“I’ve been there. My grandfather had a place in Bal Harbour.”

“I also keep you around because you have a memory.” Decker grinned. “Anyway, Karen Bronson told me that Angeline liked that Clara Driscoll because she appealed to Angeline’s ideas of talented, strong women and the arts.”

“Makes sense. Girls in college were always yakking about being strong and independent. God, it got so damn sophomoric. Just quit your bitching and actually do something.”

“I can see that patience isn’t your strong suit.”

“You’re right about that.” McAdams gave out a mirthless chuckle. “Most of my classmates at Harvard were living away from home for the first time. But there were some like me: boarding school since first grade with absentee parents. Granted we were privileged as far as education, money, and connections go. And yes, we were spoiled beyond the point of ridiculousness. But we were independent. The first timers . . . man, they were still attached to the umbilical cord. They had absolutely no concept of how utterly dependent they were on mommy and daddy. God, how I envied them.”

Decker was quiet.

McAdams said, “Don’t mind me. Go on.”

“Pour me more coffee. Just half full so I don’t burn my fingers.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re allowed to call me Peter.”

“I prefer Old Man.”

“Am I like your real old man?”

McAdams shrugged. “Yes and no. He’s a prick in a bad way.” He handed Decker his coffee. “You’re a prick also, but in a good way.”

“You have a way with words. Can we get back to the case now?”

“Gladly.”

“Being that Clara Driscoll made the designs and Tiffany put his name on it, do you think that it might have mitigated Angeline’s conscience when she was making the forgeries?”

“Huh!” McAdams was quiet. “She was doing to Tiffany what he did to Driscoll. I like it. Not that it helps us understand why she was murdered, but there is a sort of lex talionis to the whole thing. That means—”

“Eye for an eye, I know.”

“Yeah, that’s right. You were a lawyer. What kind of law again?”

“Estates and wills.” When McAdams started to snore, Decker said, “Exactly. You know eye for an eye doesn’t mean exacting retribution. It’s actually tort law.”

“How do you figure?”

“Because it’s in the section of the Bible that deals with property law. You injure a guy’s eye through negligence, you pay the victim for the value of what he would have earned with the eye versus what he makes because he’s missing an eye. Courts do that all the time. It’s called economic forensics.”

“Yeah, I know. I interned for several white shoe law firms in my college days courtesy of Daddy.” He took out his phone. “Where is the saying in the Bible?”

“Eye for an eye?”

“Yes.”