Sheriff Daniels sat at his desk pouring over the fact sheets and reports from the recent murders in Astatula. One thing was certain. The little town had never experienced a crime wave like the one that had it in its throes now.

The morning press conference he scheduled had been covered by Channels 4, 7, 13, and 24. All the local area broadcasters in Potter County. Never during Sheriff Daniels tenure, that encompassed almost fifteen years of solid law enforcement, had he pursued a serial killer like the Astatula Assassin. Understandably, the upstanding citizenry of the town was growing more and more unsettled with each new victim discovered.

The mode of operation in the slayings was always the same. The victims ranged from a young, white female convenience store clerk on the overnight shift to a middle-aged pizza restaurant manager. Then, there was the old Chinaman at the laundry and his concubine.

Two questions that kept reoccurring in Sheriff Daniels mind were: what did these crimes have in common and where was the missing link that would solve this case? What the Sheriff needed was a new lead to work. What he got was backlash from a reporter who had attended the press conference that morning.

John Terry, from Channel 7 in Palo Pinto, was a wily veteran of the news field. He wanted to know "Why the Sheriff had been socializing at the fish fry on Saturday evening at the VFW?"

He also asked "Why the Sheriff had not been out investigating and ensuring the safety of the townspeople?"

However, John Terry went a little too far and made Sheriff Daniels angry. Although he could not show his displeasure in the public forum of a press conference.

John Terry insinuated "Did the Sheriff think Cody Schroder, or any of his family members, were involved in these slayings?"

"After all," Terry pointed out the coincidence, "these brutal attacks had not occurred until Cody Schroder appeared on the scene."

The question triggered a long buried painful memory for the Sheriff. As he sat in his office exploring these crime reports, and searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack, those memories flooded back once again.

In Sheriff Daniels book kids are cute to look at. They are even fun to play with. But, for Pete's sake, let them go home with someone else. These sentiments stemmed from the tremendous loss he experienced eight years earlier when his only child, Tyler Wyatt Daniels, died in the Sheriff's arms from Meningitis when he was six-months-old.

It may as well have been a million years ago. Because losing a child is the kind of heartache a parent never gets over. Not one single day passed by Sheriff Daniels did not remember his son. He kept the boy's bedroom a memorial full of his pictures, favorite stuffed animals, medical records and yes, even the notice of his death.

Cody was now installed as the Sheriff's errand boy, trash can emptier, floor sweeper and odd jobs doer. Sheriff Daniels noticed that Deputy Taylor did not seem pleased to have the boy hanging around the office so much.

"He's always underfoot!" Deputy Taylor constantly complained.

It was not hard to see the tension Deputy Taylor displayed. His disapproval of Cody was obvious. For his part the boy just kept to his assigned chores. Completing each one of them with pride.