“I think Latham had underground illegal contacts for stolen art mostly in his field of expertise, which was Soviet art. And since he did have dirty contacts, maybe he fenced lesser stuff on his own to make a quick buck. Things like stolen books and antique prints. Things like Tiffany panels that he found out about from Angeline Moreau.”

“Okay. So why was she murdered? And so brutally!”

“She put up a struggle, she was hit, but she was probably strangled and maybe stabbed. But wasn’t dissected. Latham was. He was the main target. He bore the brunt of someone’s uncontrolled anger. I think she was killed because of her association with Latham. Someone was nervous that she knew too much, that Latham had told her too much.”

“She was murdered first, Decker.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You’d think Latham would be first on the list.” He thought a moment. “Angeline was murdered Sunday night . . . right after we met with Sobel and Steward at the crypt, right?”

“Well, not right after . . . but soon after, yes.”

“Suppose the killer saw us investigating the break-in . . . or at least got word that we were investigating the break-in. He comes up to Greenbury, murders Angeline, then works his way up the coast.”

“If you’re saying his working his way up the coast, are you assuming he’s from somewhere south of here?”

“Good point. Maybe we should go back to New York.”

“Sure. Whatever you think, boss.”

Decker was quiet. “We do know that both of their places were ransacked. The killer was looking for something.”

McAdams held up the codebook.

“Exactly,” Decker said. “We need to get it translated. If Gold doesn’t call back soon, we’ll try someone else.”

McAdams nodded. “This is the thing I’m confused about. The Petroshkovich icons happened decades ago. Why would that theft suddenly result in murder?”

“Okay. Let me throw this out. Suppose through his studies in Soviet art, Latham found out who is in possession of the Petroshkovich icons. Suppose it was someone in Russia who was very rich—like an oligarch.”

“Okay.”

“Suppose Latham made contact with the guy who has the Petroshkovich icons and presented him with another opportunity to buy something of value that might not have been obtained through regular channels. Suppose an agreement was reached. But then suppose his ‘client’ found out that Latham had hired someone else to do his illegal work. Plus, the client found out that Latham was involved romantically with his hired help. You know . . . pillow talk. Maybe the client got nervous that too many people were involved on this buying opportunity.”

“So why didn’t the ‘client’ just back out?”

“Because Latham knew the client had the stolen Petroshkovich icons in his possession. So he had both of them killed.”

McAdams shrugged. “Over some thirty-year-old stolen icons?”