“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The man instigates the Third World War and pleads ignorance. The whole damn thing from last night has been running on RAM News all morning. Sterne coming out of the cabin. That bloody flame-thrower mounted on Maxie’s hood. Sterne being incinerated. Maxie machine-gunning the Ramcopter out of the sky. Your heroic self charging out into the night to risk your life. The Ramcopter crash—followed by what the talking RAM heads keep calling ‘the horrible tragic fireball.’ It’s one hell of a show, Davey boy.”

“Hold on a second, Jack. The helicopter got shot down. So where did the footage of the crash come from?”

“The fuckers had two choppers out there. One Ramcopter went down, the other Ramcopter just moved into position and kept filming. Tragic fireballs are good for ratings. Especially with two people being burned to death in the process.”

Gurney was grimacing, Max Clinter’s fiery death still painfully vivid. “And this is on television?”

“Damn thing’s been running all morning. Showbiz, my friend, it’s fucking showbiz!”

“Those helicopters—how did they happen to be there to begin with?”

“Your friend Clinter gave RAM News a heads-up. Called earlier and told them that something really big was about to go down that night with the Good Shepherd, and they should position themselves in the area, ready to come swooping in. He called them again right before he made his move. Max always hated RAM for the nasty way they covered his original debacle with the Shepherd. Seems that shooting down the chopper was part of his plan.”

As Gurney was absorbing this, Hardwick left the room and crossed a large open area to the nurses’ station, where he interrupted a young woman working at a computer.

He returned with a triumphant gleam in his eye. “They’ve got a couple of TVs on rollers. The little peach with the big tits is gonna get us one. You should see this crap for yourself.”

Madeleine sighed and closed her eyes.

“In the meantime, Sherlock, two questions: How the hell did Larry the dentist get so good with a gun?”

“My impression is that he had a passion for precision that was off the charts. People like that have a way of getting good at things.”

“Too bad we can’t bottle that and sell it to sane people. Second question, a bit more personal: Did you have any idea what you were walking into at Clinter’s place?”

Gurney glanced at Madeleine. Her eyes were on him, waiting for his answer.

“I expected to meet the Shepherd. The disaster was unanticipated.”

“You sure about that?”

“The hell does that mean?”

“Did you really believe that Clinter would stay away like you told him to?”

Gurney paused. “How did you know I told him to stay away?”

Hardwick parried the question with another question. “Why do you think he showed up when he did?”