Gingerbread Man

to find them. The sick son of a bitch."
    Vince watched Selkirk's shuttered face as he spoke. "There's more."
    "Look, this is a federal case now. I've said all I can say." Selkirk paced away from Vince a few steps, stared out over the parking lot. "What's the story on D'Voe?"
    "I don't think he's our guy."
    "Why not?"
    Vince shrugged. "Give me the common denominator on the victims, and I'll give you what I know about D'Voe."
    For a long moment Selkirk stood there with his back to Vince. Then, slowly, he turned. "I want this guy, O'Mally. Not for the collar. For the kids."
    "Sure you do."
    "Hey, I've seen some of them. Same as you. I've been working this case for three years. You think it's pushed you to the edge? What the hell do you think it's done to me?"
    Vince held the man's eyes steadily. In them he saw his own frustration and rage, mirrored right back at him. He saw the same hell he'd fallen into when he'd walked into that room to find Kara and Bobby Prague.
    He sighed. "You're right. We want the same thing here."
    Selkirk nodded. "He marks them," he told Vince. His voice had gone softer, lower. As if he were speaking of something that shouldn't be said aloud. "Every one of them had a brand burned into their backs. Right between the shoulder blades. Four-leaf clover. Probably made by a heated piece of jewelry. Ring or a pendant, that sort of thing."
    "Jesus Christ." He wanted to ask if the kids were branded before or after death. But he didn't really want to know. He didn't know if he could stand knowing.
    Turning now, Selkirk reached into his pocket for a cigarette, lit it. "Your turn."
    "You already know most of it. I dug around in D'Voe's past as deeply as I could. He comes from an abusive family himself," Vince told him.
    Selkirk lifted his brows. "That's something we didn't know."
    "His father beat the hell out of him back in England," Vince said. "Reggie ran away young, came to the States, grew up to be a famous horror star."
    "Any of his films involve torturing kids?"
    Vince shook his head. "No. Believe me, I checked. As far as anyone around here can tell, the guy loves kids. He used to throw this big Halloween party for them every year. Moved away for a while, came back the year before last, and this year, he reinstated the tradition. Candy, prizes, special effects."
    "And one kid doesn't get to go home."
    Vince looked up fast. "This is the first time anything bad has happened to a kid in connection with D'Voe or the party."
    "Except maybe for his niece. The niece who's not a niece. You saw the fax?"
    "I saw it."
    "So what have you got on Amanda D'Voe?"
    "Reggie says he was more an honorary uncle. Got real upset when we asked him to prove it."
    "So Chief Mallory told me. Have you asked her?"
    Vince nodded. "She said she couldn't talk about it." When Selkirk frowned at him, Vince went on. "She's fragile. Was in the middle of an anxiety attack at the time. Maybe it's just a painful memory."
    "Or maybe she was his first victim."
    Vince narrowed his eyes. "What, and he decided to keep her?"
    "It's more common than you would believe. They don't start out killing, you know. They molest. They rape. They even fall in love with their victims, at least it's love in their sick, twisted minds. It's the closest thing to it for them. He may very well have decided to keep her. Raise her. Especially if she was his first. God knows there are enough missing kids on the books who've never been found."
    Vince blinked, frowned hard.
    "What?"
    "Nothing." He gave his head a shake. "Nothing, never mind." He focused on the crisis at hand again. "Listen, don't you think she would know? I mean, if she were kidnaped, assaulted, abused that way, do you really think she would have grown up utterly devoted to the guy?"
    Selkirk heaved a sigh. "It's possible. It happens. Been documented." He took a long drag on his cigarette, then tossed it to the ground, crushed it with his toe as he blew the smoke out into the night. "One way to find out"
    "How's that?"
    "Check her for the mark. That four-leaf-clover brand. It's probably something he's been doing for a while. Maybe even from the very first time. If she has it, he's our man. We oughtta get a blood sample, too, find out once and for all if she's related to D'Voe."
    "He already admitted she wasn't," Vince said. "Why would he do that if she were a blood relative?"
    "You never know. Maybe he started out snatching kids related to him. Most of these guys warm up molesting their own before