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high-pitched yelp and pawed at his rear end. I thought to myself that Ron might have some difficulty explaining the stitches he’d likely have to receive in the morning, but then Bittner began raving, and the thought was swept away.
    “I’m arresting this little shit,” Bittner declared. “I should’ve done it earlier.”
    “I told you,” Danny said, “Casey’s not going anywhere. Let’s just see what these guys can do before we go throwing fourteen-year-old kids in jail.”
    “I heard him, Danny. He was using the girls’ names, talkin’ like they deserved it. He knew stuff no kid his age should know.”
    “But he only started acting like this tonight,” Danny persisted. “The murders have been going on for three months.”
    “Then you tell me, Danny. You’re so clever, you tell me how he knows so much.”
    Sutherland was on his knees helping Ron recover. I stayed where I was, watching with some awe how composedly Danny spoke to his enraged partner. “It’s been everywhere, Jack. On the Internet, the TV…they even discussed it the other day in his current events class.”
    Bittner scowled. “And how the hell you know a thing like that?”
    Danny shrugged. “Kid’s gotta have someone to talk to beside his mother.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Ron asked.
    “You know what it means.”
    Bittner nodded and favored Danny with an unpleasant grin. “See, that’s the problem. You care about the kid too much to see the obvious. I’ve never met a person yet that believes someone he loves could be capable of killing.”
    “Casey is not a killer.”
    “Then how does he know so much?”
    Ron glared at Bittner incredulously. “He’s fourteen, for Chrissake!”
    “Like that means anything,” Bittner said. “I’ve seen younger ones than that kill people for the fun of it.”
    A scowl on his face, Sutherland asked Bittner, “The burden of proof is on you. On what do you base your theory?”
    “Joy Smith.”
    Sutherland’s scowl deepened. “What about her?”
    “They go to the same school.” Bittner nodded at the boy on the bed. “Little Casey here had a crush on her. He told Danny about it. Even wrote her love notes.”
    We looked at Danny, who sighed miserably. “Casey was saying all sorts of things earlier on, talking about Joy in particular. I could see what Jack was thinking right away, so I told him what I knew—that Casey and Joy were classmates—you know, thinking that would explain things for Jack.” He regarded Bittner balefully. “Obviously, I made a mistake.”
    “Goddamn right you did,” Bittner agreed. “This little son of a bitch had a thing for Joy and finally took it out on her the only way he could. After that, he got a taste for violence. Started killing other girls for the pleasure of it.”
    “That’s your proof?” Ron said. “That Casey had a crush on one of the victims?”
    Bittner took a step toward Ron, who looked instantly alarmed. “That’s not all Casey said. You woulda heard the rest, but you were nursing that bump on the head he gave you.”
    Ron muttered something and moved away, but Bittner was not to be put off. He tailed Ron, a vicious edge to his words. “That’s right, Ronnie . The kid manhandled you like you were a toy. He beat the shit out of his mom, even smacked his kid sister around. Why don’t you tell us more about what an angel he is?”
    “Officer Bittner,” I said, surprised by the authoritative sound of my own voice, “what is it that Casey said that makes you so certain he’s the killer?”
    “I said,” came a deep, ghastly voice from behind us, “that the sound of Joy’s pussy ripping open made me come in my pants.”
    We all turned and stared.
    “Oh Jesus,” Ron said in a hollow voice.
    Casey Hartman was looking up at us, a look of unmitigated evil contorting his face.

Part Two
    Breaking Point
     

Chapter Four
     
    Father Sutherland would not confirm it for another hour or so, but at that moment, when I beheld