Although Nikki looked forward to Mike's surprise, she was mainly worried. He was the only person who gave her support, affection, and drive, the only one she could truly love without feeling bad about it. But could she really be good company for him today? She would definitely not cook again after this day, except that she was uncomfortable anyway that Mike could cook much better than she could. On their way home, the take-out from the little Italian restaurant was pretty good, but after they had ordered take-out from there often enough, everything from their kitchen tasted the same to Nikki. She was afraid that Mike would notice that her mind was far away from him, and if it continued like this, he would probably say very soon what all his predecessors had said sooner or later.

You know how important you are to me, but I feel that you are not with me but with your work.

At least everything seemed to be fine between him and her, and when Nikki thought about it, Mike was by far the most consistent of all her partners. She would just try to tune out for the rest of the evening and lock the detective in her closet until the following day.

Nikki had just locked her car and stepped onto the sidewalk when she noticed someone standing under the streetlight in front of her building.

She narrowed her eyes and walked towards the shadowy figure. "Ma? What are you doing here? I thought you weren't leaving your house anymore."

Elizabeth took her hands out of the pockets of her camel hair coat. "That was my original plan." She took a step towards her daughter. 'But you know how it is with plans.'

Nikki still couldn't quite believe her eyes. Her mother was just standing in front of her house. And as usual, as this picture should have been, it seemed unreal to her now. "Did Ben tell you where Mike and I live now?"

"Not only that. He also repeatedly tried to persuade me to help you with your case."

Nikki took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders. "Unfortunately, without significant success. Why are you here? What's so important that you left your house for the first time in years?"

Elizabeth pursed her lips and took a deep breath. "Sometimes you make decisions of your own free will, and sometimes the circumstances force you to do so."

Nikki frowned deeply and pointed to her front door. "Do you want to come in for a coffee?"

Elizabeth smiled for a split second. "Thank you, but I won't stay long. There's just something I want to tell you."

The detective looked down and examined her mother more closely in the street lamp's light. Elizabeth was impeccably dressed, as always. Elegant coat, tailored jeans, and shoes. Still, after the long time that had passed since she left the BPD, it now felt more like she was simply facing an imitation of her mother. "It must be something pretty important for you to break out of your exile for this."

"It's because of Ben, he talked to me. About you and how I handled your request for help."

"That's already --"

Elizabeth interrupted her daughter immediately. "You should know I don't have the solution to your puzzle. Because I still lack crucial information. I'm not withholding answers that could help you save those seven boys. But you must know that the clues you have provided a dense, albeit extremely complex, picture of a drama that must be far greater than you might have suspected. Above all, you must know that you need only one or two more pieces of information to put the puzzle of this case together. You just have to see it when the time comes."

There was a sudden silence in the street, which was unusual for this time of day. Nikki thought she could sense why her mother had taken the trouble to see her in person. This woman, who had been her mentor, role model, and mother, had obviously made a decision. This decision was at least as significant as turning away from her job and family and henceforth living within the walls of her house outside Boston. Surrounded only by Ben, her knowledge of the world and the countless dramas she had experienced. Elizabeth had undoubtedly made a decision that had significant consequences. At least for her, but probably for the few still part of her life. That she had waited for her daughter here in the middle of the street, possibly for some time, without any advance notice, instead of simply calling her or asking her to come to her house was a statement of particular magnitude.

"Should I be worried about you?" Nikki took a step towards her mother, wide-eyed.

Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks. "You should be worried about many things, but not me, Nikki. I'll go away for a while, but not back to my house. I'll be going to a place that no one knows about, not even Maggie or Ben. A place that no one will find. I can't say for how long yet, but that won't matter either."

"Why not?" Nikki sensed concern spreading inside of her.

"Because you don't need me anymore."

"That's not true, Ma!"

Elizabeth smiled sadly and wearily. "You always thought you needed me, Nikki. But that's blocked you, just like it's blocked for Ben, Ashlyn, and Maggie. Please tell them that I'll get in touch with them when the time is right."

Nikki looked at her mother anxiously. "And when will that be?"

It was dark, but even in the dim light of the street lamp, Nikki could see that the corners of Elizabeth's mouth were moving slightly upwards.

