Holman said, “Don’t ask why we didn’t check her out more thoroughly. A partnership, like a marriage, is based on trust.”

Milo didn’t blink. I was willing to bet on his internal dialogue. Motels on Washington Boulevard.

Holman said, “While she was truthful about her educational credentials, she lied completely about other things.”

“Such as?”

“First off, she’s not German, she’s Austrian. And her father’s not a shipping tycoon, he’s a banker.”

“Is Gemein her real name?”

Reluctant nod. “What should have tipped us off was her take on green: hatred for humanity rather than feed and save the planet. The woman’s a total misanthrope and as time went on, she felt freer to share her opinions on how the evolutionary process had failed when it produced human beings. How Homo sapiens disrupted the crucial balance, what the world really needed was a good plague or a world war. Which coming from a Teutonic type is pretty damn breathtaking.”

She turned to Cohen.

He said, “Rather impolitic.”

Milo said, “Could we talk about the fire?”

“I’m coming to that,” said Holman. “This needs to be logical, so that you’ll understand we’re not just a couple of disgruntled malcontents. Where was I—Helga’s lies. The home address she gave us here in L.A. was phony, as we learned when we tried to serve her with papers.”

“You’re suing her.”

“Damn right we are. Professional alienation, breach of contract, anything else our lawyer can come up with.”

“Where was the phony address?”

“Brentwood. As to why we didn’t find it odd that Helga never had us over, we believed she was all business and that was fine. We were motivated to create something important. Correct?”

Cohen nodded.

Finishing her drink, she returned to the kitchen, poured a refill. Cohen watched her with sadness, turned to us. “It might be helpful for you to know that Helga hired Des Backer before she talked to us. She presented him as a rising star whom she’d met looking for young architects with green credentials. We did check those credentials. Top of the class, his professors had nothing but praise for him. However, when our attorney recontacted them, none had ever spoken to Helga, nor had Des asked them for letters of recommendation. So she found him some other way.”

Holman said, “Given the advantage of hindsight, it’s clear Des’s work product was nil.” Smirking. “In terms of architecture.”

Cohen said, “Our attorneys had someone go through the office computers. Des did a lot of gazing at pornography as well as surfing through some disturbing websites. Which brings us to the fire.”

Milo said, “Arson websites?”

“Eco-terrorist websites. Congratulatory photographs of vandalized luxury housing and animal research labs, chat strings of people who believe the ends justifies the means.”

“We’ll need those office computers.”