“Poor guy,” I said. “They probably lured him with notions of being a recording star—let him play with the guitars and the gizmos, make a demo. That's why he talked about getting rich. Then they killed him and used him as a red herring. No family connections, the perfect victim. Where was the body found?”

“Near the harbor. Naked, no ID, quite a bit worse for wear. He'd been in one of their coolers with a John Doe toe tag. They figure he's been dead anywhere from four days to a week.”

“Right around the time you called Jeffers and asked her to speak to me. You said she thought she recognized my name. When I got there she pretended it was because of the Casa de los NiÑos case. But she knew it from Coburg's hit list—it must have shocked them, their next victim in their face, like that. Your making the connection between the “bad love' tape and what happened to Becky. Someone else might have backed off, but clearing the list just meant too much to Coburg—he couldn't let go of it. So he and Jean decided to stay on track and use Gritz as extra insurance. Jeffers sends me to Coburg, Coburg just happens to remember Gritz was Hewitt's friend and directs me to Little Calcutta. Then, just in case we still weren't biting, Jeffers produces the therapy notes with all those references to “G.' Maybe I should have wondered—Jeffers made such a big deal about Becky being a lousy note taker, then magically these appear. Mrs. Basille said Becky was a real stickler for the rules, but I figured she was just out of touch.”

“There was no way to know,” he said. “These people are from another planet.”

“That lunch with Jeffers,” I said, feeling suddenly chilled. “She sat across from me—touching my hand, letting loose the tears. Bringing Dick along was another ritual: Becky vanquished, Jean was showing off her spoils. After we were finished eating, she insisted on walking me to my car. Stood on the sidewalk, misbuttoned her sweater, and had to redo it. Probably a signal to Coburg, waiting somewhere across the street. She stayed with me all the way to the Seville—tagging the car for Coburg. He followed me up to Benedict and learned where I was hiding out.”

He shook his head. “We hadn'ta caught them, they'd probably run for office.”

“At lunch, I told Jeffers that I was going to Santa Barbara the next day to talk to Katarina. That got them worried I'd learn something—maybe even bring back the school roster. So they were forced to break sequence—Coburg beat me up there and killed Katarina before me. And tossed the house. Any idea why Coburg called himself Silk and Merino?”