Emma catches the scent. “What kind of behavior?”

“Pretty much what you’d expect, at first. Bullying of younger students, small acts of cruelty. Then the teachers noticed that the school cat had gone missing.”

“I don’t need to hear the details of that,” Emma says quickly.

“Well, you can imagine without me telling you. The final straw was in 1973, when a number of children at the school were hospitalized with food poisoning. Simon turned out to be the culprit. The family hushed it up, but Simon came home after that.”

“It’s good to know the background,” Emma says.

“You read the file?”

“Last night, yes. You don’t need to tell me about the murders.” She doesn’t want to go over that stuff in the car with Bell. Going through it with him last night was disturbing enough.

She particularly recalls a mug shot from the file: Against a stark background, Gutmunsson gazed into the camera with flat affect. One of his eyebrows was raised.

“Is there anything else I need to know before I go in?”

“The hospital superintendent will cover procedures with you before your visit.” Cooper glances over. “I don’t think I need to remind you that you shouldn’t turn your back on this guy. He is not someone you should ever feel relaxed around. He’s about your age, and he presents very well, but it’s a mask—inside, he’s uglier than anyone you’ve ever met. Do you understand?”

Emma nods. “I get it.”

“Here’s the turn,” Cooper says, and suddenly St. Elizabeths Hospital for the Criminally Insane rises up before them.

The front of the building is like a castle: red-brown brick towers, crenelated in the old style. Emma almost expects to see archer’s slits, but instead there are rows of windows, each one covered with bars. East and west wings stretch out to the right and left of the center edifice for a block on either side. The parking area is out front, a grassy lawn nearby, almost pleasant-looking. But this building is not trying to be anything other than what it is: a gothic structure full of bedlam ghosts and old horrors.

Emma gets out of the car and gazes up, wonders if Simon Gutmunsson can see them from a window. Wind whistles through the parking area. Someone touches her shoulder and she startles, but it’s only Bell.

“Lewis, if this gets hairy, back off,” he says in a low voice. “There’s nothing keeping you in there. Cooper can’t complain if you don’t complete the whole interview—just do what you can do.”

“Okay.” Emma watches Cooper approach the front door. “Does Cooper seem nervous to you?”

“Damned if I know.” Bell’s color isn’t great, but he’s holding on. “Look, Simon Gutmunsson is a step up from McMurtry. A thousand steps up. Stay alert.”

She looks again at the asylum, her senses prickling. “There’s something off about this.”

Bell frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “It’s everything. Cooper springing it on us, the timing… Gutmunsson seems like he’s well above our pay grade. Why is he the next subject? I’ve got this feeling like… I don’t know. Something is off.”