“Thanks. Kim, why don’t you try to relax in the armchair closest to the stove. There’s a wool blanket on the seat. I’ll put on some coffee for us.”

Ten minutes later Gurney was sitting with Kim and Kyle in the semicircle of chairs around the fire. The soothing smell of cherrywood, reddish yellow flames flickering in the belly of the iron stove, and steaming coffee mugs in their hands provided a small touch of reassurance, a hint that chaos might indeed have boundaries.

“I’m pretty confident that no one followed us down to the city,” said Kyle. “And I know for sure that no one followed us back up here today.”

“How can you say that?” Kim’s question came across more as a plea for reassurance than as a challenge.

“Because I was behind you all the way, sometimes really close, sometimes way back. I kept checking. If anyone was tailing us, I would have seen them. And by the time we got off Route 17 at Roscoe, there was no traffic in sight at all.”

Kyle’s explanation seemed to lower Kim’s fear level just a little. It raised other possibilities in Gurney’s mind, which he decided to keep to himself, at least for the time being, since they would do no good for Kim’s emotional state.

“You mentioned Robby Meese a few minutes ago,” said Gurney. “I was wondering … how much contact did he have with Jimi Brewster?”

“Not very much.”

“Wasn’t he the cameraman for the video you sent me?”

“He was, but the Robby-Jimi chemistry was bad. Robby’s insecurity had just started rearing its ugly head.”

“How?”

“The more Robby was exposed to the people involved in my project, the hungrier he seemed to be for their approval. That’s when I started seeing a side of him I hadn’t seen before—a real suck-up, a money worshipper. I think Jimi saw it, too. And Jimi was so violently against all that.”

“Who was he sucking up to?”

“Pretty much everybody. Eric Stone, until he found out that everything Eric owned was mortgaged for more than it was worth. Then Ruthie, who was vulnerable and had enough money to interest him.” She shook her head. “Such a sleazy little bastard—and he hid it so well for the first few months I knew him.”