"That's up to you. In the same way that you will decide when we meet again. And I'm already looking forward to it, Veronica. See you then!" She hesitated for a moment before she could bring herself to embrace her daughter.

Nikki returned the embrace and closed her eyes, feeling tears well up.

Elizabeth smiled a little and tightened her embrace before rereleasing it and turning away. She walked calmly but surely to the other side of the street, got into her car, and drove away.

xxx

When she unlocked her front door, Nikki was still lost in thought about the surprising and mysterious meeting with Elizabeth. So, she didn't notice at first that something in her new home was different from how she had left it that morning. It was only when she hung up her jacket on the coat hook and glanced in the mirror that the small reading lamp in her living room seemed to be on.

"Mike, are you home already?"

She looked at the chair where her husband's shoes were always placed, but there was no sign of either. At least there was no smell of cooking and no other signs that her husband had arrived home before she had. Apparently, she had simply forgotten to turn off the light. After all, it had been light when she had left the house in the morning, and she would not have noticed a dim reading light burning in the living room. Still lost in thought, Nikki crossed the living room threshold and turned on the ceiling light.

"Good evening, Detective O'Laighin, what a surprise to see you!"

Nikki jumped like a child whose eyes were opened to the horror of a boogeyman jumping out from around a corner in a skeleton costume. She tensed her body as if she were about to fight for her life with her bare fists while her gaze fell on the man who was sitting on her couch with the composure of a grandfather reading a story, cross-legged, with a silenced weapon in his hand.

"Sokolov?" Nikki's eyes widened as adrenaline rushed into her bloodstream. 'What are you doing here?'

The Russian responded with a charming smile before answering, 'It seems I'm using my newfound freedom to pay a little courtesy call on an old acquaintance. Aren't you pleased to see me?' He raised his weapons. "Unfortunately, I don't have any cake or a bottle of good wine with me, but I do have another surprise."

Nikki stood frozen, glaring at the man. 'You do realize that an armed break-in is enough to get you remanded into custody again?' She tried to appear superior.

"Surely, such hair-splitting is beneath you, Detective O'Laighin." Sokolov unscrewed the silencer from his weapon and put both in his coat pockets. "If I tell you what I've found out, you'll probably even make me some tea."

"Have you been following me?" Nikki stood like an intruder in the middle of her own living room in front of Sokolov, who, in turn, sat as if he were the master of the house. "I haven't registered at this address yet, and my name isn't on the mailbox either. How did you know I live here?"

Sokolov paused before replying with a smug smile. 'You're asking all the right questions at the wrong time. You should work on that!' He pointed to the armchair directly across from him. "Won't you sit down? What I want to tell you could potentially blow your mind."

Nikki waited a few more seconds before actually taking a seat. Of course, it was another provocation that he dared to offer her a chair in her own home. But Fyodor Sokolov would hardly revise his social behavior if Nikki tried to stand up to him at the most inappropriate moments. The sly anticipation radiating from him left no doubt that he apparently knew something of great importance for her investigation. Thus, the detective had to admit that she was in an inferior position, whether she liked it or not.

All for the missing boys!

"Your idea that I might have something to do with this kidnapping wasn't so far-fetched. In fact, most of the people you're looking for as murderers have had something to do with people I know."

"What a wonderful turn of phrase." Nikki looked Sokolov in the eye.

"What was less wonderful, however, was the morality of the murdered. I guess your killer wanted to be sure that he was hitting the right people with his actions. And, by the way, he was protecting the right people!"

Something had changed in Sokolov's expression. The look he now gave Nikki was nothing contemptuous or condescending; it seemed to suggest sincere fraternization. Nikki thought she detected an obligation in it that lacked anything insidious or sarcastic.

"What do you mean?" The detective's facial expression relaxed a little, too.

"All the parents whose sons you are looking for have something in common. But I don't mean that they had something to do with people I know. I mean a commonality that you and your team couldn't figure out because the man you're looking for allowed a few days to pass between the abductions and the murders of the parents. Far be it from me to interfere with your investigation. Still, if you ask me, the culprit had a significant reason for doing so: He wanted the parents themselves to destroy any evidence that might have led you to the method of his choice of victims later on. A clever dog! If you catch him, please tell him I know people who want to work with him." He seemed to be suppressing a smile.

