either. This wasn’t her room. There was no nightstand, no clock. Then she remembered the man and the prick of a needle.
    She tried to sit up but couldn’t. Her hands or legs were tied down. She tugged harder but every attempt felt like razorblades dragging across her skin. Jessica tried to blink her eyes clear of the blackness. But they were covered. Heavy tape wrapped around her head and over her eyes, the tape yanking her hair every time she moved, sending a sharp stinging pain across her scalp. Adrenalin flooded the core of her body and Jessica felt a wave of panic overwhelm her. She struggled, pushing and pulling, but the ties held fast.
    Her head was trapped in a fog, making it difficult to formulate words, let alone sentences. What words did spill from her lips sounded sloppy and drunk. But her body sensed it was vulnerable. Unable to see, unable to move, Jessica Baker was petrified.
    She felt the touch of a person’s hand on her head, straightening the pillow that was positioned too high. The touch made her jerk. She gasped a short breath that was stuck tight in her chest. She couldn’t breathe fast enough; every nerve ending felt like it was on fire.
    “That should make you more comfortable, Jessica,” a man’s voice said.
    “Who are you? How do you know me?”
    “Not now, we’ll talk later. You need your rest. You’re sick and need to get better.”
    His calm words made Jessica shiver. Her heart thumped hard in her chest and throat.
    The foul smell of her captor’s breath wafted past her cheek, his face next to hers. She pushed herself deep into the pillow, trying to retreat from his touch best she could. The metal posts of the bed frame squealed as she twisted her fastened arms. She felt the man leaning closer; the stench of sweat and pungent odor of his breath became stronger.
    “Shh. Don’t bother screaming. There’s no one to hear you.”
    Even through the stranger’s stink, she could smell stale dust, like a cabin after it’s been boarded up for the winter.
    “Listen, Jessica, if you’re good, I’ll think about taking the tape off your eyes.”
    Jessica shifted uncomfortably under her bindings. “Please, untie my hands. They hurt.”
    The man mumbled something, then said, “No.”
    “Please. You’re scaring me.”
    “Sometimes, fear is what a parent needs to get a child to behave.”
    The man touched her face, sliding his fingers down the side of her arm. It made her skin burn. “You remind me of someone I once knew.”
    The words “once knew” sent electricity down her spine.
    She heard rustling, a slight pause and then the clicking of something mechanical. “What are you doing?”
    Another pause, then the man said, “I’m taking pictures.”
    Jessica heard his walking, pacing around her. Her head swiveled from side to side, trying to track his movement. The floor creaked when he walked past. Then he stopped and she heard the clicking of the camera shutter snapping photo after photo.
    “That’s good, Jessica, that’s good,” the man said, his tone trying to sound calming.
    But Jessica was far from calm. Her body was breaking down into an uncontrollable shudder. With every click of the camera, Jessica’s face flinched. Tears welled