“Huh.” I made myself peer into the sarcophagus. It held a wooden coffin, which had also been pried open. A scent of decay rose from it, but other than a bit of debris, which I chose to believe was decomposing clothing, it was empty. There was only the impression of a body having lain there, staining the rotting satin fabric that lined it. A big body. The Tall Man’s nickname was no joke. He must have stood seven feet tall. “What the hell?”

“The chief asked me to make sure I took a turn around the cemetery before my shift ended,” Ken Levitt said. “I spotted the open door and got out to take a look.”

“You didn’t see anything?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “Just this.”

“Did you test the crime scene?” I asked Chief Bryant.

“Mm-hmm.” He pulled out the silver pocket watch I’d given him a couple of years ago and let it dangle over the violated sarcophagus. It had been made with the same exacting dwarfish craftsmanship as the spirit lantern, only it was responsive to the residue of eldritch presence. If this grave robbery had been the work of a member of the eldritch community, living nonhuman or undead human, the watch would have swung like a pendulum, its hands spinning frantically backward. Instead, it hung motionless on its chain, its second hand clicking clockwise with ordinary mortal precision. “Whoever did this was human.”

I stared into the coffin. “Why the hell would anyone steal a hundred-and-thirty-year-old corpse?”

“It was probably kids.” Ken shrugged. “Teenagers. Hell, there are a couple of troublemakers in town crazy enough to do anything on a dare. You went to Pemkowet High, Daisy—you remember how it was. And Halloween’s coming.”

“True.” I glanced at the chief. His eyes were gleaming under their deceptively sleepy lids. “But you don’t think it’s a coincidence, do you?”

“Do you?” he countered.

“No.”

Chief Bryant gave a decisive nod. “Something’s hinky. Levitt, if it’s all right with you, I’d like to turn this one over to Fairfax. He and Daisy worked together well on the Vanderhei case.”

Ken Levitt shrugged again. “It’s your call, sir.”

The chief looked at his pocket watch. “Fairfax is off duty, and he’s not answering his phone. Daisy, you mind stopping out there? Make sure he’s on board?”

I glanced involuntarily at the sky; I couldn’t see through the cloud cover, but I knew the full moon had already set. Cody might be a little edgy for another twenty-four hours, but he should be okay to work, at least during daylight. Probably, anyway. “Sure.”

“Good.”

Before I drove out to Cody’s place, I stopped at Drummond’s Hardware and bought a sturdy hammer and a box of heavyweight framing nails from the yawning salesclerk who was just opening the store for business.

What can I say? I felt better for being prepared.