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overheard strange noises late at night. The van stopped coming and the noise went away. The neighbors talked, decided to call the cops, you get the idea. When the locals got out there and went inside, they found a girl who had been reported missing.”
    “Dead?” Jack knew the answer but had to ask.
    “Deputies found her body in a crawl space. She was fifteen-years-old. Based on the decomp, forensics estimated she’d been dead for a week by the time they arrived. They found her tied up, gagged and abandoned. The pathologist said she most likely died from dehydration. Whoever did this left her to die a slow death.”
    “I remember reading about that one. Hard to forget a case like that.”
    “It stayed in the news for months. Renton PD was able to I.D. the vic. Grace Holloway. Came up as an MP out of Seattle, Capitol Hill District, originally classified as a runaway. County ran an all out search for her killer without any luck. The crime scene yielded some evidence but it never panned out to much of anything.”
    “
DNA
?”
    “That’s the good news,” Sizemore said with a bit more enthusiasm. “Luckily, the crime scene analysts took everything at the time of the search—paper bags, water glasses, old clothing. They had no idea if they were related. The stuff was worthless fifteen years ago, but recently they were able to pull the
DNA
from a couple of specs. Real small but enough.”
    “And?”
    “They got a hit.”
    Jack smiled.
    “Three months ago, I pulled the evidence and sent all the swabs to our DNA lab. They came back today with a hit in CODIS. The guy is a fine, upstanding citizen in your territory. Alvin Franklin Cooper. Get this, Jack, according to his criminal history, Mr. Cooper was convicted five years ago for torching his house with his wife and eight-year-old daughter sleeping inside. Burned to death while the asshole watched. It looks like killing is a hobby for Mr. Cooper.”
    Memories rushed back. “I remember Cooper. I worked the case with Chico PD.”
    “Then you know what happened to him.”
    “No, not really. I was just assisting with our evidence response team, did the follow-up interview when the fire call came in. After the initial interrogation, I was done.” Jack paused for a second. “I was never called to testify. I think he took a plea deal.”
    “He did. To manslaughter.”
    “That doesn’t seem right.”
    “I was told the DA made an offer and Cooper’s attorney jumped on it.”
    Jack asked, “Does he know you’re on to him?”
    “Not yet. His record shows he’s incarcerated at the Butte County Jail under a work furlough program.”
    Jack couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “Work furlough? He murdered his entire family?”
    “Apparently, part of the plea deal was that Cooper was deemed mentally unstable when he killed his family. He was ordered to County treatment. I spoke to a friend of mine at the California Department of Corrections who found out Cooper was going to therapy and has been a model prisoner ever since.”
    Jack tapped his pencil hard on his notepad, breaking the tip. “I had no idea.”
    “I need to learn more about Cooper to lock him down on this murder. I need a hold placed on him immediately. Get him off work furlough and in segregation.”
    “I’ll get right on it.”
    “Could use your help interviewing him if you got the time.” Sizemore’s voice hardened, expressing the harsh realities of life. “I’ve been working these kind of guys for decades. You know just as well as I do, their stripes don’t change. I’d check your unsolved files. From what I know about Cooper, I’ll bet you a steak dinner and a cold beer at Morton’s he’s good for more.”
    Jack winced at Sizemore’s contention and his stomach started to knot. “Get down here. I’ll make sure our Mr. Cooper is safely tucked away until your arrival.”
    When the conversation ended, Jack looked up the number for his contact at the Butte County Jail. The call went