Saori shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “There’s no easy way to say this . . . There’s a detail of the investigation we haven’t released to the public. We’ve been sifting through the remains of the burned building—and we found a body.”

Iona inhaled deeply. It would be Alyssa. Someone had seen them together and the bureau wanted to know what their connection was. Perhaps they wanted her to identify the body.

“It’s your colleague,” said Saori. “Weston.”

Iona blinked. “But he’s dead.”

“I know he’s dead—as I say, we found his body, or what was left of it.”

“No, I mean he died before the fire—”

“To be strictly accurate his funeral was before the fire, but these new events have cast doubt on whether he died before the fire. That’s why I called you in.”

Iona took a moment to comprehend what Saori was implying. “He died in the accident—it was all in the newspaper—”

Saori looked down at her notes. “You’re sure he was dead at the funeral?”

“I saw him in the casket—”

“And you’re sure it was him?”

“Of course—” Iona paused, remembering what had gone through her mind briefly at the funeral—how Weston didn’t quite look like himself. But it had been such a nebulous, easily dismissed feeling. It had been him lying there. “It was definitely him,” she said.

“You had to think about it.”

“I didn’t have to think about it, I wanted to.”

Saori nodded. “Did you witness the incident at the end of the funeral?”

Iona tensed up even more. Did they know she’d tried to speak to others about the incident?

“Yes . . .”

“Describe it to me, please.”

“One of the mourners stood up, ran down the aisle, and jumped on top of the coffin.”

“Do you know who he was?”

“No, do you?”

“Was the coffin open or closed?”

“Closed.”

“What happened next?”

“Well, the coffin went into the furnace.”

“With him on it?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any idea why he did that?”

“Nobody did. I think it was the oddest thing any of us had ever seen.”

“In your view,” said Saori, interlacing her fingers and leaning forward, “is it possible he could have gotten the coffin open and removed Weston from it—”

“While they were in the furnace? No.”

“You seem sure of that.”

“Both of them would have been overcome by the heat and smoke within seconds.”

“But you couldn’t see inside.”

“No, the door to the furnace was closed.”

“Then you can’t be sure.”

Iona was about to give a snappish response to this but stopped herself. “I worked on the design for that building. I know the layout. The coffin hits the flames as soon as it’s inside. When the main doors close the heat is intense—and the only way out would be through the stoking hole at the far end. There’s no way a person could cross the flames and get there alive.”

Saori nodded and made a note. “That’s very useful insight, thank you. Weston also worked on the design for that building, didn’t he?”