"I'VE GOT TO TAKE this upstairs," I said, shooting out of my chair, almost pulling the phone out of the wall. I was halfway up to Tracchio's office before I realized I forgot to tell Cindy about Jill. Things were going too fast now.

"He's behind closed doors," his secretary warned. "You'd better wait."

"This can't wait," I said, and pushed the door open. Trac-chio was used to my barging in.

He was facing me, seated at his conference table. He was flanked by two others with their backs to me. One was Tom Roach, the local FBI liaison.

I almost fell when I saw that the other was Molinari.

I felt as if I had hit a wall, bouncing off and vibrating like in the Roadrunner cartoons.

"Soon enough, Lieutenant," Molinari said, rising.

"Yeah, that was what you said. I thought you had pressing matters in Portland."

"I did. They're taken care of now. And we have a killer to catch down here, don't we?"

Tracchio said, "We were just about to call you, Lindsay. The deputy director informed me h............