Hardwick looked like he was about to make a wiseass comment about her standing/sitting remark, but he just grinned and followed her into the house. After another glance up the hill, Gurney joined them.

He got his laptop and list of issues from the den, and they all settled down at the dining table. “Why don’t we start by getting up-to-date?” suggested Gurney. “You and Esti were going to make some calls. Do we have any new facts?”

Esti went first. “This Greek mob guy, Adonis Angelidis? According to my friend at OCTF, he’s a big deal. Low profile, compared to the Italians and the Russians, but a lot of influence. Works with all the families. It was the same with Gurikos, the guy who got his head nailed. He arranged big hits for big players. Major connections. Very trusted.”

“So why was he hit?” asked Hardwick. “Your task force buddy got any clue?”

“None. According to OCTF, Gurikos kept everybody happy. Smooth as silk. A resource.”

“Yeah, well, somebody didn’t agree.”

She nodded. “It could have happened the way Angelidis told Dave: Carl went to Gurikos to set up a hit on someone, then that someone found out about it and hired Panikos to kill them both. Makes sense, no?”

Hardwick turned his palms up in a gesture of uncertainty.

Esti looked at Gurney. “Dave?”

“In a way, I’d like the Angelidis version to be true. But it doesn’t feel quite right. Like it almost makes sense. The problem is, it doesn’t account for the nails in Gus’s head. A practical, preemptive hit on Carl and Gus is one thing. A gruesome warning about keeping secrets is something else. The two don’t fit together.”

“I’ve got the same problem with the mother,” said Esti. “I don’t get why she had to be killed.”

Hardwick sounded restless. “It’s not that big a mystery. To put Carl at the funeral, exposed, delivering a eulogy.”

“So why didn’t Panikos wait until he was actually standing at the podium? Why shoot him before he got there?”

“Who the hell knows? Maybe to stop him from revealing something.”

Gurney couldn’t see the logic in that. Why go to elaborate lengths to set up a situation in which someone would be scheduled to make a speech if you were afraid of what they might say?

“I’ve got one last thing,” said Esti. “About the Cooperstown fires? I found out something interesting, but strange. The four incendiary devices used on Bincher’s house were all different types and sizes.” She looked from Hardwick to Gurney and back again. “Does that say anything to you?”

Hardwick sucked at his teeth and shrugged. “Maybe that’s what little Peter happened to have in his toy box at the time.”

“Or maybe what his supplier had available? Any ideas, Dave?”

“Just an off-the-wall possibility: that he was experimenting.”

“Experimenting? For what purpose?”