Before Decker could answer, Mike Radar stepped into the station house. Clearly it had been a long time since the captain had worked through the night. Fatigue was etched into his face, sorrow in his eyes. “What’s up?”

Decker said, “We’re making a little headway. Did you get a coroner?”

“A CI came down from Boston. It’s hard to find an exact time of death because of the decomp of the body. Remember, the room was very hot. His best guess is that Angeline probably died sometime on Sunday night. There were ligature marks on her throat—also marks on her feet and wrists. Most likely it was strangulation, but we won’t know for sure until the autopsy is done. The doc couldn’t see any petechiae on her face because it was too bloated.”

“Could she tell if the hyoid was broken?”

“No, but the CI thinks she saw cigarette burns on the body. She couldn’t tell if that was done before or after she died. Her name is Bonnie McFee.” Radar handed him a card. “In case you want to talk to her directly.”

“What’s a CI?” McAdams asked.

“Coroner’s investigator,” Decker said. “They are usually laypeople with some medical experience, like an EMT or a nurse. In big cities, they’re the ones called out to take care of the bodies and get them to someone who’s qualified to do an autopsy. Police can’t touch the bodies until they’ve been seen by someone from the coroner’s office.” To Radar. “What about forensics?”

“Boston’s Crime Laboratory Unit came in about an hour ago. Ben and Kevin are holding the fort. Feel free to talk to whoever you want.”

Decker’s phone buzzed. He looked down at the text. “It’s Angeline’s parents. They’re in southern Maryland, checked into a motel last night. They’ll be here around eleven.” He thought a moment. “Give me a minute to text them back.” When Decker was done, he turned back to Radar. “Has the body already gone north?”

“Yes. They took it back to Boston. And with the city’s murder rate, it might sit in the morgue for a couple of days. Now it’s your turn. Tell me what’s going on.”

Decker gave him the story with as much detail as he could remember. The captain digested the information. Then he said, “So Lance Terry was stalking her?”

“I’m not sure if it was stalking or more like boredom. The next step is checking out Lance’s timeline. If he was where he said he was, he was alibied pretty much all weekend.”

“So he’s out of the picture once we verify his alibi.”

“More or less. Can Kevin do the verification? I can fill him in on everything.”

“Any reason why you don’t want to do it yourself?”