"It looked like he tried to run, but he couldn't," Stryker said. "That the sequence was, that he was standing up, and Anna was sitting down. The killer shot her in the heart and Russell turned to run, and the killer shot him in the spine, from the back, just as he got to the dining room."

"How far was that? How far did he run?"

"About three steps. I'll get you the key to the house, on the way out the door, we've got a couple in evidence," Stryker said. "Anyway, the dining room is connected to the living room, and it looks like he was shot as he started into the dining room. He went down, and rolled on his back, and the killer stood over him and shot him twice, once in each eye. Goddamnedest thing."

The slugs were.357 hollow points, and exited the back of Gleason's head into the floor, and were recovered, though in fragments.

"The eye thing, propping him up in the yard, in the lights-a ritual of some kind," Virgil said.

"Looks like something, but I don't know what," Stryker said, shaking his head. "The second shot was a waste of good ammunition, I can tell you that. And the shooter took a risk-the Gleasons' house is three hundred fifty feet from the nearest neighbor, and it was raining, so the houses were closed up with air-conditioning. Still, a.357 makes a damn loud bang. If somebody had been walking by…the third shot was an extra risk."

"Excitement? I've seen that," Virgil said. "Guy starts pulling the trigger and can't stop."

"One in each eye? He had to take his time," Stryker said. "I mean, he fired from two feet away, straight down, but you still have to take your time to put it right through an eye."

"So he's nuts. A ritual, a revenge thing…Maybe a warning?"