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what he . . . does to them,” her informant replied with an overdone shiver. “I don’t know about you, but I’m dying my hair jet black till this guy is caught.”
    â€œWhy?”
    Cassie was starting to look a little exasperated. She pulled out a lock of her wavy hair and held it in front of her face. “Hello? Because all the victims had the same color hair, that’s why. You need to be careful, too.”
    â€œI’m not that blond,” said Gaia.
    â€œAre you nuts? Your hair’s even lighter than mine.” The girl gave a little smile. “It’s not too different, though. In fact, ever since you started here, people have been telling me how much we look alike. Like you could be my sister or something.”
    Gaia stared at the girl. Whoever had said she looked like Gaia needed to get their eyes checked. Cassie Greenman was patently pretty . Very pretty. There was no way Gaia looked anything like her.
    â€œYou’re nothing like me.”
    Cassie frowned. “You don’t think . . .”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI think we would look a lot alike,” insisted Cassie, “if you would . . . you know . . . like, clean up . . . and dress better. . . .” She shrugged. “You know.”
    All Gaia knew was that all the cleaning up and good clothes in the world wouldn’t stop her from looking like an overmuscled freak. She wished she was beautiful like her mother had been, but she would settle for being pretty like Cassie. She would settle for being normal . “Thanks for giving me the heads up on this killer.”
    Cassie wrinkled her nose. “Isn’t it creepy? Do you think he’s still around here?”
    â€œI wouldn’t worry too much.” Gaia stood up and grabbed for her books. “If he’s still here, he won’t be for long.”
    Not in my park, she thought. If the killer was still there, Gaia intended to find him and stop him.
    Suddenly she felt pinpricks of excitement moving over her skin. For the first time all day she felt fully awake. Fully engaged. Fully there. She needed to make a plan. She needed to make sure that if this guy attacked anyone else in the park, it was Gaia .
    As terrible as it was, in a weird sort of way the news about the serial killer actually made Gaia feel better. At least she had stopped thinking about her date.
Dead Already
    â€œA SERIAL KILLER,” ED SAID SLOWLY. Words he never expected to say unless he was talking about some movie staring Morgan Freeman or Tommy Lee Jones.
    Gaia nodded. “That’s right.”
    â€œAnd you’re excited about this?” Why was he not surprised?
    â€œNot excited. It’s more . . .” She tipped back her head and looked up at the bright blue sky, her breath visible for one split second each time she exhaled. “Yeah, well. Kind of .”
    Ed stopped talking as they moved around a line of people waiting for a hot dog vendor, then took up the conversation again once he was sure no one was close enough to hear. “Don’t you think that’s a little—”
    â€œCrazy?” finished Gaia.
    â€œThat wasn’t what I was going to say.” Ed stopped in his tracks and looked up into her eyes, rubbing his gloved hands together. Early November in New York City. Almost time to put away the cotton gloves and whip out the leather. “But since you said it—yeah, it seems more than a little Looney Tunes.”
    Gaia was silent for a moment. She walked a few steps away and stood next to the fence that bordered the playground. Ed followed.
    As usual, the equipment was overrun with bundled-up kids. Anytime between dawn and sunset theplayground was packed with screaming children. A little thing like someone getting killed in the park wasn’t enough to empty any New York jungle gym. They were too few and far between. The sound of laughter and shouting mixed together with traffic around the park until it was only