A body in the river prompts a stakeout by the bridges. When they hear a loud splash late at night and see Wayne Williams driving by, the police immediately stop him. With rope and dog hairs in his car (they discovered fibres and hairs on some victims), he's a suspect, but they don't have enough to arrest him. Other sketchy developments include a neighbour reporting that Wayne was burning something at night, his job as a music promoter scouting children, and a book on how to pass a lie detector test in his house. Authorities later find a body in the river.
Bill and Holden end up following Wayne, who plays cat and mouse with them, even handing them a bag of fast food at one point. When Wayne becomes the primary suspect in the media, he thrives on the attention from the press, which leads to pressure on the FBI for a capture. When the FBI discovers that the carpet samples from Wayne's house match with the fibres found on recent adult victims, they arrest him.
But 27 child murders and abductions remain unsolved and unprosecuted, as Wayne is only officially connected with two adult deaths but indirectly linked to the young boys. Even when Holden and Bill find another suspect connected with the children, the FBI and Atlanta are keen for them to leave. A victim's mother tells Holden that he found a black man to pin the crime on.