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computer screen.
    “I actually found it,” said a voice from behind them, and a tall man stepped forward from the back of the room, where he had been talking to Chief Roberson and D-Ray. It took Sam a moment to place him, his familiarity so strong to her. But it wasn’t until he looked away, almost shyly, that she knew who it was. Paul Carson. Her high-school sweetheart and a man who—once upon a time—she even thought she might marry. Those days were gone.
    “Hello, Sam. Good to see you again. I’m the seminary principal.”
    “Paul,” she said with a smile, and she moved forward to hug him. He stepped back just as she did, and there was an awkward moment until finally she stuck out her hand. He accepted the gesture and shook hers, then quickly pulled away, as though her touch was too much to bear.
    “Wow, seminary principal. That’s quite a … an interesting job,” she said, trying to ease the awkwardness of the situation.
    The man had changed a lot, very different from the teenage boy who used to feel her up in the backseat of his father’s car, parked down a lonely road on a weekend night. Paul certainly didn’t look like any seminary principal Sam had ever seen. He still had thick, wavy dark hair, a little too long for Mormon decorum. He had dark green eyes and a straight, square jaw. He was well built and muscled and wore running pants, sneakers, and a white T-shirt with “Nike” emblazoned across the front of it. He looked like an adult, but she could still see the vestiges of the boy he used to be: the boy who had teased her and made her stomach flutter whenever he smiled or trailed his fingers across her bare stomach. There was no flutter, now. Too much time and water under the bridge, so to speak.
    “I haven’t seen you since, oh, what was it, high-school graduation?”
    “No, I think it was later that summer, at our Pineview Reservoir party,” he answered, meeting her eyes again, for a moment, then looking away. “You know, when everyone got together for a last farewell before college, and missions, and…”
    “Life.”
    “Yes, life. You look good, Sam. I heard you were back.”
    “Yes, I’m working on the local force now. I’m a detective.”
    “I know,” Paul said, his voice soft and melodic, his half smile showing the dimple in his left cheek. “First woman detective in the history of the Kanesville PD.”
    “First woman cop, period.”
    D-Ray walked over and stood next to her. “Yo, Paul,” he said, reaching out his right hand. “Good to see you again.”
    The three childhood friends stood in a semi-circle, no one sure what to say next. Finally, D-Ray cleared his throat, gave her a questioning look, and then spoke. “So, Principal, er, Brother Carson here is the one who found it,” D-Ray said.
    “Call me Paul, please. We’ve known each other too long for formalities. I apologize for my casual dress, but I was getting ready to go for a night run when I remembered that I’d left my notes here for a talk I have to give in sacrament meeting tomorrow. So I drove back over, and when I got to the front door, I noticed it was unlocked. I knew something was wrong, because I locked up myself on Friday. No one comes in on Saturday.”
    “Is there an alarm?” Sam asked.
    “Yes, of course. But it had been disarmed. I figured it must be one of my teachers, so I went ahead inside. And when I got into my office, I found this.” He pointed to the computer screen. Sam winced again as she viewed the macabre scene.
    Over and over again, the pictures of the dead bodies of three teenagers played in a deathly slide show.
    After each picture, in a font that was chilling and bloodred, scrolled the word VENGEANCE.

 
    SEVEN
    The Mormon seminary building hosted at least fifteen hundred kids every day, Monday through Friday. Enough fingerprints to send any computer system into a tailspin.
    Sam watched as the CSI techs from Smithland County dusted the seminary building for prints. They would