“Yep. Midnight to noon. Pretty tiring after all that craziness last night. But I had to fill in for someone who filled in for me two weeks ago. Then I had to get my car inspected. Anyway, here I am.” She followed Gurney into the kitchen, saw Hardwick standing at the table, and gave him a big smile. “Hi, sweetheart.”

“Hey, peaches, how’s things?”

“Good—now that I see you in one piece.” She went to him, kissed him on the cheek, and ran her fingers down his arm, as if to confirm her observation. “You’re really okay, right? There’s nothing you’re not telling me?”

“Babe, I am one hundred percent okay.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” She gave him a cute little wink. “So,” she continued, suddenly all business, “I got some answers. You boys interested?”

Gurney gestured toward the dining table. “We can sit there.”

Esti chose the end chair. The two men sat across from each other. She took her notepad out of the envelope. “Simple things first. Yes, according to the autopsy—pretty basic one—Mary Spalter’s injuries could have been intentionally inflicted, but that option was never seriously considered. Falls, even fatal falls, happen enough in geriatric situations that the simplest explanation is usually accepted.”

Hardwick grunted. “So there was no investigation at all?”

“Zero.”

“Time of death?” asked Gurney.

“Estimated between three and five in the afternoon. How does that square with the floral delivery guy on the security video?”

“I’ll double-check,” said Gurney, “but I think he walked into Carol Blissy’s office around three-fifteen. Any ViCAP hits on the MO elements?”

“Nothing yet.”

“No witness reports of floral delivery vans at homicide scenes?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any such reports. It just means they didn’t make it onto ViCAP forms.”

“Right,” said Gurney. “Anything on Fat Gus?”

“Time-of-death window between ten in the morning and one in the afternoon. And, yes, as you said it might, the word ‘larynx’ appears in the autopsy wound descriptions. Death, however, was not caused by the nails that were hammered into his head and neck. He was shot first—a .22 hollow point through the right eye into the brain.”

“Interesting,” said Gurney. “That would suggest that the nails weren’t a form of torture.”

“So what?” said Hardwick. “What’s your point?”