Nikki licked her lips and frowned slightly as she leaned in. "All right. Because I screwed up the DEA investigation and because I don't speak Russian, you're free to go. It was your offer to show your appreciation, and I couldn't refuse it. So please, just tell me what you found out."

Sokolov put on a knowing smile. "All seven boys you are looking for were offered by their parents on the internet. For sex acts."

Nikki felt a sudden chill, and it seemed the room around her was contracting. The furniture and walls were closing around her body like a car press. "So then the perpetrator found the boys on the Darknet through pedophile sites and probably booked them for sex by their parents?" She had suddenly become very calm, and her thoughts cleared. "Then he kidnapped them instead and, if we're lucky, took them somewhere safe. After that, the parents inevitably had to delete all evidence from their computers that could have led us to this very trail. After all, it was clear that the BPD would investigate. Then he murdered them. And now I also understand why he was so brutal in the process. The perpetrator may have been a victim of abuse himself as a child."

Sokolov leaned back and clapped his hands demonstratively. "That could be it. You haven't solved the case yet, but this knowledge opens up new investigative approaches. And if it makes you feel better, I also believe that these seven boys are not supposed to die according to their kidnapper."

Nikki thought about that. "That may sound reassuring, but it doesn't mean the boys are safe. The guy has chosen victims whose murder won't give him a guilty conscience. I can understand his point of view so far. But he still wants us to solve a twenty-year-old case for him that has been completely investigated and apparently simply cannot be solved. With each day that the children are held hostage, they suffer physically and mentally. And since the poor boys were apparently repeatedly forced by their parents to have sex with random people from the internet, they are unfortunately all likely to suffer from mental disorders. I must find the boys as quickly as possible; otherwise, they'll turn on each other. We're talking about severely traumatized children in an exceptional situation!"

Sokolov responded with a slight nod, which Nikki took to mean approval. Then he rose from the couch and smoothed his clothes. "By the way, Mr. Hoover, my defense attorney, says he would like to defend this man as soon as you've caught him. He'll even do it for free because this magical case fascinates him greatly. A kidnapper who provides himself with an alibi for all his other kidnappings. And who, before his murders, said that his victims themselves removed all traces. Whoever you are looking for, Detective O'Laighin, he must be a remarkable person."

"Above all, he must be very desperate and deeply saddened. And, by the way, a mass murderer!" Nikki was gradually regaining her composure. "So your people know that the victims negotiated with the perpetrator I'm looking for via the internet, via their sons. In this case, all the victims must have communicated with one and the same man via the Darknet within the same time." She looked up and met Sokolov's eyes. "Can your people find out who it was, or at least from which IP address the perpetrator negotiated with the parents?"

"The whole point of the Darknet is that it's impossible to trace which computer someone is communicating from. However, I am in the privileged position of knowing some people that your police colleagues won't be able to get to anytime soon."

Nikki could see it. Everything about Sokolov seemed to scream that he knew much more than he had told. "What are you trying to tell me?"

Sokolov didn't flinch. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he replied, "I had the opportunity to talk to the man who runs the pedophile site in question. You can assume that no one, at least the operator, will use this network, which does not clearly and verifiably identify itself. Everyone who hangs around there has to state their IP address and commit at least one criminal offense that a police investigator would not be authorized to investigate. For example, uploading child pornography. Those are the rules."

"So you know who I'm looking for?" Nikki thought she felt her heart beating in her throat.

"No. But I know where he chatted with his later victims. I know his IP address."

The detective rose from her chair without even noticing. "Then please tell me!"

Sokolov looked pointedly at his equally ostentatious and tasteless wristwatch. "That's not part of our deal. I promised you a favor and repaid that debt with my information about the victims and the boys. We're even."

Sokolov turned around and crossed the living room and hallway. Nikki lingered briefly in her position before she ran after him. Just before Sokolov opened the front door, he turned around again. "Don't hide your light under a bushel, detective. I'm pretty sure that after our little conversation, you can answer all your questions yourself."

He bowed, stepped out of the house, walked quickly to the street, and left Nikki without a word. Now, she would have to cancel with Mike. There was someone else entirely she now had to talk to.