“A foreign national? From a prominent family? You’re asking me to create an international terrorist scare on the basis of copper dust?”

“It’s more than a scare, sir. My suspect’s already killed three people.”

“I haven’t heard evidence linking her to any murders. Even on your arson, it’s all air. A woman jogging? Pardon me if I’m not awestruck. And even if she did do the torch, what does that come down to? Getting rid of an eyesore the neighbors are happy to see gone. Wire dust and something goopy in a pipe? For all we know, it’s rubber cement, she liked putting together model airplanes.”

“The dogs reacted, sir.”

“I love dogs,” said Weinberg. “But they’re not infallible. What if she spilled kerosene trying to clean off beach tar? Believe me, that would make them sit on their little canine rumps.”

“But in this case—”

“You can’t seriously expect me to have this woman’s face plastered all over the evening news based on what you’ve given me. You have nothing concrete against her and we are not talking suicide belts at Disneyland.”

“Okay, let’s forget the terrorism angle, even the murders, and just describe her as an arson suspect.”

“You don’t have enough, Sturgis. Besides, if the arson’s the big deal, I need to be talking to the arson squad.”

“I can have Captain Boxmeister make the—”

“If he asks the same question, I’ll give him the same answer. A few bubbles in a pipe and some wire shavings add up to crap. Bring me fingerprints, body fluids, something serious before I have embassies driving me nuts.”

“FBI and Homeland Security think she’s serious enough to look for.”

“They’re involved?”

“FBI came to me.”

“Just like that? All of a sudden those morons have ESP?”

“I called Homeland for info and they called the Feds—”

“And you didn’t think to let me know.”

“Sir, I wanted to wait until I had something substantive to tell you.”

“Then why the hell are we talking now?” “The sum total seems substantive to me,” said Milo. “Then you need to back away and get some perspective.” Clenching his jaws, Milo middle-fingered air. “Okay, sir, I’ll keep digging.”

“I know you’re going to be bad-mouthing me the minute this conversation terminates, brass is always the big bad enemy,” said Weinberg. “But try—I know it’s hard, but try anyway—to pull yourself away from the moment and see the bigger picture. By your own account, this woman comes from megabucks, is a respected professional, and has no criminal record. What you have on her is hearsay twice removed. On a good day.”

“Her sister—”