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on top of her head. Oh well, this wasn’t a social visit. He’d come to rub in the fact that she’d been wrong. But the minute she saw his expression and the downslope of his shoulders, she knew. Leaving the door open for him to follow, she turned, cinched her robe tighter, and settled on the small sofa in the sitting area.
    “Sorry,” she said. “I really did hope I was wrong. I’ve never touched a killer before.” She looked at him, eyes steady. “He wanted me to see her, you know.”
    “Why do you think that is?”
    “I don’t know. He said he wanted to test me. Why would anyone want to?” She picked at an imaginary hangnail. “I guess you hoped and prayed I was wrong too, didn’t you?”
    “In my business you hope and pray you’re right; otherwise, you make big mistakes with people’s lives, not to mention the cost of all the people I requisitioned to search the bayou. But, yeah. I hoped you were wrong.”
    Still fixed on her fingernail, she thought back to her father’s words.
    Don’t look, Diana. You don’t need to see this. Come with me. We’ll get ice cream.
    “With me it’s their deaths,” she said with a shiver, meeting Lucier’s gaze.
    He waited before speaking. “From what I’ve read about your childhood, you found a couple of kidnap victims alive, and locating them aided the police in tracking the kidnappers. You also found some lost kids and an Alzheimer patient.”
    Another past memory, and she turned to Lucier. “Yes, that’s true. Funny, I’d forgotten. Back then I was so overwhelmed by all the dark stuff I couldn’t breathe, torn between disappointing my parents, the families wanting my help, and the fantasy of having a normal life.”
    “A lot to lay on a kid.”
    She stifled a small chuckle. “They used to call me Diana, Goddess of the Hunt. Great nickname, huh?”
    “Diana was also Goddess of the Moon.”
    “That’s right. I almost forgot that too.”
    “I need you to tell me everything you remember about the man who touched you.”
    “I already did. Twice.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Don’t you think I’ve wracked my brain trying to think of something I missed?”
    “Let’s go over the incident once more. Slowly. Everything from the minute this guy came into the picture. Please. I’ve got my men combing the area of the bayou where we found her, but anything you could recall, however small, might help.”
    As much as she wanted to disassociate herself from the whole mess, Lucier’s pleading eyes drew her in. “Didn’t forensics come up with anything?”
    “The initial report indicated death resulted from spinal shock due to a broken neck. She’d been sexually active, but no definite time frame on when.”
    “Semen?”
    “Probably used a condom. The water and alligators obliterated any other trace evidence.”
    “Alligators? Jesus.”
    “The killer cut her to draw them to the body, but we don’t think she was murdered where we found her. No indication of footprints, no dislodging of the ground or drag marks. The alligators took the body from the point of entry to their little hideaway, ate their fill, then planned to return later. I’m sure the killer hoped we wouldn’t find her so fast, if at all.”
    “Yet by involving me he increased the chances of discovery.”
    “Seems that way. Start from the beginning. If you don’t come up with anything, I’d like you to go with me to walk the area. Maybe you’ll get a feeling or whatever it is you get.”
    “How come your partner’s not with you? Still a non-believer?”
    “I told you, I don’t answer for anyone. You’ll have to ask him yourself.”
    “And what about you?”
    “I don’t fight City Hall. I go with the evidence, and the evidence says you saw what you said. I can account for your whereabouts and the whereabouts of your parents from yesterday morning, so you’re in the clear.”
    Diana rose from the sofa, her cheeks burning. “You mean you considered we might have had