It took them almost two hours to cover what should have been a sixty-mile trip, again because the GPS directed them down every country lane and virtual cow path it could find.

Nevertheless, by the time they’d arrived, the reward proved worth the effort.

“Wow,” Lester said as Sam pulled off the road and killed the engine, a quarter mile from their goal, which they could see through the windshield, high above them on the hill. “It’s just like they say: déjà vu all over again.”

“I didn’t see this happening,” Sam agreed.

They were looking at the ostentatious near castle of Lemuel and Lucy Shaw.

“Does this go back to the fight Don and Shaw had at the club?” Lester asked.

“Could be. Nothing we’ve found so far connects Kalfus in any way to Shaw before that night. Am I right about that?” Sam asked.

“Not according to any fusion reports or database we’ve read,” he replied.

“So, out of the blue, in the middle of a shopping spree that brings him damn near to Manchester, he suddenly takes off and heads for the house of the man he stole the car from? Why?”

Deep in thought, Lester didn’t respond.

Sammie pressed on. “Did we find anything in that vehicle belonging to Shaw? I mean, beside the usual junk everybody carries around like flashlights, pens, and coffee mugs?”

“Not that we know of,” Les answered carefully. “Why?”

“Because it implies that while he stole the fancy car, he didn’t drive straight to the rich guy’s house to steal even more. It’s what I would’ve done.”

“Because he and Shaw were in cahoots?” Les ventured.

“Then why steal the car in the first place?”

“To embarrass him?”

“Lucy already knew about his appetite.”

“Kalfus may not have known that.”

Sam shook her head, still wondering. “What do you remember about being in that house?” She gestured toward the log mansion.

Lester considered that carefully, knowing what she was asking. “Depends,” he eventually answered. “In her bedroom, there were a ton of baubles that would fit in your pocket. But where we met with hubby? Everything looked too big or was mounted to the wall. It also looked more like an office building than a home. Of course, we only saw a small part of the house.”

“We didn’t find much jewelry in the car, did we?”

“A piece or two.”

“That’s interesting, isn’t it?” she asked. “I’d assume jewelry would be a natural, given some of the houses we’ve visited. Plus, the owners we interviewed told us their jewelry went missing.”

“Meaning Kalfus unloaded them first thing,” Lester filled in.

There was a silence as they each weighed their thoughts.

“That leaves another question: If something was stolen from here,” Sam asked, “why not report the loss, especially if you’ve already called in the car theft?”

This time, when Willy bounced his way along the rutted lane toward the Whitemans’ trailer, it was earlier, with a remnant of daylight still staining the sky through the scraggly canopy of old and neglected pine trees.