“Mom was always definite. Why’s it important? Amelia and the captain have been dead for years.”

“How many years?”

“It was between the time Brad got called in for questioning and the next time I heard from him, which was five years later...I’m thinking ten years ago.”

“They died at the same time?”

“Car crash,” said Marcia Peaty. “Driving up to San Francisco. I think the captain fell asleep at the wheel.”

“You think,” said Milo.

“That’s what Mom said, but she was big into blame. Maybe he had a heart attack, I can’t say for sure.”

“At the birthday parties,” I said, “when Brad took you around the house and showed you his hobbies, what kinds of things was he interested in?”

“Typical boy stuff,” she said. “Stamp collection, coin collection, sports cards, he had a knife collection— is that what you’re getting at?”

“It’s just a general question. Anything else?”

“Anything else...let’s see...he flew kites, had some nice ones. Lots of little metal cars— he was always into cars. There was an insect collection— butterflies pinned to a board. Stuffed animals— not the girly kind, trophies he’d stuffed himself.”

“Taxidermy?”

“Yeah. Birds, a raccoon, this real weird horned lizard that sat on his desk. He told me he’d learned how to do it at summer camp. Was pretty good at it. Had these boxes— fishing tackle boxes with compartments full of glass eyes, needles and thread, glue, all kinds of tools. I thought it was cool, asked him to show me how he did it. He said, ‘Soon as I get something to fix.’ He never did. I think I went to maybe one more party and by that time I had a boyfriend, wasn’t thinking about much else.”

“Let’s talk about your other cousin,” said Milo. “Any idea how Reynold came to work for the Dowds?”

“That was me,” she said. “That bragging call from Brad five years ago. Christmas, there was lots of background noise, like he was doing some heavy partying. This was after Reyn’s trouble in Reno. I told Brad, ‘Seeing as you’re some big real estate honcho, how about helping out a country cousin?’ He didn’t want to hear about it. He and Reyn didn’t know each other, I don’t think they’d seen each other since they were kids. But I was in an obnoxious mood and kept working on him— working on his pride, you know? ‘Guess your business isn’t so big you’d need outside help,’ that kind of thing. Finally, he said, ‘Have him call me but if he fucks up once, that’s it.’ Next thing I know Reynold’s calling me from L.A., telling me Brad’s gonna hire him to manage some apartments.”

“Brad hired him to mop and sweep.”

“So I’ve learned,” said Marcia Peaty. “Real sweet, huh?”

“Reynold accepted it.”