“Always a cheerleader,” Decker said. “The sad truth is we don’t know who killed Angeline and Latham. We don’t know who tried to take down Harvard and me. We don’t know if Gerrard is victim or perpetrator. And we don’t know anything about Latham’s codebook or if it’s even relevant to the murders.”

McAdams said, “If Gerrard was dead, we probably would have found his corpse by now. Whoever killed Latham and Angeline left the bodies in the open.”

Decker said, “You’re right, Harvard. The killer wanted to make a show of his handiwork. He was trying to impress someone.”

“Which makes Gerrard more perpetrator than victim,” Oliver said.

“Listening to all of you, I do have a question,” Rina said.

“Let’s hear it.”

“Why go to all that trouble with a very complex codebook in a bunch of languages to hide things when it seems that Latham and Angeline weren’t stealing items of major value?”

Decker said, “I think in the process of stealing minor items, Latham hit on something very big that he felt was worth hiding in code.”

“Or,” Rina said, “maybe Latham and Angeline didn’t have anything worth hiding in code. Maybe the book belonged to someone else. Maybe Latham or Angeline stole it and then Lathem figured out the code and realized that he had hit on something big. Maybe Latham tried his hand at blackmail. And finally, since both of their apartments were tossed, perhaps whoever murdered them was looking to get the codebook back. And maybe that someone was Viktor Gerrard. We know he spoke a few languages. Maybe he knew other languages as well.”

The car fell silent. Then McAdams said, “You go, girl.”

Rina beamed. “You live with a guy for nearly three decades, something rubs off.”

Oliver said, “Gerrard also had access to Merritt’s contacts. I’m liking him as the bad guy.”

Decker gathered his thoughts. “The codebook was found behind a piece of paneling around the bathtub skirt where the Jacuzzi motor should have been. Mulrooney said the pipes were capped off and it was placed behind the pipes and well hidden. Latham’s place had been trashed. All the logical spots to hide the codebook had already been checked out: the freezer was open, the toilet tank top was off, a few loose floorboards were ripped off, the walls had been pierced for hiding places—”

McAdams said, “So that’s why the living room walls had those round holes punched into them?”

“Yep. They were checking for hollow spots or a safe that had been walled up.”

“Aha!” Oliver said. “You’re wondering why the killers didn’t check the Jacuzzi motor area, which is a prime stashing spot for drug dealers and thieves.”