Marge stared at her partner. Decker smiled. “What I don’t buy is Marie as a camper.”

“Why not?”

“I went through her house and items meticulously, Marge. Nothing, but nothing, gave me any indication that this woman was athletic, let alone a survivalist camper.”

Marge said, “She could have dashed home and taken her equipment.”

“There were no empty spaces found in any of her closets—places where she’d store tents, sleeping bags, Sterno, cooking implements. Camping equipment takes up room. Just ask Rina. All my gear’s been moved to the garage. And there was no gear in Marie’s storage bin over her parking space. Only books by old radicals.”

“Yeah, I found a copy of a speech by a Jerry Rubin. Doesn’t he play guitar for the Grateful Dead?”

“That’s Jerry Garcia.” Decker tapped his foot. “Margie, I went through Marie’s clothing piece by piece. No rugged pairs of jeans, no hiking boots, no jackets, no heavy socks. Do you want to know what I found? A lot of potpourri and pink cutie-lacy things that have never been worn. I found nothing but nothing to suggest that this woman could possibly be an outdoorsperson.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Decker finally said, “Given Tandy’s history of talking to herself, I’m more likely to believe that Tandy was the one who camped and talked to God—or to herself. So you have to ask yourself why would Tandy say that Marie was a camper?”

Marge thought a moment, then said, “Maybe she wants us to believe that Marie is hiding in the mountains.”

Decker said, “You want to hear something interesting? When you interviewed Tandy Roberts, the news agencies hadn’t reported the manhunt. Remember, I asked the networks specifically to hold off announcing it until the eleven o’clock news because I didn’t want spectators ruining our grid search, especially in daylight hours.”

Marge thought a moment, then said, “Yeah, you’re right.”

Decker took their coffee mugs over to the urn and refilled them. He handed the seashell back to Marge. “So my question is this: Why would Tandy Roberts want us to believe that Marie was still in the mountains, if she couldn’t have known we were searching there?”

“A news leak.”

“Possibly, but more likely…”

“She knows something,” Marge said.

“She knows something,” Decker said. “She’s trying to keep us buried in Angeles Crest when maybe we should start looking elsewhere.”

“In what capacity do you think she’s involved?”

“Maybe only tangentially. Marie ran to her in a panic—Tandy’s an old friend. Maybe she’s stashed Marie and the baby somewhere.”

“Or possibly the two of them were in it together,” Marge said. “Remember, Tandy lost a baby when she was young, too.”

Decker nodded. “Two women still grieving over their loss. Each one working up the other.”

“Tandy claims she hasn’t seen Marie in a couple of years.”

“We can start by checking out Tandy’s phone calls,” Decker said. “See if there has been contact between her and Bellson.”