Climbing into Dave's pickup, Mackey glances down at the ringing glove compartment. Peering sidelong at Dave, Mackey takes note of the imperiled expression on his companion's face.

  "You gonna get that, Dave?" Mackey says with a thin smile. "Or should I?"

  "No!" Dave says, hurriedly reaching across James to press a hand against the glove compartment door. "No. Let it ring. They'll call back if it's important."

  "Ah. I get it!" James says. "It's personal. Not business."

  Dave grumbles and starts up the truck. He eases away from the shoulder, leaving Detective Mackey's Crown Vic and the numerous EMS vehicles behind, at the scene of the crime.

  "So, what do we know about these Asbury people?" Mackey inquires, skimming through his phone as Dave hurries toward their destination.

  "Mr and Mrs. Asbury arrived home this morning. Around the same time those kids were discovering the Jane Doe's body. They'd been on some sort of business trip for almost two weeks. To Brazil. Came home and found portions of the house ransacked. Mostly the bathroom. They said, it looked like there had been a struggle. Daughter's clothes and underwear were strewn everywhere about the house."

  "That doesn't sound good. It also doesn't sound like our killer. He doesn't actually rape the victims. What are the officers on the scene saying? Any signs of forcible rape? Have they found any traces of semen or other bodily fluids?"

  "Don't know. I don't think so," Dave admits, his stomach tightening.

  "Okay. Well, the sooner we get there...The sooner we can answer those questions ourselves," Mackey says.

  "Right," Dave agrees.

  Deputy Newsome squeezes more speed out of his Ford pickup truck, while obeying all pertinent traffic laws.

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  Asbury Residence

  Thirteen minutes later

  Deputy Newsome and Detective Mackey step through the front door of the Asbury home. A female officer stands near the entrance to the kitchen, taking a statement from a sobbing woman. Newsome assumes the crying woman must be Mrs. Rachel Asbury, mother of the missing young lady. A giant teddy bear is crushed to the upper middle-aged woman's chest. Carmen's teddy?

  Mrs. Asbury catches sight of the two new lawmen and none too politely moves away from the woman officer. She rushes to meet Detective Mackey. Taking Mackey's left hand in both of hers, Mrs. Asbury pumps it up and down in a gesture of solemn gratitude.

  "You're Detective Mackey? The detective in charge of the Aquarius murders?" Mrs. Asbury says between jerky breaths.

  "Yes," Mackey confirms. "And this is my investigative partner, Senior Deputy Dave Newsome. From the Merrville County Sheriff's Department."

  "Oh, yes. I remember you too, Deputy. You were at all of the press conferences. Pleasure to meet you as well," Mrs. Asbury stammers apologetically.

  Mr. Asbury exits the kitchen and strides in the direction of his wife. He places an arm around his worried spouse's shoulder and meets Dave's stern gaze.

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  "Hello, officers. Do you have any news? We came home and found our little girl gone. She was supposed to be house-sitting while we were out of the country. Do you think it was this Aquarius Killer? Is that why you're both here?" Mr. Asbury rambles in a deep rumbling voice.

  "We have yet to determine that, Mr. Asbury," Dave says. "I wish I could say we have more information to disclose. We simply don't."

  "However, I would like to see the bathroom," Mackey interjects. "That is where you say you found signs of a struggle, Mrs. Asbury?"

  "Yes. That's what I told the officers who first arrived. That's what I found," Mrs. Asbury says. "Carmen's blouse was in the kitchen. Her skirt, bra, and underwear were in the hallway. The bathroom was a total mess. Things were strewn everywhere and the tub was overflowing. The tap was still running when we arrived. We initially thought Carmen was taking a bath. But then, we saw that water had flooded the entire bathroom and the hallway. The carpets on that side of the house are a soggy mess. If not for the tub's overflow drain, it might have been worse. That's when we knew something was terribly wrong. Detective Mackey, I couldn't find my baby."

  Dave and Mackey exchange a worried look. Any evidence, particularly DNA, which might have been inside the bathroom has most certainly been destroyed.

  "The bathroom? Please, Mrs. Asbury," Mackey reminds the grieving mother.

  "Of course," Mrs. Asbury says, wiping tears from her cheeks with the back of one hand.

  "Thank you," Deputy Newsome responds.

  Mr. Asbury releases his wife's shoulder. Nodding to the two law enforcement officers, Carmen's father watches as Mrs. Asbury leads them up the hallway, toward the ransacked master bathroom.

  Carmen's clothes, now water-logged and musty, are still on the floor. The carpet makes loud suction noises as Mackey, Newsome, and Mrs. Asbury make their way towards the open bathroom door. Reaching the door, Mackey moves in front of Mrs. Asbury and leans on the door frame.

  The bathroom looks as if a strong hurricane hit it. The tap has been shut off, but standing water still remains in the tub and on the linoleum floor. An orange bottle of body wash floats on the surface of the water in the tub. Various bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash are strewn all over the bathroom floor. A rotary shaver rests near the toilet, nearly hidden in the shadow of the medicine cabinet.

  Mackey observes everything, his eyes narrowed to thin slits.

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  Mackey once again climbs into Dave's truck, his brow deeply knit. Accidentally slamming the door too hard, Mackey turns to Dave apologetically. Dave sighs and rolls his eyes toward the truck's roof.

  "Break the lock cylinder on that door and I'm sending you the bill!" Dave threatens.

  "Yeah, yeah," Mackey grumbles.

  The detective peers back in the direction of the Asbury home. Mr. and Mrs. Asbury are watching the two officers from the porch, sad expressions on their countenances. Mackey quickly averts his gaze.

  "Despite what Mrs. Asbury believes, I don't think we're going to find DNA anywhere in that house. Even without the water destroying most of the evidence...I don't get the feeling a rape actually occurred there. If it did...Then, this was most certainly not the Aquarius Killer. Our guy is impotent. For one reason or another. I think it's more likely that Carmen was playing out some form of sexual fantasy when she was taken."

  "A sexual fantasy? Come on, James. How do you figure that?" Dave says between an uneasy laugh.

  "Think about it, Dave. Pretty young girl like Carmen Asbury comes home to a totally empty house...After spending all of her time cooped up in a stuffy apartment with three roommates and a dog. She starts to undress...Making a rather big show of it. Sits down at the table to eat a small meal. Takes off the rest of her clothes on the way to the bathroom. That explains the blouse in the kitchen, the bra near the kitchen entrance, the belt and panties a little further up the hallway, and the skirt soaking up water near the bathroom door. She was stripping as she went along. I'm thinking someone was already there...In the house. He caught her unawares. I'm hoping it wasn't Aquarius. But until we get an ID...We can't be sure of anything."

  "Hmmm," Dave grunts, his mind coming to the same conclusions. "Sounds plausible. I am just getting so sick of giving parents bad news. I'd rather it wasn't Aquarius. I'd prefer if she ran off with some boyfriend, decided to elope in Vegas, and told her parents to go to hell. I know I shouldn't say this...But finding Carmen Asbury on the side of a highway, butt naked and delirious, would be better than finding out she's another victim of this Aquarius freak."

  "All of her belongings were still in the house. State ID, school badge, makeup bag, her luggage, everything. She didn't elope in Vegas. Can't rule out the delirium, though. Things like that have been known to happen. Especially, if she had a real bad fall while in the tub. I have my fingers crossed, but with another body already found...I don't have much hope."

  "No hope," Dave mutters bitterly. "What is hope but a four-letter word?"

  $. It's a symbol which is widely recognized but means different things to different people.