He shook his head. “Funny.”

“What?”

“That’s what Suzze kept asking: How did I know for sure?”

“So what did you tell her?”

“I told her there was a witness. Someone who saw Gabriel’s murder.”

“Who?”

But even before Lex answered, Myron knew. Whom did Suzze call right after she talked to Lex? Who had posted something that made Lex fear the truth would come out? And who, if he took it to the next level, connected all this to his brother?

“Kitty,” Lex said. “Kitty saw Gabriel Wire get killed.”

With the security guard still tied up—and the voices of Myron and Lex Ryder in his ear—Win approached the computers in the downstairs room. The austere décor made sense now. Lex might visit to use the recording studio. Crisp or well-trusted security guards might spend nights. But nobody truly lived here. You could feel that hollowness. The security guard was muscle, an old Ache worker. He knew to keep his mouth shut. But even he didn’t quite know the circumstances. Guards were changed every few months. All understood that the upstairs was off-limits. This particular guard had never seen Gabriel Wire, of course, but he didn’t really question that. He figured that Wire just traveled a lot. Wire was a paranoid recluse, he was told. He was never to approach him. So he never did.

Win had wondered about the lack of security, but now it made perfect sense. “Wire” lived on an island with very few inhabitants, most of whom shunned publicity or craved privacy. Even if there was a breach, even if someone did manage to break into the house, so what? They would find no Gabriel Wire, but what would that mean? Ache, Crisp, and Ryder had concocted enough stories about secret travels and disguises to explain away any absence.

Fairly ingenious.

Win was not much of a computer expert, but he knew enough. With a bit of persuasion the guard had helped him with the rest. Win brought up the passenger manifests. He looked through other files that Crisp had worked on. Crisp was no fool. He would never leave anything incriminating, anything that could be used in court, but Win didn’t worry about court.

When he was done, Win placed three phone calls. The first was to his pilot.

“You’re ready?”

The pilot said, “Yes.”

“Depart now. I’ll signal when it’s okay to land.”

Win’s second call was Esperanza. “Any new developments on Mr. Bolitar?”

Al Bolitar has always insisted that Win call him Al. But Win just couldn’t.

“They just rushed him back into surgery,” Esperanza said. “It doesn’t look good.”

Win hung up again. The third call was to a federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.