Monday—10:46 a.m.

Gideon kept his eyes on Bishop's body while the woman behind him talked, her voice quick and high. "I thought maybe Echo was on her way home early and had ordered a pizza on her cell, you know? She does like to eat late at night, so I didn't even think…" She snorted. "Stupid. My mother will kill me when she finds out I let a wacko into the apartment."

Gideon glanced up and back. Was that an expression Sherry Bishop had used a hundred times before and automatically called upon now? Or did she not yet realize that she was dead? My mother will kill me… She looked almost solid, perched on the chair behind him.

Echo had found the body earlier this morning, after returning from a weekend trip to Charlotte. She'd immediately called him instead of dialing 911. So much for taking the week off. Gideon had made the necessary calls by cell phone, while on his way to the scene. After he'd arrived, he'd talked to Echo in the hallway. he'd calmed her down as best he could, and he'd been here to stop the first patrolmen who arrived from entering and possibly contaminating the crime scene. The uniforms stood in the hallway still, peering into the apartment like kids who weren't allowed into the candy store. Had he ever been that young?

They were all watching, but he couldn't worry about that. He already had a reputation as being odd; that was the least of his worries.

"Did you know him?" he asked softly.

"Her," Sherry said.

A woman? Gideon glanced at the body again, then at the mess the attacker had made of the apartment.

She's very bad, Daddy. Very bad. When Emma had appeared to him in the dream, Sherry Bishop had been dead for hours. Not only dead, but mutilated. The index finger of her right hand was missing, cut off after death, judging by the small amount of blood that had been shed. A neat square of her scalp, as well as a portion of blond and pink hair, had also been taken. He had a hard time comprehending that a woman had done this, but by now he should know that anything and everything was possible.

"Did you know her?"

The specter shook her head.