“I had to steal something from the cemetery. Not the one near the school, the big one in Bainbridge about ten miles away.”

“When did this happen?” Oliver asked.

“When I first started Littleton about three and a half years ago. That’s why I’m having a hard time believing that this whole mess has anything to do with me!”

“What did you steal?”

“A stone statue. It was maybe about three feet high. Some stupid goddess dressed in a Roman toga. It was in terrible condition. One arm was broken off. I found it buried in some ivy bushes and covered with dirt. So I took it because it didn’t look like anyone would miss it. Heavy motherfucker.” He exhaled. “Not my finest moment, but I was drunk and eager to please. Anyway, it sat in my dorm room for about a month or two months. And then I met Angeline. A few months later—after we were an item—she asked about it. I told her what I did. She was cool about it.”

Silence.

“More than cool. She was intrigued. She told me she had seen something like that at an antique store in Boston. She asked me if she could try to sell it and we’d split the profits. It was just sitting in my dorm so I said okay.”

Decker said, “Do you know who she sold it to?”

“No idea but she told me she got two hundred bucks—one hundred for each of us, which I blew by taking her out to dinner. I’m a moron.”

“Go on.”

“Nothing more to tell. She sold the statue, we split the money, and I never saw it again.”

“Lance, the statue was just the start. We know you did other thefts because we know the gallery owner who purchased the hot items.” A little white lie? Decker preferred to think of it as an educated guess. “So just get it all out.”

The kid deflated, drawing in his shoulders into his torso and then doubling over as if in stomach pain. “I can’t believe how this blew up in my face. It was just a stupid college prank, something you do when you’re drunk and when you’re getting pus—” He looked at Rina. “Girls can do weird things to your mind.”

“I’m aware of that,” Rina said.

“Tell us the rest of it,” Decker said.

“It was a couple of months later. She asked if I could get more things like it.”

“Like the statue.”

Terry nodded. “I told her I could look around.” A sigh. “So I lifted another statue from Bainbridge again: a smaller marble one. And then I lifted a couple of marble urns. She sold them and we split the profits. Because they were made from marble, she got more money for them.”

Decker turned to McAdams. “Check to see if the items are on the inventory list.”

“Already on it.”