Perhaps cued by the reaction, Joe turned to him and requested, “Could you call Ron Klecszewski and tell him about the late Don Kalfus? What with their past warrants, Brattleboro PD obviously has a dog in this fight. Ask him if we could use their sally port so Jim and his folks can finish processing the inside of Shaw’s car in more comfort, along with a corner of their office we can use for the rest of the night.”

“Déjà vu all over again,” Willy said, extracting his phone and stepping away. Ron Klecszewski was the lieutenant heading the department’s detective squad—the same position and office that Joe used to have when Ron, Willy, and Sam were cutting their teeth in younger days.

“Does that work for you, Jim?” Joe asked his colleague. “Moving the car to Bratt to finish your examination?”

“And download its infotainment system,” Collins replied. “If it’s rigged the way I think it is, that’ll tell us everywhere the car’s been since leaving Shaw’s dooryard, along with everything its driver did—from where he went, when he did it, how many times he opened and closed his doors, and what calls he might’ve made using the car’s Wi-Fi uplink. You name it. For that matter, in case he doesn’t have receipts, we should be able to figure out where and when he gassed up so you can find those stations and get video footage.”

“I heard the Mercedes’s GPS wasn’t working, which is why it took a passing motorist to call this in.”

Collins was puzzled. “It worked a few minutes ago. I activated it to check. Whoever tried the day it vanished probably hit a glitch and gave up. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Okay,” Joe said, moving on. He caught Lester’s attention and suggested, “We need a bunch more background on these names, not to mention whatever new ones crop up after processing the other smartphones. You might as well start with fusion background checks, but get hold of NESPIN, too. They’ve created a pawnshop database, which might be perfect for finding out where Kalfus was hawking his ill-gotten wares.”

NESPIN was the New England State Police Information Network, serving Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

“Got it,” Lester replied.

“Sam,” Joe continued, “could you coordinate all this with everybody here and make sure no one’s left hanging or in doubt about what to do? I’ll call the AG’s office and get Tausha Greenblott to disturb her Homeland Security counterpart at home so we can get the thumbs-up for a task force. She can do the same to the Vermont ICAC commander and get him to alert his New Hampshire equivalent that we’ll be showing up.”

He asked Collins, “What was the name of the ICAC guy you mentioned?”

“Fred Houston. He’s badged out of the Cheshire County Sheriff’s Office but is plugged into everybody and anybody across the state. Say what you will about New Hampshire, their ICAC setup is sharp and really well coordinated.”