“Maybe Monte didn’t want her to. Proud of himself, playing his own head game. On her own, Rieffen might’ve been more cautious. Or she thought it was fun, too. In either case, she knew the stain would be gone by the time the body got to Jernigan. That’s exactly the kind of high-risk adrenaline rush psychopaths crave. Rieffen takes control of the evidence, making herself look sharp-eyed in the process. Then she finds a quiet moment at the crypt and destroys the evidence, making the rest of the coroner’s staff look incompetent.”

“It’s not enough that I succeed,” he said. “You have to fail.”

“Antisocial, self-aggrandizing puffery at its finest, Big Guy.”

“One speck of DNA could’ve screwed the deal—if anyone would bother to analyze the stain. But she’s a goddamn C.I., would know how to do it right.”

“No reason to analyze DNA,” I said. “The way the bodies were posed, the obvious donor was Backer.”

“Speaking of Backer, maybe we’re talking foursome down to twosome. They all knew each other. One shot to the head, Desi’s out of the picture, they get the storage key. Leaving Doreen to deal with two armed baddies, piece of cake subduing her. Rieffen trains the little gun on her while Monte jams the big one. Then he strangles her, delivering an incredibly demeaning coup de grâce. Then they reposition the bodies.”

“They left Backer’s I.D. in place, but took Doreen’s because she’d lived with them, could be traced to them.”

“Rieffen and Monte living with a pyro, and Monte’s copping the fifty G’s says they knew about the plot. What if the foursome was a business arrangement, Alex?”

“They were all involved in the fire,” I said.

“Eliminate Backer and Doreen and the share doubles.”

“Foursome,” I said. “Two other kids were suspects in the Bellevue fire. Kathy Something, I forget the boy’s name.”

He snatched up his pad. “Kathy Vanderveldt, Dwayne Parris. Lindstrom said they turned out fine, she went to med school, he went to law school.”

“Lindstrom never actually met them, she’s relying on the previous agent’s notes. What if Kathy and Dwayne planned careers in medicine and law, but fell short? A C.I. deals with the human body but works under a physician’s supervision. A paralegal—who tells people he’s a lawyer—has to answer to an attorney.”

“Wannabes, they change their names … the Feds being their usual thorough selves miss it.” He faced his computer. “Okay, let’s see what we locals can come up with.”