"Yes. Fearing for her own safety, Dion cooked up and floated the story that Crease had murdered Desjardins. The Vipers got wind and decided payback was due. Desjardins had been an Angel, his kil er was an Angel dropout, despised by the brothers, and his kil er had to die. Also, they had not settled the Spider Marcotte account, as far as they were concerned. They phoned New York for outside help, persuaded Dion to lure Crease to Dorsey's funeral, and decided they would settle several Heathen scores at the same time.

A pause.

"It must have been Jocelyn who left the picture on my desk."

"To throw suspicion toward Crease." I thought of something else.

"That's why Cherokee's blood was on that jacket."

"For once the little lizard was tel ing the truth. The jacket belonged to Jocelyn, but Dorsey couldn't admit that if he wanted to protect her."

"And meeting with me got him kil ed." I bit down on my lip.

"Dorsey was kil ed because his brothers feared he was about to turn on them. Had it not been you, he'd have contacted someone else."

I felt myself swal ow.

"Do you believe Dion's letter?"

"Largely, yes. We'd already had reason to suspect Lecomte in the Marcotte-Toussaint murders. We are keeping him under close surveil ance. The prosecutor feels that what you heard Dion scream as she was shot is not enough to arrest him now, but in time, we wil know"

"Undoubtedly Jocelyn was the leak at our lab."

"She got the position there to spy for the Heathens, but wasn't averse to an occasional chat with the press.

"When approved by the home office."

"Yes."

Claudel drew air through his nose, exhaled.

"These biker gangs are the mafia of the new mil ennium, and have tremendous power over those attracted to them. Jocelyn Dion was among those who feed at the bottom of the chain, the hookers, the pimps, the strippers, the petty street dealers. She probably needed clearance to take her mother to Sunday Mass.

"One rung up are the more successful entrepreneurs, the chop shop operators, the fences, the bar owners, those who are al owed to hang around because they wash dirty money or perform some service useful to the club. Climb higher and one finds the ful patchers who run their own drug cel s. At the very top are men with links to cartels in Mexico and Colombia, and to their counterparts in gangs worldwide."

I'd never seen Claudel so animated.

"And who are these degenerates who make their living off the weak? Most have neither the moral nor intel ectual ability to complete a traditional educational process or function in an open market. They use women because, deep down, they fear them. They are uneducated, self-deluded, and, in many cases, physical y inadequate, so they have themselves tattooed, create nicknames, and band together to reinforce their shared nihilism."

He took a deep breath and slowly shook his head.