“So all you have is a source that you can’t talk about?”

“That and the fact that both men have identical alibis.”

“Can you connect the two men?” Greene asked.

“As far as I know, they’re strangers.”

Niki’s eyes lit up. “Jesus Christ.”

“What?” Max asked.

“Strangers on a Train?”

Max looked at Niki and tried to figure out where the train part came in.

Niki said, “The old movie—Strangers on a Train.”

Greene nodded, her eyes narrowing as though she had picked up on Niki’s reference.

Max shrugged his confusion.

Niki said, “They did a remake of it with Danny DeVito and… um…”

“Billy Crystal,” Greene said.

Max tried to remember the movie. “What’s it about?”

“Two guys meet on a train.” Niki said. “They have no connection to each other, but they get to talking and in time learn that each has someone they want murdered. So they make a pact. They will each kill the other guy’s target on a date and time that would give the other a perfect alibi.”

Max pondered out loud. “Reed Harris killed Mrs. Molinar when Peter was at a casino playing slots, and Peter Molinar killed Sandy Voight while Reed is on camera playing blackjack.”

“It’s a reasonable theory,” Niki said, “but we’d need to prove a connection.”

“Can I see Peter’s jacket?” Max asked.

Detective Greene handed Max a folder with Peter’s interview statement and background information. Max flipped through, perusing for any clue that Peter might know Reed Harris. Three pages in, Max came upon a booking photo taken of Peter Molinar three years earlier. He had been arrested on charges of theft and possession of stolen property. The man looked at the camera with an expression of disgust, as though getting arrested was far beneath his station.

Then Max saw the location of Molinar’s arrest—Itasca County. He’d spent time in jail in Grand Rapids.

Max looked at Niki and smiled.

CHAPTER 39

Detective Macey Greene led the procession to the house where Olivia Molinar had been murdered. The house didn’t scream wealth, but the delicate woodwork that framed the porch and gables suggested that the owner had worked hard to keep the turn-of-the-century home in pristine condition.

Before driving to the house, Macey and Niki had put together a plan. They would shake Peter Molinar in the hopes that he might make a call to Reed Harris. While they didn’t have probable cause for a search warrant, they thought they might have enough to get a subpoena for cell phone tower data. If Peter made that call from the house, it would expose the number of Reed’s burner phone.

But Max knew subpoenas took time and getting the records from the providers took even more time. Reed might be gone by then and Pip might never be found. So Max came up with his own plan, one that he kept secret from Niki and Macey Greene.

On the drive to the Molinar house, Max placed a call to Lyle. “I need you to check on a Peter Molinar. He was arrested in Itasca County three years ago.”