[goes to swig more coffee but he's out, so he chews at the inside of his lip and swirls around the dregs of his coffee in the bottom of the cup. don't waitresses usually give refills?

yes he was stalling while he thought about it. he does pitch his voice a little lower when he speaks up again.]

You got four children who weren't home with their families last night. Two dead, for sure. One after months missing, one just out of her parents' sight for a minute. Two vanished after a party. Totally different. The only thing they have in common is their age and, except for Winters, all are girls.

[he wants so badly to know if kara was cut in the same way as the girl who fell from the roof had been, that triangle of blood soaking through her dress as she stared up at him from the hood of the patrol car. it's not really something he can ask the samsons, though.]

Investigating murder's not my job, though. Legally, it can't be. So my opinion doesn't really matter.

[of course they're not the last.]