“And then logic begins to fail us because what I’m seeing is confusing if not contradictory.” I take his hand and don’t care who sees it. “Was the problem the lamp? Or was the lamp blown up by the same electrical current that killed her? And where did this current come from? If it came from the lamp then how does that explain her injuries? She has a linear pattern of burns that don’t make sense. And I don’t understand the FBI’s interest this early on when there are more questions than answers.”

“It’s almost like she encountered exposed wires, from what I’ve gathered.”

“Yes, I’m sure you’ve gathered quite a lot,” I reply. “But there aren’t any wires that we could see, and they would have to be some distance off the ground if they were going to make contact with her neck and shoulders. It’s as if she was riding along and passed under something that’s no longer present or visible.”

“Or something passed over her,” Benton suggests.

“Obviously you’re assuming homicide when I don’t know that for a fact yet.”

“But why she would be targeted is a mystery,” he says. “Elisa Vandersteel has no connection to us that I can fathom, and no connection to Briggs. I also don’t see why she might be of interest to Carrie Grethen. The victimology perplexes me. Something’s not right.”

“Does it bother your colleagues? And yes, something’s not right. That’s quite an understatement.”

“Elisa Vandersteel was a soft target. Random, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Briggs was a hard target. That’s the theory.”

“Is it your theory?”

“I’m not sure I have a theory but I know Carrie Grethen kills for a reason,” Benton says. “She’s not into random slaughter but rather prides herself on what she perceives as her own moral code and decency. It’s not her MO to destroy people who don’t deserve it, in other words. So why would she target a twenty-three-year-old Canadian au pair whose dream was to be an actress?”

“It sounds as if you might have learned more about her.”

“Apparently the reason she was in Cambridge is she’d gotten an internship at the repertory theater, was helping in stage management in hopes of getting a chance to act. She’d started there about two months ago, at the beginning of August. Was bright, a hard worker, funny, but very private. This is according to several theater people Lucy’s already talked to.”

I think of the young man who handed Elisa Vandersteel a FedEx envelope in front of us, and I ask if anyone has tracked him down yet.