Got the two boys who found it in the squad car, Snyder said to the detective. I glanced back at the two of them, wondering how to tell them my news. Of course, it was possible that I was wrong, but—

Sonamabeech, I heard someone mutter. I looked back to where Angel-no-relation was squatting on the far side of the body. Once again he was using his tweezers to hold up a small piece of paper. I stepped behind him and looked over his shoulder.

In a clear and spidery hand, someone had written POGUE, and crossed it out with a single line. Whassa pogue? Angel asked. His name?

It’s somebody who sits behind a desk and orders around the real troops, I told him.

He looked at me. How you know all this shit? he asked.

I see a lot of movies, I said.

Angel glanced back down at the paper. I think the handwriting is the same, he said.

Like the other one, I said.

The one that never happened, he said. I know, I was there.

I straightened up and took a breath, thinking how nice it was to be right. This one never happened, either, I said, and walked over to where Officer Snyder was chatting with the detective.

The detective in question was a pear-shaped man named Coulter. He was sipping from a large plastic bottle of Mountain Dew and looking out at the canal that ran by the backyard. What do you think a place like this goes for? he asked Snyder. On a canal like that. Less than a mile from the bay, huh? Figure maybe what. Half a million? More?

Excuse me, Detective, I said. I think we have a situation here. I’d always wanted to say that, but it didn’t seem to impress Coulter.

A situation. You been watching CSI or something?

Burdett is a federal agent, I said. You have to call Captain Matthews right away and tell him.

I have to, Coulter said.

This is connected to something we’re not supposed to touch, I said. They came down from Washington and told the captain to back off.

Coulter took a swig from his bottle. And did the captain back off?

Like a rabbit in reverse, I said.

Coulter turned and looked at Burdett’s body. A fed, he said. He took one more swig as he stared at the severed head and limbs. Then he shook his head. Those guys always come apart under pressure. He looked back out the window and pulled out his cell phone.