“No. I’m covering my ass. There’s an old well that used to supply the drinking water for the house on the property. It’s only several hundred yards from the Aberjona River in Woburn, Massachusetts. There used to be a lot of tanneries along the banks and tanneries used arsenic in their processing. The soil and water are probably still thoroughly contaminated. This is where I think the arsenic came from. For nostalgic reasons, the victim used to drink from the well. I just have to make sure the water and soil samples are consistent with anything they find in the body.”

“Thomas. That’s ingenious on your part. Who are you getting off the hook for murder?”

“No one. I was hired by the children of the victim to find proof that the stepmother did it.”

“Finding a killer. This is prosecutorial not defense. It doesn’t sound like your kind of thing.”

“It’s not. I’m not taking the case, but not for that reason. I have another one that just popped up. It interests me much more. This one is, as you just described, ‘my kind of thing.’”

“I’m assuming that’s the reason for this phone call?” Gavin clenched the phone tighter. He knew what was coming next.

“Yes, it is. What can you tell me about a Colin Turner?”

Thomas had made his career from taking cases like this, but this one was beyond hope and Gavin was prepared to set Thomas straight. “Colin Turner is a guilty, egotistical, arrogant bastard who murdered his wife over money. It’s the oldest reason in the book. You don’t want to get mixed up with him. You have better things to do with your time.”

“I disagree. That’s just the type I like to inspect. I’m thinking of coming to look at things.”

“Save yourself a trip. There’s really no reason. The evidence against him is overwhelming.”

“I’ve seen the report. His lawyer sent it to me. What’s his excuse for not killing his wife? Is it a good one?”

“His defense is about as lame as they come. He said, and I quote…” Gavin picked up the notes from his interrogation with Colin and read, “‘After I came back, she tried to commit suicide. She was bleeding. She was holding a bloody towel on her wrist. I grabbed the towel to help her. But she pulled away. I had blood on my hands when I opened the cabinet. That must be how my fingerprint got on it.’”

“That’s actually not bad. I’ve heard worse,” Thomas responded. “Anyway, I hear, mostly from the news, that there have been other murders committed in the same way. Is he a suspect in those too?”

“The prime suspect.”

“You know, Mitch, this is my specialty.”