“That's one of them. The other is that he picked her for some reason. As far as no sound, he could have clamped his hand over her mouth and carried her away. Though if he did clamp, it wasn't hard. No finger marks. Not a bruise anywhere.”

“So no evidence of any resistance on her part?”

He shook his head.

“Was she mute as well as deaf?”

“She spoke but not clearly and her main language was Hebrew.”

“But she had the capacity to scream?”

“I assume.” He finished the milk and crushed the carton.

“Watching til he found a victim,” I said. “Stalking the herd and picking off a weak one. How many other kids were in the group?”

“Forty-two. Plus four teachers and two aides. Some of the kids were in wheelchairs and needed close supervision. Another reason the kids who could run around had lots of freedom.”

“Still,” I said. “All those people and no one saw anything?”

He shook his head, again, and pointed to the files. “Everyone's been talked to twice, three times. Teachers, the bus driver, kids to the extent they could talk.”

“How often do they come to the conservancy?”

“Once a year for the past five.”

“Was the trip prearranged with the park?”

He nodded. “Lots of schools come up there.”

“So someone familiar with the park would know disabled kids were due to visit. Easy victims.”

“The first guys on the case- Gorobich and Ramos- interviewed every park and school employee as well as former employees. The only criminal records they found was some old DUI stuff on a couple of the gardeners and their alibis all checked out.”

“Sounds like they were thorough.”

“Both were competent and a kid victim plus a diplomat father made the case high-priority. But they came up with nada and last week they got pulled and transferred to auto theft. Calls from above.”

“So now they're trading two detectives for one?” I said. “I know you're good but-”