“The same thing I was, I imagine—trying to figure this thing out. I hate to see this. Danny was a good kid—a little overeager, maybe, but very bright. He must have talked to my research assistant down at UVA. If he did, he had access to the same information I have. He must have put two and two together and come up with the same answer I did— he just got here first.”

Gunner looked at him. “Nick—what if you had gotten here first?”

“The thought occurred to me,” Nick said. “Thanks for not trusting me with the key.” He ran the flashlight up and down the body, searching for wounds, then got down on all fours and put his left cheek to the ground, studying the back of the skull where it rested in a small puddle of black liquid. “He appears to have been killed by a blow to the head; the back of the skull is crushed in—just like the victims at the Patriot Center.”

Gunner turned to the old woman. “Agnes, did you kill this man?”

The old woman sat quietly with her hands folded in her lap, staring down at her plump feet dangling over the ledge in front of her. “Couldn’t help it,” she mumbled. “He was pokin’ his nose where it don’t belong.”

“That’s no excuse for taking a man’s life. This man was a human being made in the image of God. Was he married? Did he have children? Do you have any idea of the pain you’ll cause—”

Nick put a hand on Gunner’s shoulder; he walked over and took a seat beside Agnes. “Where was he poking his nose, Agnes? What was Danny looking at that you didn’t want him to see?”

Agnes didn’t answer.

Nick glanced down at her thick, meaty forearms and gnarled hands. “What did you hit him with? You might as well tell me—they’ll find the weapon anyway.”

“Louisville Slugger,” she said. “Stan the Man autograph.”

“Stan Musial—you’ve had that for a long time, haven’t you?”

Again, no answer.

“What did you plan to do with the body? You dragged it out here to the loading dock; you must have been planning to take it somewhere.”

Agnes just shrugged.

“Did you plan to bury it on top of another grave or just dump it in the lake like you did with Marge?”

No reply.

“Agnes, there were three men buried at the Patriot Center who were all killed the same way Danny was—by a blow to the back of the head. They were all killed within your lifetime. Did you do that, Agnes? Did you kill them all? Stan the Man’s been around long enough.”

Nothing.

“And what about the man who was buried at Dogleg Lake? Did you kill him too?”

Agnes had nothing to say.