“Good for you.”

“None of it sank in—shock and fatigue took care of that.” His eyes remained forward as he spoke. His voice seemed to come from somewhere far away and deep inside. “I know that the Tiffany panels are valuable, but surely they are not worth the wholesale slaughtering of two human beings.”

“Are you making an ethical judgment or are you talking about the motive for the crime?”

“Motive.” He was still visibly upset. “The panels can’t be the motive for something that abominable, right?”

“I’ve seen men gutted for a pack of cigarettes,” Decker said. “But I know what you’re saying and I agree. These cases are not just about the panels. All we can say so far is that we have two bad murders and the killings are probably connected. Next question: Are the two murders related to the Tiffany thefts?”

“What else is there?”

“There’s probably way more. Right now, beyond the murders and the theft, do we know anything else?”

“Besides the fact that I’m exhausted and sick to my stomach?”

“Bagel didn’t go down well?”

“I ate too fast. I always eat too fast. What do we know beyond the two murders and a theft?” He shrugged. “Beats me.”

“The two murders were overkill.”

“Yeah, I’ll say.”

“In both cases there was not only a struggle, but the apartments appeared genuinely ransacked. The murderer was looking for something.”

“The Tiffany panels?”

“Possibly. But like you said, do you butcher your victims over stolen Tiffany panels?” Silence. Decker said, “Let’s start throwing out some ideas.”

“You go first.”

“We have two victims we suspect were doing something illegal because Angeline suddenly came into money. She started toting around designer accoutrements and only did that after she met John Latham.”

“Right.”

“We also suspect that she might have been involved with the forgery of the two Tiffany panel replacements. Angeline did stained glass and she liked Tiffany.”

“Right again.”

“And the forgeries might have something to do with the murders.”

“Correct.”

“Tyler, if we think the forgeries are even one of the reasons for the murders, then it would behoove us to look at who was wronged by the forgeries.”

“That would be the Sobel family. But I can’t believe anyone in the family would do something that extreme. That doesn’t make sense.”

“I agree. The theft per se isn’t the reason for the murder. As I said before, it was probably the discovery of the theft that put Angeline and Latham in danger.”

“Because they were involved in other thefts and did them at the behest of someone. Meaning those other burglaries might now be discovered.”

“Exactly. So any ideas?”

“Let me think.” McAdams was tapping the dashboard.

“There’s no right or wrong answer. Just say what’s on your mind.”