“It’s a technique they use,” Frank said. “Vanishing in the middle of interrogations. It’s their way of toying with you. Remember when we bought your first car?”

Her “first” had been the Honda that she was still driving, and they’d been rubes when it came to bargaining. The salesman had said he’d have to take their lowball offer to the manager. Then he disappeared and left them sitting there for over an hour. They couldn’t leave because he’d taken the keys to the car they’d inherited from Frank’s mother and were using as a trade-in. That was before Frank developed a taste for flashy cars.

“You think that’s what he’s doing? Leaving us to stew?” Emily said.

“More like hanging us out to dry.”

But moments later Stanley returned carrying a manila folder and looking somber. He opened the folder and pulled out a stapled set of pages. “Here’s the autopsy report. I’ll read you the conclusions.” He turned to one of the final pages. “Based on body temperature, rigor and livor mortis, and stomach contents, approximate time of death: eight o’clock p.m., Sunday, August fourth, to eight o’clock a.m., Monday, August fifth. Immediate cause of death: traumatic asphyxia due to blunt chest trauma. Manner of death.” He looked across at Emily. “Homicide.”

Emily swallowed. “Eight o’clock Sunday to eight o’clock Monday,” she said. “That’s a twelve-hour window.”

Stanley closed the file folder. “Generally speaking, we like it to be more precise. But the body had been in water. That delays the onset of rigor. And it was found in the equivalent of a warm oven, and apparently had been there for a period of time. Which accelerates decay.”

“So the time frame is really a guess,” Emily said.

Stanley nodded.

“And it allows time,” Emily went on, “for him to have registered for the auction and for that witness to report him hitting my car?”

“The hit-and-run,” Stanley said, “was the last time anyone but his killer saw Walter Newell alive.”

“No,” Emily said. “It was the last time anyone saw Walter Newell’s car.”

Stanley opened his hands, palms up, allowing that she had a point.

“Could Walter Newell have been killed earlier and his body packed in ice?” Emily said.

There was silence in the room. Stanley blinked. Narrowed his eyes. “It would take a lot of ice.”

“It sure would,” Emily said. “And if that’s what happened, what does it do to the estimated time of death?”

“I’d have to ask an expert,” Stanley said.

“Come on. You know as well as I do that it would shift the time frame earlier. How much earlier?”

Frank grabbed her. “Seriously, Emily, we need to talk. This is pretty outlandish.”