We sit in demoralized silence for a bit, but beneath my disappointment about Morehouse’s death, I can’t help but feel anxious to speak to both Shad Johnson and my father. If Henry is right, and Lincoln Turner mistakenly believes he’s my father’s son, then I know what Shad is using as motive to make the case for premeditated murder. He actually believes my father killed Viola to hide Lincoln’s paternity. This theory has more than one hole in it, but I can see how Shad would latch on to it. I need to explode that notion as soon as possible.

“You’re thinking about your father, aren’t you?” Henry says, almost accusingly.

“I am. You’ve been a tremendous help to him tonight, Henry.”

“Are you still going to confront him about the Brody Royal connection?”

“Absolutely.”

“And will you tell me what you find out?”

“If it bears on any of these murders, I will. I promise you that.”

He gets up and pours what’s left of the coffee out of the carafe, his right hand trembling. “The sheriff sure seems to be taking his time sending that deputy. You think we’re okay?”

“I’d feel better if I had a pistol. But I think we’re all right.”

He nods dispiritedly.

“Henry, I’m not going to abandon you on these cases. Not even if I get Shad to drop the case against my father.”

No response.

“Tell me something,” I say, trying to distract him. “If there was one thing you could have tomorrow, as if by magic, what would it be? I don’t mean Glenn Morehouse brought back to life. I’m talking about the realm of the possible. What would be most valuable to you? Nonredacted FBI files?”

The reporter pooches out his lower lip, then rubs his mustache. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

“I’d want the Jericho Hole drained. Or dragged, anyway.”

This surprises me. “Tell me why.”

“If we had the missing bodies, the FBI would be forced to reopen all the cases and go at them full bore. The political pressure would be unbearable if they didn’t. I consider two dump sites ground zero for these cases, forensically speaking. One is the Jericho Hole. The other is a place called the Bone Tree, in the Lusahatcha Swamp. The Bone Tree is probably the better spot, and there’s some chance that it might stand on federal land.”

“That would mean federal jurisdiction. That’s always the better path in these kinds of cases.”

“I know, but we won’t find the Bone Tree without a battalion of National Guard troops. And today Morehouse told me I’d hit pay dirt at both places.”

“Who do you think was dumped in the Jericho Hole?”