“Sure, but why would the Bureau help her evade when we were paying her to blab and she hadn’t come through? The only time she could’ve traveled abroad would’ve been between splitting on us and now.”

“Exactly,” said Milo.

Lindstrom thought about that. “Okay, I’ll make some calls, promise to give you righteous info. Fair enough?”

He nodded. “After Doreen asked to be moved away from Seattle, where’d you safe-house her?”

“Sorry, not authorized. But trust me, it wasn’t anywhere outside the continental U.S.” Smiling. “Think acres of plains, not a mountain in sight.”

Milo said, “Not here in L.A.”

“Not even close.”

“Seeing as you just read every damn word of the file, is there anything in there about a gal-pal who had traveled abroad? Or came from abroad?”

“Swedish party girl? Negative, yet again,” said Lindstrom. “You’ll have to believe me on this, but that file contains squat-all international intrigue associated with Doreen Fredd. And you’ve got no serious evidence Prince Teddy actually offed anyone. But even if he did, how would it connect to Doreen and Backer two years later? Burning down a big showy house, I can believe. They probably did that back in Bellevue and God knows how many other times. But targeting Teddy, specifically? This turning into some obnoxious 007 deal? I’m not seeing it.”

Milo said, “What if Doreen and Backer somehow found out about the alleged murder and tried to cash in? From what you know about her, would that make sense?”

“Blackmail … sure, why not? She wasn’t a woman of high character.” She sat forward. “She and Backer hooked up more for old times’ sake, decided to do more than eat dandelions and screw? Hey, anything’s possible, but there’s nothing along those lines that I can help you with.”

“Does the name Monte appear anywhere in your files?”

“Nope. Who is he?

“Maybe no one, Gayle.”

“Obviously, you think he’s someone.”

“What happened to the other two kids Doreen and Backer hung with back in Seattle?”

“Dwayne Parris and Kathy Vanderveldt? They both went off to college and got on the straight and narrow. She was pre-med, he was pre-law. Tell me about Monte.”

“Just a name that came up in a tip.”

“As…”

“Someone who might’ve known Doreen.”

“Might? That mean you don’t think the tip’s solid?”

Milo gave her the details.

“Geezer without a cell,” she said. “Monte. Nope, doesn’t ring a bell, but the moment I get back, I’ll re-read the file, just in case it slipped by me. We’re talking seven-hundred-plus pages.”

“Doreen was small-time but she merited an encyclopedia?”

“One thing we’re good at is churning paper.” Lindstrom smiled. “Poor trees.”

CHAPTER

21

We stood in front of the station and watched Lindstrom drive away in a government-issued Chevy.

Milo said, “How much of that was real?”

“Who knows?”