“No problem. Ed, you said you didn’t need Documents, so I let Linda go. Her kid has some kind of dance recital, I don’t know, anyway, she’s left her pager on if you need her.”

“That’s fine,” Cooper says. “Can we walk and talk?”

“By all means. Come on through.”

Westfall leads them farther into the bowels of the section, skillfully maneuvering around the containers. There are a lot of containers. Bell frowns at one that holds nearly a dozen pairs of women’s panties, before realizing why they’re here. The lab examines evidence from all over the country. The volume of backlog is discouraging.

Westfall digs a pack of Camels out of his trouser pocket, looks over his shoulder to check that Emma and Bell are following. “You’re part of an interview unit? You been doing that long?”

“Not long,” Bell answers.

“We’re researching juvenile perpetrators,” Emma explains.

“Huh.” Westfall glances at Cooper. “Young people interviewing young people. That’s smart. Is it working?”

Cooper shrugs. “Wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

“Good point.”

“Also, Gerry—Miss Lewis and Mr. Bell are invisible, okay?”

“Really? They look pretty solid to me.”

“They’re assisting with interviews—cold case operations only. But they happened to turn up some interesting information, which I’m pursuing. If anyone asks, they waited in the lobby.”

“Okay, I’m not touching that, but good to know. Come in and see Glenn.”

In the office of the Hair and Fiber section, past a labeled door, Glenn Neilsen is sitting at his desk, completing paperwork. He’s white, and quite young, Emma thinks, maybe thirty, but he already sports bifocals and a hunch.

When they enter, Neilsen puts his pen down. He has the distracted air of a career research scientist. “Hey, Ed, Gerry said you wanted me to stay. I’m assuming you didn’t leave your keys behind.”

“Sorry to keep you from your dinner.”

Neilsen pushes back his chair. “My dinner is a ham-and-pickle sandwich, and it’s in the staff refrigerator. What’s going on?”

“We’ve got some information on Pennsylvania from an unreliable source, but we think it’s worth checking out. You said the bodies are due to be released back to the families soon?”

“The Barnes boy is supposed to go to the funeral home tomorrow.”

“Then we’d better talk fast. Glenn, this is Miss Lewis and Mr. Bell. They turned up the info.”

“Good for you,” Neilsen says, swiveling to shake hands in turn.

Westfall lifts his chin. “Miss Lewis and Mr. Bell are ghosting, by the way. If anyone asks, they’re in the lobby.”

Neilsen’s eyebrows lift. “Well, I’m not touching that. But what’ve you got?” He indicates a wooden stool near the desk for Emma to occupy.

“Um, a theory.” Emma settles herself gingerly. “We’ve been interviewing a subject.…” She trails off, gives Cooper a querying look.

Cooper nods at her, turns to Neilsen. “The information is from Simon Gutmunsson.”

Neilsen rears back. “Whoa. Okay.”

“I’m assuming this part about the connection to Gutmunsson is ghosting, too,” Westfall says. He peers over his glasses at Cooper from his position in the doorway.