Free Trust Me by Brenda Novak

daughter, one of Burke's patients at the time, had even testified as a character witness.
    David wished Burke had come up with the "Skye on drugs" scenario when they could've tested to disprove it. But he'd wisely kept his mouth shut, offering nothing as he conferred privately with his lawyers. It was weeks before he claimed he'd gone to Skye's place for consensual sex, at which point she 'd attacked him. No one could prove anything one way or the other. There was no evidence to suggest Skye had ever taken drugs. But earlier that night she'd gone out with some new friends from work to a party where Ecstasy had been available. According to Skye, she'd left early because of it and gone home alone, but since her roommate was in Tahoe that weekend, it came down to her word against Burke's. Finding Oliver's DNA in Skye's bedroom merely established that he'd been there, not that he'd been there uninvited, especially because they couldn't figure out how he'd gotten in. Unlike the murders along the river, there was no cut screen.
    The police found the front door unlocked when they arrived, but Skye claimed she'd locked it when she went to bed. David guessed Burke had seen her use a hide-a-key sometime before that and helped himself. He must've 54

    put it right back, though. When they checked, the key was where she always put it.
    Fortunately, Skye was a strong witness and they got the conviction, but it wasn't as easy as it should've been.
    Skye... Frustrated that he couldn't think of her with the same emotional detachment he could put between himself and the other people he met through his work, he used his son's words as a talisman--You're still moving home, right?--and tried again to concentrate.
    All three girls lived in single-family homes located in the Campus Commons area along the American River. One worked at the Pavilions, an upscale shopping center in an affluent area. The other two attended Sacramento State University, which was basically a commuter school.
    The crime-scene photos drew his eye. So many of Burke's patients had been concerned about his family. But look what he'd done to these other families.
    Knowing that Skye might've been in a similar photo if she hadn't managed to stab him, David cursed. The thought of Burke touching Skye, even looking at her, turned his stomach.
    He took a sip of the now-cold coffee he'd bought on his way home this morning and held the photographs closer, studying them for new clues.
    There had to be something here, he told himself again, something he hadn't previously spotted or surmised. But he'd already done everything he could with the facts he had. So he started making a list of what he knew so far:
    --Considers himself normal but is sexually sadistic. The extra stab wounds and excessive bruising told him that.
    --Raped and sodomized victims, but no evidence of necrophilia.
    --Wore gloves. There was no fingerprint evidence at any of the murder scenes, even on the windows.
    --Wore a hood. Skye had confirmed this.
    --Most likely shaved his genital area. There hadn't been any pubic hair at the murder scenes.
    --No footprints in the bushes near point of entry. Had he covered his feet with those cotton booties doctors wore over their shoes? Possibly, David wrote. But there'd been that one print near the front walkway of Patty Poindexter's house, so maybe he didn't use them all the time.
    --Must have used a condom, which he took away from the scene. The girls' bodies yielded no semen samples, although it was clear they'd been forcefully penetrated.
    --Was comfortable using a knife. Possibly from having experience with a scalpel?
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    --Probably wasn't over six feet tall. Because the perpetrator had come through a bedroom window at least twice, he couldn't be very big. The bigger the guy, the harder it'd be to use that mode of entry.
    --Stalked his victims, was familiar with their routines. This killer knew when the girls were alone in their bedrooms, even though they all lived with