“That being said,” Lester volunteered, “we’re also thinking that finding the ashtray may be our high point, which makes it another piece of circumstantial evidence putting Shaw in the bull’s-eye.”

Joe was amenable. “No argument from me. Let’s just not forget to completely finish Don’s trip at some point, assuming it makes sense down the line.”

Willy returned to Joe’s earlier point. “Is Shaw’s motive the direction he won’t see us coming from?”

“Which one?” Sam asked. “Why he killed Lucy or why he killed Don? ’Cause that’s still unanswered.”

“Both in the long run,” Joe confirmed. “But for starters, I say Lucy. My instincts tell me that was rushed. Somehow or another, Lucy suddenly became a liability, meaning she must’ve known, seen, or done something that would’ve incriminated him.”

“Like knowing he killed Don?” Sam asked.

“Or that she saw him do it,” Willy suggested. “Let’s not forget she lied about the strip club. The key would be, why now?”

“Which goes to history,” Joe said. “Her knowing of his sins had to go far beyond girlie shows. What have we collected on Shaw’s background? Did the New Hampshire fusion folks spit out one of their ‘products’?”

“They did,” Lester reported. “Shaw told Sam and me that he’d quote-unquote made his nut in the big city. Turns out that was Boston. On the face of it, he was a college-trained electrical engineer with a knack for numbers who made a killing at one of Boston’s hotshot financial firms. End of story.”

“But…?” Willy asked leadingly.

“That’s where we’re gonna have to dig a little,” Lester confirmed. “New Hampshire’s Information Analysis Center cranks out what we’re used to here in Vermont. Eighty percent of it lists names and addresses and past phone numbers and family members, and so on. Goes on for pages. Where it gets interesting is in the criminal records. He doesn’t have any personally, but he pops up in a couple of involvements where he’s listed as a person of interest.”

“What kind of cases?” Sam asked.

“That’s the thing. There are three altogether. A noise complaint, a disturbing-the-peace violation, and a missing child.”

“Far out,” Willy said.

Everyone in the room immediately thought of Scooter Nelson.

“Okay,” Joe said quickly. “Are the three related?”

“Not that I can tell,” Lester said, no longer relying on memory and referring to the actual document on his computer. “The dates are far apart.”

“Is there anything specific about the last one? Case number? Investigating officer?”

“All of the above,” Lester confirmed. “I just sent you an email with the relevant info. It was while he was living in Boston, in the West End.”

“Fancy,” Willy said.

“I haven’t had a chance to dig up the case details, but the implication is that Shaw surfaced in some context or another, enough that he rated mention as a POI, and not just a man-on-the-street interview.”

Joe swiveled his own computer screen around so he could see the email Lester had just sent him. “Quite a few years ago,” he mused. “Interesting. Before he moved back to New Hampshire and before Scooter vanished. Anyone here know Molly Ryan, from the PD down there?”