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“Of course it’s not,” Nick growled. “I wasn’t there.”

“It looks a lot like you, Nick.”

“Well, it’s not me.”

“There’s something else.” Morley’s voice grew a touch more warning. “The victims were all members of the same family. Not all of them lived in the house, but every person killed was related to the other victims.”

Nick’s frown returned. “And?”

“There were ten of them,” Morley went on. “A couple, roughly mid-thirties. Three children. A grandmother who was staying with them upstairs.”

“That’s six,” Nick said.

Morley gave him a darker look.

“The sister of the male in the Manhattan-based couple had come to visit for the weekend from Long Island. Her husband came with her. So did two of their children, the youngest of five. The couples went out to dinner together, leaving the five children and the grandchildren at home. The couples had just returned. They’d just come inside for coffee and dessert following the meal. According to the waiter at the restaurant, they all seemed happy. There were no arguments. All of them were laughing. No one was excessively drinking or drunk.”

Nick grimaced, wincing in spite of himself.

“Any other family?” he asked.

Morley nodded.

“They’re being notified now. But it’s bad, Nick, which is why people are reacting like they are. This was a much-liked family, apparently, both the Manhattan branch and the one in Long Island. They were both involved in their specific communities. And the Manhattan family, at least, is completely wiped out. Six people. Another four from the branch of the family out on Long Island. And they were ugly deaths, Midnight. Especially the kids. He took the children first… and then the grandmother… while the parents were still eating out. He sat and waited for the other four to get back.”

“He waited?” Nick frowned. “Seriously?”

“Three hours.” Morley met his gaze. “He let the babysitter go. A sixteen-year-old neighbor, no relation. He likely venomed her, since she didn’t tell anyone what she saw or what happened to her… but he didn’t hurt her.”

Nick frowned. “Wait… what? Why?”

“We don’t know that. There are theories.”

“What kinds of theories?”

Morley didn’t answer.

“Well, he obviously knew them, right?” Nick continued to frown. “No one does this to strangers… especially when they deliberately let a bystander go. He knew them. He targeted them for some reason.”

Morley hesitated.

He seemed to be thinking about how to answer that.

When he didn’t answer, Nick’s frown hardened.

“What aren’t you telling me?” he asked. “There’s more. Isn’t there? Is it something about the family?”

The gray-haired detective’s eyes continued to show indecision. And reluctance. And what might have been a more restrained anger.

The anger didn’t seem to be aimed at Nick.

Nick wasn’t sure what or who it was aimed at.

For the first time, however, James Morley dropped the more formal, homicide detective interviewing a suspect tone of voice.

“Nick… I don’t know how to tell you this next part, especially given everything that happened to you recently in San Francisco…”

Morley let his words trail again.